Curriculum Laboratory Teaching Ideas Showcase: Starred Ideas for Science... Simply For the Fun (and Magic) of It!

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Introduction to Science Fun and Magic

(This handout is based on presentations given by the author at the annual University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education Literature Fair for student teachers (2003-2005), the South Western Alberta Teacher's Convention (2001), the Western Canadian C.E.A. Teacher's Convention (2001), and the Horizon School Division Professional Development Institute Day (2001).  As well it has been used for several presentations to grade 3-6 students around Southern Alberta.)

Introduction:

• Survey some of the best new science browsing, activity, and literature books
• Sample some of the activities from the titles:
• Activities must use common materials
• Activities must involve minimal preparation

• Step One: Introduce students to fun science activities.  Enjoy the "magic" of science without over- analysis.  Alberta Education's Program of Studies states that, "Children's curiosity provides a natural starting point for learning (1996, p. Science (Elementary) A.1)."
• Step Two: Have students share their own favourite science facts and/or activities, so that their natural enthusiasm and curiosity draws other students into the processes of science.  "Students learn best when they are challenged and actively involved (Program of Studies, 1996, p. Science Elementary A.2)."
• Step Three:  Proper scientific analysis and inquiry.

There is no doubt that the approach to science education has made some improvement, moving to more active, hands-on, "inquiry'' based learning (Haury, 1993).  The program emphasis in Alberta is on science inquiry and problem solving through technology, "using available materials (Program of Studies, 1996, p. Science Elementary A.3).   However, some of the more common complaints I have heard from both teachers and students about science education is that:

• Teachers are concerned that there are not enough school facilities and resources to teach science properly (Eddy, 1996).
• Science classes involve too much memorization and recitation of abstract theory (Lewington, 1998).
• There is often too much lecture and textbook learning (Blosser, 1989).
• Many of the activities and experiments require too much preparation time for teachers, or materials which are not easy (or inexpensive) to find.
• Many teachers, especially in elementary schools do not feel their science background is adequate (Eddy, 1996).

• Stimulating curiosity and wonder (Haury, 1993), by providing novelty, surprise, wonder, incongruity or uncertainty  (Solomon, 1997).
• Giving  some of the control back to the learner (Solomon, 1997).
• Integrate the teaching of science with other subjects, such as good literature (Blosser, 1989).
• "Concepts are learned best whey they are encountered in a variety of contexts and expressed in a variety of ways....Specific ways of encouraging students to explore, develop and apply ideas must be selected by the teacher" (Mrazek, Summary, p.5, 2003).  One excellent way to expose students to the wonder of science in a variety of contexts is to get them involved in the best science literature.  See "Great Books For Science Fun and Magic", below.
  
• Using activities which involve common household materials, and minimal preparation.

Works Cited:
     Blosser, Patricia E. (1989).  The impact of educational reform of science education.   Available from http://eric.ed.gov: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index. 

     Blosser, Patricia E., Helgeson, Stanley L. (1990).  Selected procedures for improving the science curriculum.  Available from http://eric.ed.gov: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index. 

     Eddy, Larry (1996).  Factors influencing attitudes towards science in primary and elementary teachers.   Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.  Available CBCA Fulltext Education.

     Haury, David L (1993).  Teaching science through inquiry.  Available from http://eric.ed.gov:  http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index.

     Lewington, Jennifer (1998).  Filling the wonder gap:  science books should prompt students to think and explore. Quill and Quire, 64. (6), 63.  Available CBCA Fulltext Education.


   Mrazek, Rick (2003).  Transforming science education in Alberta, and Transforming science education in Alberta (summary).  Prepared for the Science Council of the Alberta Teacher's Association. Available from:  http://www.uleth.ca/edu/ICTRD/networks/southscicncl.cfm.

     Solomon, Joan (1997).  Is how we teach science more important than what we teach?  Primary Science Review, 49, 3-5.   Available from http://eric.ed.gov: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index.

