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Gettin' busy with the fizzy
A bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper explodes into a fountain as Rachel Marble, a science teacher from LaSalle High School, drops Mentos into it during the Iron Science Teacher competition Friday.
The Roseburg High School cafeteria was a mess Friday at lunchtime.
Diet Dr. Pepper spilled all over the floor, marshmallows shot through air guns, and Styrofoam cups sat atop heads.
No one can blame the students. They were out of school. The mess was created, and cleaned up, by three women vying for the title of Iron Science Teacher at Science on the Wild Side, an Oregon Science Teachers Association conference hosted by the high school.
Roseburg science teacher Randy Chase said the annual conference is usually held in metro areas, but he spent the last year promoting Douglas County as a good location. In addition to the conference, he organized a reception at Wildlife Safari and Saturday activities.
Like Iron Chef, Iron Science Teacher had a secret ingredient. This time it was air, and Jean Goul, an Albany middle school teacher, won the coveted silver lab jacket.
She lit a piece of paper on fire and put it in a glass bottle. She put a boiled egg on top of the mouth, and the egg popped through. Then Goul held the bottle to her mouth, and the egg came back out.
“Were you sucking or blowing?” asked fellow competitor Anne Duschka, an elementary teacher from Scappoose.
“Science never sucks,” a teacher yelled.
The teacher was right. Goul was, in fact, blowing into the bottle to free the egg.
LaSalle High School teacher Rachel Marble had a few experiments go awry but wowed the crowd when she added Mentos to a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. An enzyme on the candy reacts with the carbon dioxide in the soft drink. Marble does the experiment outside when she’s working with students, and she’s had soda shoot 20 feet in the air.
The 187 science teachers were patient with experiments that didn’t work. They’ve all experienced it.
Greg Mylet, a middle school teacher in Lake Oswego, taught a workshop on building interesting contraptions to engage students. He tried to build an air conditioner but failed. His students still learned something, he said.
“Doing something like this in the classroom really gets the kids thinking about being inventive,” he said.
Mylet played a riff of “Smoke on the Water” on an electric guitar with a cigar box body and two-by-four neck, and he showed off a pencil sharpener powered by a USB port.
But his most popular project was an exercise bike that served as a generator for a Nintendo and a TV.
He asked Eleanor Keeler, a teacher from Eugene, to get on the bike and start pedaling. Soon a picture appeared on the screen.
“Are you familiar with the operation of Super Mario Brothers 3?” he asked Keeler.
“Oh, I have to pedal and play?” she asked as he handed her the control.
The bike is popular with his students, who come in before class to play a few games and learn about electricity at the same time.
It was also popular with the teachers, who stayed after the workshop to try it out. A group gathered around, shouting directions to Jim Hartman as he tried to navigate the video game.
Hartman teaches environmental science in Ashland, and he came away with ideas on how to use the bicycle with other applications, as well as a set of plans to build a windmill.
Keeler said Mylet’s workshop was the coolest one she’d been to. Subjects ranged from kinesthetic physics to water quality to science writing.
“We’re inspired to get some exercise bikes and a Nintendo for our school,” Keeler said.
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
Diet Dr. Pepper spilled all over the floor, marshmallows shot through air guns, and Styrofoam cups sat atop heads.
No one can blame the students. They were out of school. The mess was created, and cleaned up, by three women vying for the title of Iron Science Teacher at Science on the Wild Side, an Oregon Science Teachers Association conference hosted by the high school.
Roseburg science teacher Randy Chase said the annual conference is usually held in metro areas, but he spent the last year promoting Douglas County as a good location. In addition to the conference, he organized a reception at Wildlife Safari and Saturday activities.
Like Iron Chef, Iron Science Teacher had a secret ingredient. This time it was air, and Jean Goul, an Albany middle school teacher, won the coveted silver lab jacket.
She lit a piece of paper on fire and put it in a glass bottle. She put a boiled egg on top of the mouth, and the egg popped through. Then Goul held the bottle to her mouth, and the egg came back out.
“Were you sucking or blowing?” asked fellow competitor Anne Duschka, an elementary teacher from Scappoose.
“Science never sucks,” a teacher yelled.
The teacher was right. Goul was, in fact, blowing into the bottle to free the egg.
LaSalle High School teacher Rachel Marble had a few experiments go awry but wowed the crowd when she added Mentos to a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. An enzyme on the candy reacts with the carbon dioxide in the soft drink. Marble does the experiment outside when she’s working with students, and she’s had soda shoot 20 feet in the air.
The 187 science teachers were patient with experiments that didn’t work. They’ve all experienced it.
Greg Mylet, a middle school teacher in Lake Oswego, taught a workshop on building interesting contraptions to engage students. He tried to build an air conditioner but failed. His students still learned something, he said.
“Doing something like this in the classroom really gets the kids thinking about being inventive,” he said.
Mylet played a riff of “Smoke on the Water” on an electric guitar with a cigar box body and two-by-four neck, and he showed off a pencil sharpener powered by a USB port.
But his most popular project was an exercise bike that served as a generator for a Nintendo and a TV.
He asked Eleanor Keeler, a teacher from Eugene, to get on the bike and start pedaling. Soon a picture appeared on the screen.
“Are you familiar with the operation of Super Mario Brothers 3?” he asked Keeler.
“Oh, I have to pedal and play?” she asked as he handed her the control.
The bike is popular with his students, who come in before class to play a few games and learn about electricity at the same time.
It was also popular with the teachers, who stayed after the workshop to try it out. A group gathered around, shouting directions to Jim Hartman as he tried to navigate the video game.
Hartman teaches environmental science in Ashland, and he came away with ideas on how to use the bicycle with other applications, as well as a set of plans to build a windmill.
Keeler said Mylet’s workshop was the coolest one she’d been to. Subjects ranged from kinesthetic physics to water quality to science writing.
“We’re inspired to get some exercise bikes and a Nintendo for our school,” Keeler said.
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
