Why are science fairs important? What makes the science fair process valuable? It’s an excellent question and a good way to start a class discussion about this time-honored tradition. First and foremost, why DO we ask our students to work on a science fair project year after year? The answer, in a nutshell, is to help them learn how to think like scientists. Scientists find answers to questions that interest them. In other words, your students simply need to ask themselves, What do I want to know more about?
Science Fair Discussion Starters
January 24, 2018
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College level, Elementary level, High School level, Middle School level, science fair | Tagged: agriculture, awesome science experiment, discrepant event, DIY, Educational Innovations, environmental science, experiments, food science, fun experiments, hands-on activity, homeschool, homeschool activity, materials science, parent friendly, PBL, phenomenon based learning, phenomenon-based science, science, science fair project, science fair project for kids, STEM, topics for science fair, variables | 
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
What’s the Weather? Check Your Weatherglass Barometer
December 19, 2014
by Ted Beyer
Predicting the weather is an age-old guessing game.
Over time, more and more sophisticated devices have been developed to aid in the guessing game. Indeed, some of the largest computers in the world today are dedicated to modeling the weather using millions of data points collected all over the world—all in an effort to determine if going to the beach this weekend is a good idea, or if you should just stay home and binge watch Game of Thrones (again).
After temperature, one of the earliest scientific observations about the weather is the variation in barometric pressure. Local changes in air pressure usually signal changes in the weather. Falling pressure generally indicates rain, snow or wind storms, and increasing pressure most often indicates nicer weather.
One of the earliest gadgets used to try and track barometric pressure was the Weather Glass, also known as the Goethe Barometer [1]. Evangelista Toricelli [2] came up with the first truly accurate barometer—the classic, mercury-filled device—sometime around 1643-44. [Note: Educational Innovations has a mercury-free version of this Science classroom “must-have.”] Read the rest of this entry »
5 Comments | College level, Earth Science, Elementary level, experiments, High School level, Middle School level | Tagged: air pressure, barometer, environmental science, hands-on activity, homeschool, parent friendly, PBL, phenomenon based learning, phenomenon-based science, Physics, science, weather | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
The Chemical Spill and the River
May 4, 2012
by: Brian Herrin
One of the difficulties of modeling a flowing water system is the size of the system and the quickness of the flow. This often makes demonstrations hard to visualize as things happen so quickly. The model I designed uses large transparent plastic cups and clear tubing that connects them to easily demonstrate how a river can become contaminated by a toxic spill or dump and how the toxic material slowly works its way downstream creating devastation along the way. In time, the river will eventually run clean, but the damage takes much longer to disappear, and some damage may be permanent.
Begin by setting up a mock river system using six to ten separate cups. There is no limit to the number of cups you can use. The siphon tubes used to connect the cups are made of 6.4mm (inside diameter) clear tubing cut into 40cm lengths. You can use aquarium tubing and smaller plastic cups but a slower system will result. You will need one less tube than the number of cups you use. For a self emptying system, you can insert a smaller tube into the last cup that empties into a larger container.
1 Comment | Biology, Earth Science, Elementary level, experiments, Middle School level | Tagged: Brian Herrin, chemical spill, environmental science, pollution, simulated toxic spill | Permalink
Posted by Tami O'Connor