Simple Science Magic and Fun

There are many excellent books that are filled with science activities that require very little preparation time or costly materials.  They are great to use to start off a science class on a regular basis.   I believe these types of quick and easy activities "break the ice," and can stimulate the student's natural wonder.  Many of the activities described below were used as activity centres in my school library, to introduce the students to the magic of science, especially around science fair time.  What surprised me, when going back to find these activities in books, is that many of them are found in many different titles, in slightly different formats, in old and new books.  This tells me that they are "tried, tested and true," as the commercial says.  Any of the titles listed are excellent sources for many science "ice breakers":

I usually: 

• Do the the activity.
• Have the students hypothesize as to what explanation causes the activity to work the way it does, 
• Discuss how we could test their explanation, (e.g. by doing the activity in a different way, and see if the results change).
• Encourage the students to find the explanations given in the books  on their own.  They might even come up with their own choice of activities to try.

Wanna Bet Your Arms Can Rise By Themselves! (Cobb and Darling, 1993, p. 26)
Stand in a doorway, and press the backs of your hands against each side of the doorway for 30 seconds.  Relax your arms and move away from the doorway.  Your arms will rise by themselves?  Why?

Wanna Bet You Can't Lift My Arm From the Top of My Head (Cobb and Darling, 1993, p. 45)
Sit down and grasp the  top of your head.  Have the strongest person in the room grasp your arm as close to the elbow as possible, and slowly try to lift your hand off of your head.  It can not be done, unless the person uses a sudden movement, or is four times stronger than you.

Wanna Bet You Will Always End Up With the Number Four (Cobb and Darling, 1993, p. 121)
Think of any number, and write it in numerals.  Then right underneath, write the word for that number, and count the letters.  Write down this number in numerals.  Right underneath, write the word for that number, and count the letters.  Keep doing this.  Eventually, you will always end up with four.

Bet You Can Hear a Watch in a Bowl, Even Though the Watch Is Not There
(Cobb and Darling, 1990, p. 50-51)
Using two identical bowls and a ticking watch, you can increase your hearing to super hero proportions.  Sit at a table, and put the watch about 1 cm. above one of the bowls on the table in front of you.  Hold the other bowl near your ear, and above the bowl on the table.  It will sound like the watch is in the bowl by your ear.  You can also do this trick by putting the watch on one end of a long table.  Place your  ear on the other end of the table, with your hand over the other ear.  Both ears are covered, but you still have super hero hearing!  Why?

The Air Weighs Too Much (Vivian, 1963, p. 21)
Lay out a sheet of newspaper on the edge of a table, with a ruler or pencil underneath the paper, but half of the ruler or pencil over the edge of the table.  Bring your fist down sharply on the pencil or ruler.  The single  sheet of newspaper resists being lifted up, to the extent you may break the ruler or pencil.  Why?

You Can Not Blow Away a Sheet of Paper (Vivian, 1963, p. 65)
Take an ordinary sheet of paper, and cut two long strips out of it, about 2 cm. wide.  Hold them in front of your face, about 10 cm. apart.  Try to blow them away from each other.   You can also do this with a sheet of paper folded into a tent, and set on a table:  Blow into the tent, and see what happens. 

You Can Not Blow Away a Ping Pong Ball (Gardner, 1978, p. 100)
Take a funnel and drop a ping pong ball in it.  Holding the funnel with the wide end upwards, blow through the funnel as hard as hard as you can, and try to blow the ball out of the funnel.  Why can't you do this?   If you can find a glass funnel, try the same thing, only this time, hold the funnel sideways, or even downwards, as in the diagram below.  The ball should only fall to the floor when you stop blowing hard .

