My students live in an small, isolated town in northern Wyoming (90 miles from a Wal-Mart in any direction). Our district is a Title I district, and many of our students come from low-income households. I am one of two science teachers at our middle school, and I am lucky to work with half of our seventh graders and all of the eighth grade students, including my advanced eighth grade biology class, every day!
My students' intrigue in the world around them drives their scientific minds, and I work hard to foster a community of investigation and innovation.
My students are creative, curious, hardworking, and unique, and I try to encourage those traits within the walls of my classroom through active exploration and engagement.
My Project
Who doesn't remember rubbing a balloon against you hair to generate some static electricity to make the balloon stick to the wall? What about scuffling your feet along the carpet in order to reach out and deliver a sharp shock of static electricity to a sibling? We're all familiar with static electricity in the world around us, but I would love to be able to have my students understand the concept of static electricity with an even more memorable experience: a Van de Graaf generator.
Understanding invisible forces, like magnetism and electricity, is a difficult concept for many students to understand, simply because we can't see them!
However, by bringing a Van de Graaf generator into the classroom, my students could experience static electricity on a whole new level! Not only can we make hair stand on end, and demonstrate how an electric spark forms, but we can also discuss how humidity affects production of static electricity, bringing in discussions of climate and weather as well. I'm always on the lookout for a way to connect multiple scientific subjects together, and a Van de Graaf machine would be an excellent resource!
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