Fire Bubbles

The cover of Steve Spangler's new book shows a man with a lit
match in one hand, a mass of bubbles in the other with a column of
flames rising from the bubbles. The title is Fire Bubbles and
Exploding Toothpaste. Parents and teachers working to make science
fun for kids...drumroll please...
we have a winner.
After a page of safety precautions the introduction begins with
the words DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME...all caps in red ink. Steve knows
kids. Those words will make them motivated to do the exact opposite.
This is exactly what he wants to see happen...fun and confident
experimentation and learning.
The experiments are grouped into large categories. The one
entitled kitchen chaos enables kids to find the iron in a dollar bill,
power a rocket with Alka Seltzer, discover convection currents, walk
on egg shells, and make a skate board rocket car. Explanations and
extensions are included. At the end there's a section of
demonstration experiments for experienced science teachers.
How cool is that? Way cool which is what we want science to be
for the next generation.
On a personal note, I'm off tomorrow to a big old all day session on
shaping school budgets. Very much not my forte board wise. Just hope
they keep the coffee flowing.
A great big shout out goes out to Leah and Amy for making me smile so
often.
Julia Emily Hathaway

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