Wrap Up the Crowd (Sobey, 2000, p. 17-18)
Put a roll of 1 ply toilet paper on a thick dowel, such as a broom handle.  Have someone hold it in front of you.  Place a leaf blower slightly above the toilet roll and turn it on.  Lower the blower until the toilet roll is pulled out into the audience.  If your audience isn't amazed by the principles of lift and air pressure, the noise and the mess will at least leave an impression on them.

The Obedient Can (Vivian, 1963, p. 80)
Find a cylindrical can, with a top and bottom (e.g. a coffee tin). Make two holes in the top and bottom of the lid, near the edges, opposite each other.  Tie together several large rubber bands, and pull them through the holes to form a figure eight, as shown below.  Tie a small nut or other weight to the elastic bands where they cross.  When you roll the can away from you, it always comes back to you.  .  See if the students can explain why this happens.

The Amazing Balancing Hammer (Liem, 1987, p. 325)
Can you hang a hammer from  a loose ruler on the edge of a table?  Why not!  Here is how:  Take a hammer with a wooden handle, and a piece of string about 10 cm. in diameter.  Arrange them from the edge of the table, as the diagram below. 

The Roaring Ruler (Vivian 1963, p. 86) 
Drill a hole in the end of an old ruler or a painting stir stick . Attach a piece of strong twine to the end of the ruler.  Whirl the ruler as fast as you can.  It will appear to admit a "roar."  For a deeper sound, use a piece of plywood 25 cm X 8 cm.  For a different sound, twist the string before whirling it.  The Australian Aboriginals used a device like this, called a "bullroarer."  There is a legend that the first bullroarer was a devise to preserve the spirits of some dead boys, and bring their voices to life.

The Amazing Anti-Gravity Cone (McGill, 1984, p. 124)
Can object roll uphill?  Of course it can, if you design it right.  Take two plastic funnels and tape or glue them together, as shown below, to forma double cone.  Take two meter sticks, and place them on a table, to form a triangle, with the wide end of the triangle raised up on one or two books.  The meter sticks should be touching on the table, with the wide part of meter sticks no further apart than the widest part of your double-cone apparatus. Place the double-cone at the bottom part of your triangle track, and watch it roll uphill!

Optical Illusion Magic (Simon, 1998, p. 6, 13)
Which of the two lines in  the box to the left looks longer?  They are actually both the same size.  To get your students to work with this illusion, simply have them draw 2 lines, one vertical and one horizontal, of exactly the same length, with the vertical line bisecting the horizontal in half.  The book has some excellent hypotheses your students can test, as to why they do not perceive what is actually there.

In the illusion to the right, line AB is the same size as line BC, believe it or not!

The Floating Finger (Churchill, 1989, p. 8-9)
Have students position themselves about 1 meter away from a wall.  Have them hold their two hands in front of their face at eye level. Have them point their index fingers at each other, keeping their fingers about 2 cm. apart.  Have them focus on the wall, just beyond their fingers.  When they do this, it will appear that a tiny disconnected finger is floating in the space between their finger tips.  If the students focus on their fingers, instead of the wall just beyond their fingers, the illusion disappears.

You Have X-Ray Vision (Gold, 1991, p. 14)
Take an ordinary sheet of paper, and roll it into a tube, about 2 cm, across.  Look through the tube with your right eye.  Hold your left hand beside the tube, with your palm facing you.  Slide your hand towards your face, with both eyes open,  looking  straight ahead.  You should be able to see right through your hand!

Supersonic Card (Churchill, 1988, p. 81-82)
For this activity, you need a file card, or cut out a 5 X 12 cm. card from an old file folder.  The card make look ordinary, but it is extremely hard to catch.  Have one student hold the card near the top.  The other student should hold the card near the middle, and then ungrasp the card, with about 2 cm. between the card and their hand.  The first student drops the card, and the second student tries to grab it.  It is every hard to do!

