Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts: Egg Drop Design

The lates Praxis “Science Smarts” column in the Medicine Hat News.

Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts Column

April 9, 2022

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News (April 9). The article may also be found in the Medicine Hat News at https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2022/04/08/science-smarts-egg-drop-design/ or via PressReader at https://www.pressreader.com/article/281865827002812.

Egg Drop Design

With Spring Break just a week away, I thought it would be best to continue on with my egg theme. As the holidays approach, I know I will have to be bringing quite a few eggs home (not just to eat, but experiment with too, of course). This has me thinking about how best to protect an egg. I want all of you to put your thinking hats on and try this experiment with me. Send me a note to let me know your results as well.

Let’s get started!

Remember to ask an adult before you do this experiment.

Objective

Can you design a system that will protect an egg from…

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Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts: Bunnies Hopping Around

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News!

Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts Column

April 2, 2022

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News (April 2). The article may also be found in the Medicine Hat News at https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2022/04/02/science-smarts-bunnies-hopping-around/ or via PressReader at https://www.pressreader.com/article/281732683002769.

Bunnies Hopping Around

As April is already here, I am getting pretty excited about the holiday that is fast approaching. You know, the one where the bunny drops off those delicious chocolate treats at your house for you to enjoy!

I have to say my holiday was almost ruined when someone told me that the Easter Bunny does not exist! I think this is because they have never seen the Easter Bunny hop by their house. Well, just in case you do not have an Easter Bunny hopping by your house to deliver some eggs, this week I thought we should make our own hopping bunnies as a backup. I just cannot go without my…

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Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts: Static Electricity Butterflies

The latest Praxis Science Smarts column in the Medicine Hat News (March 26, 2022).

Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts Column

March 26, 2022

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News (March 26). The article may also be found in the Medicine Hat News at https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2022/03/25/science-smarts-static-electricity-butterflies/ or via PressReader at https://www.pressreader.com/article/281848647105678.

Static Electricity Butterflies

Static electricity is a fascinating subject — I was going to say shocking, but I had some groans earlier when I used that line! This time of the year, I am finding that everything is either sticking to me, or my hair is sticking straight in the air. I seem to carry an extra charge or two around I think. None the less, those shocks you get while walking around the house involve science so…we had better investigate further.

Let’s get started!

Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

• Balloon
• Tissue paper
• Card stock paper
• Small piece of cardboard
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Googly eyes (optional) – See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googly_eyes
• Glue stick

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Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Another EducatorAl Blog

Here are more amazing blog posts from this past week:

• Attendee: SPRING CUE 2021 MINI GAMES – Google Slides

• James Webb: ‘Fully focused’ telescope beats expectations – BBC News

  The American space agency has achieved a major milestone in its preparation of the new James Webb Space Telescope. Engineers say they have now managed to fully focus the $10bn observatory on a test star. The pin-sharp performance is even better than…

• FakeYou. Deep Fake Text to Speech.

• 21 tools for helping your kids understand the events in Ukraine. (Plus some bonus advice from a mom.) | History Tech

  Current events have always been something that we as social studies teachers are acutely aware of. There are so many ways that we’re able to use them to connect past with present. But the last few weeks have been difficult. Ukrainian people are suff…

• How to Let Go of Obsessive Overthinking –…

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Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts: Stretchy Water

The latest Praxis “Science Smarts” column in the Medicine Hat News.

Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts Column

March 19, 2022

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News (March 19). The article may also be found in the Medicine Hat News at https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2022/03/18/science-smarts-stretchy-water/ or via PressReader at https://www.pressreader.com/article/281689733301259.

Stretchy Water

Water, what an amazing substance. Yes, I know I have said this before, but is so much fun (not to mention inexpensive and often messy) to investigate the properties of water.

Did you know water has the ability to stretch itself out and not break? How can that be… well, we better investigate further. Let’s get started!

Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

• One clear glass
• Water
• Lots of pennies or other coins of the same type

Procedure

1. Fill the glass full of water, make sure you get it as full as possible. To do this, set it on the flat surface, get down at eye level and look…

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Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts: Static Electricity

The latest Praxis “Science Smarts” column in the Medicine Hat News.

Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts Column

March 12, 2022

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News (March 12). The article may also be found in the Medicine Hat News at https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2022/03/12/science-smarts-static-electricity/ or via PressReader at https://www.pressreader.com/article/281724093025306.

Static Electricity

I do not know about your house, but it is SO dry around mine. The other day as I was getting dressed, my clothes were sticking to me like a magnet and sparking like lightning! Not to mention what it does to my hair — without even trying it sticks straight up in the air.
Of course, the explanation of what is going on can be found in science; static electricity to be exact.

Let’s investigate further.

Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

• Balloon
• Clean, dry head of hair, or a wool sweater
• Sheet of black coloured paper
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sturdy surface
• Tablespoon

Procedure

1. Place the sheet of black…

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Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Another EducatorAl Blog

More great blog posts from this past week:

• UNLV “Digital President” – Have We Considered the AI Implications?

  Keith Whitfield, president of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, is available to chat with all 31,000 students at any hour of the day or night—as long as they don’t mind talking to a digital version of him.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Library of Congress Resources About Ukraine

  Over the last couple of weeks I’ve received quite a few requests for resources for teaching and learning about Russia/ Ukraine conflict. In response to those requests I’ve been directing people to Larry Ferlazzo’s frequently updated list of resource…

• How Much RAM Is Enough RAM in 2022?

  Be the One for Kids!

• Google Meet Bandwidth detector (and how I’ve been using this on Zoom) @coolcatteacher

  How Much Time Should a Student Spend At School?

• Free Technology for Teachers: Try These Zoom Presentation Tips…

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Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts: Float or Sink

The latest Praxis “Science Smarts” column in the Medicine Hat News.

Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts Column

March 5, 2022

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News (March 5). The article may also be found in the Medicine Hat News at https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2022/03/04/science-smarts-float-or-sink/.

Float or Sink

I was rearranging things in my office the other day, and I ran across a box of materials that made me a bit nostalgic.
Sometimes teachers invite me into the classroom to do presentations and I wanted to share with you one of my favourite games I play with students – Float or Sink. You will be amazed at the results.

Let’s get started!

Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

• Old empty aquarium or large clear plastic container
• Water
• Sturdy table
• Area you can make a mess in
• Can of cola
• Can of diet cola
• Orange
• Peeled orange
• Paper clips
• Plasticine balls
• Tennis ball
• Ping pong ball
• Other various materials you want to…

View original post 341 more words

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Another EducatorAl Blog

More great blog posts from this past week:

• Why Video Games Education Needs Harriet Tubman – Ms. Magazine

  Harriet Tubman can help us work toward feminist, anti-racist and liberatory pedagogy in games—a vital need for the field. Promotional image for “Freedom: The Underground Railroad—A Cooperative History Game,” created by Brian Mayer (2012), with art b…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Now You Can Schedule Exit Tickets in Ziplet

  Ziplet is one of my favorite tools for hosting online exit ticket activities. There are two features of it that make it great in my book. The first is a large catalog of interesting, premade questions that you can select and use in your activities.

• A Minecraft build can be used to teach almost | EurekAlert!

  For all its massive popularity, Minecraft — the highest-selling video game of all time — is not highly regarded among the gaming world’s snob class. The graphics…

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Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts: Finding Fruit DNA

The latest Praxis Science Smarts article in the Medicine Hat News.

Praxis Science Outreach Science Smarts Column

February 26, 2022

The latest Praxis ‘Science Smarts’ column in the Medicine Hat News (February 26). The article may also be found in the Medicine Hat News at https://medicinehatnews.com/life/local-life/2022/02/26/science-smarts-dna/ or via PressReader at https://www.pressreader.com/article/281797107444155.

Finding Fruit DNA

Praxis is quite excited to be celebrating our 30th annual Operation Minerva Conference on Thursday, March 10!

Each and every year we have such an amazing group of Grade 9 girls from all over southeastern Alberta. I can also proudly say some of the girls that participated in the conference are now our mentors! It is so exciting to see so many STEM professionals return to our wonderful community to work. This year we have to go virtual, but we will be doing an amazing interactive experiment. I thought I would share it here so you can get an idea of what we will be doing.

If you did not receive registration…

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