April 13, 2018
By Cathy Byrne
Virtually all fourth grade students explore electricity and magnetism. As part of this unit, students are asked to do two things:
1 – Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents (4-PS3-2)
2 – Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another (4-PS3-4).
This year, the teachers at my school put a new twist on our electricity and magnetism unit… and the results were amazing!
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electricity, Elementary level, experiments, magnetism, Middle School level, STEM | Tagged: DIY, Educational Innovations, electrical circuits, electricity, energy, experiments, fun experiments, hands-on activity, homeschool, light, magnetism, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, science, science fair project, STEM, variables | 
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
November 17, 2017
by Priscilla Robinson
What can a teacher do when the season’s cold, wet, or snowy weather makes curious and rambunctious children go stir crazy? This was exactly the predicament I found myself in with my five-year-old grandson last year. After sledding and playing in the snow, Henry and I looked for something else to do. I reached deep into my Nana brain and unlocked my inner teacher. “What’s your teachable moment today, Nana?” I murmured.
All weekend long, we had been experiencing the crackle and pop of static electricity as a result of the house’s warm, dry air. Henry himself had been zapped a half dozen times. Petting the family dog, he marveled as her hair stood on end. He was curious: what was this invisible power?
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Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, energy, experiments, High School level, Middle School level, static electricity | Tagged: DIY, Educational Innovations, electricity, experiments, fun experiments, hands-on activity, homeschool, magnetism, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, science, static electricity, STEM, variables | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
April 14, 2017
by Nancy Foote
The latest addition to my classroom’s Curiosity Table is a Static Electricity Electroscope. The fact that it looks a bit odd made it even more intriguing to my students. Once they began to play with the electroscope, they couldn’t stop. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | College level, electricity, Elementary level, experiments, High School level, magnetism, Middle School level, static electricity | Tagged: DIY, Educational Innovations, electricity, experiments, fun experiments, hands-on activity, homeschool, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, science, static electricity, STEM, variables | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
March 31, 2017
by Nancy Foote
I’m in love with goldenrod paper. I’ve loved it for a long time. In my never-ending quest to emotionally entangle my students in the content of our science curriculum, Color-Changing Goldenrod Paper provides a long-lasting entanglement.
If you’ve never done the bloody handprint goldenrod paper demo with your students, you are truly missing out—and so are they)! This is the most engaging “engage” part of the 5 E’s I’ve ever experienced. I like to do the bloody handprint demo around Halloween, but we don’t do acid/base chemistry until February. That’s a long time to wonder, ponder and try to figure out exactly what is happening. But that’s for another blog post.
Leave a Comment » | Chemistry, College level, electricity, Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level | Tagged: discrepant event, DIY, Educational Innovations, electricity, experiments, fun experiments, goldenrod paper, hands-on activity, homeschool, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, science, STEM, variables | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
March 17, 2017
By Roy Bentley and Ken Crawford
You’ve probably heard the expression, “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.” That’s certainly true of Educational Innovations‘ Transparent Alternator Kit. It’s a hands-on kit that visually (and vividly) demonstrates how electricity is created—the single step that has launched humankind into the technological age! Show your students the start of this fascinating path and they will begin their own journey.
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1 Comment | College level, electricity, Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level | Tagged: DIY, Educational Innovations, electricity, hands-on activity, hydropower, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, science, science fair project, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