Paper Magic (McGill, 1992, p. 36-37)
Prepare three circles or bands of paper for each group ahead of time as follows.  Cut three strips of paper from a newspaper.  Tape the ends of the first one together. Tape the ends of the second one together, but give the band a half twist, before taping it together.  Do the same for the third strip, but give it a full twist.   Have the students cut each band in half lengthwise.  The first band will become two bands of equal size, as expected.  The second band becomes two bands linked together.  The third band comes out as one giant band, twice the size of the original.  The twisted bands are called mobius strips. You can also make a small mobius strip, and tell the students to color the front side of the strip one colour, and the backside a different colour.  However, they will find that this is impossible, because there is only one side to a mobius strip.

Chesire Cat (Doherty, Paul and Rathjen, Donald, 1991, p. 22-1)
Have a student sit next to a white wall (STUDENT A).  Have them hold a hand mirror up to their nose, so that their right eye sees the reflection of the white wall in the mirror.  Have another student (STUDENT B) sit opposite student A, so that the student A sees the student B with their left eye.  Instruct student A to look through both eyes, and move their right hand in front of the white wall, as if erasing something off the wall.  Parts of student B's face should disappear, usually leaving student B's smile and/or eyes floating in space, without a face!  It is just like in Alice in Wonderland, where the Chesire cat "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained sometime after the rest of it had gone. (From Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lancer Books version, 1968, p. 71)"

     STUDENT A:                             STUDENT B:

Students Responding to the Best Science Books

 

Have students browse through great science books, such as the ones on the list below, and spend 15 minutes  browsing the titles.  Have each student in a group pick one or two of the activities to do.  Have each group share their answers with the larger group.

• One amazing or unbelievable fact I found.

• One picture that caught my attention, and added something beyond the words in the book.

• One activity or experiment I would like to try, or have tried.  It must use common household materials, minimal preparation, but would make science study interesting for me or my students.

• Best Quote:  One statement that made science fun for me.

Great Books for Science Fun and Magic

Most of the books featured throughout this handout were selected using four search strategies:

1. A search in the Curriculum Laboratory collection was done, using the subject heading, "scientific recreations."  As well, the author browsed the library shelves under the Dewey Decimal numbers 502-507, and 793.8.
2. These books were purchased by doing a search through the recent book review literature, including Canadian sources, for the keywords, "science and (fun or magic)" or "scientific recreations". 
3. A major source for titles was "Outstanding Science Trades Books for Children," produced by the National Science Teacher's Association and the Children's Book Council in the United States.   The NSTA's mandate is "promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all....The books that appear in these lists were selected as outstanding children's science trade books. They are intended primarily for kindergarten to twelfth grade. They were selected by a book review panel appointed by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and assembled in cooperation with the Children's Book Council (CBC). NSTA and CBC have cooperated on this bibliographic project since 1973." 
4. Finally, I have used my own discretion to select a few of my favourite titles from the Curriculum Laboratory shelves, because they make science fun, and magic!

Carletti, Silvana (1993). Sign out science: simple hands-on experiments using everyday materials. Markham, Ontario: Pembroke Publishers. 502 Car

Cobb, Vicki (2000). Bangs and twangs: science fun with sound. Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press. 534 Cob. Text and simple experiments introduce sound, how it is carried through the air and through objects, and how we hear it.

Cobb, Vicki (1990). Bet you can!: science possibilities to fool you. New York: Lotrhop, Lee & Shepard. 793.8 Cob. Describes more than sixty tricks based on scientific experiments featured in the text.

Cobb, Vicki (1998). Don't try this at home!: science fun for kids on the go. New York: Morrow Junior Books. 507.8 Cob. Provides instructions for a variety of science activities outside, arranged by such categories as school, parks, and vehicles.

Cobb, Vicki (1993). Wanna bet? : science challenges to fool you. New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. 793.8 Cob. Provides instructions for a variety of scientific tricks or challenges, such as slicing an apple in midair with a hammer or tying a knot in a chicken bone.

Cobb, Vicki and Darling, Vicki (1999). You gotta try this! New York: Morrow Junior Books. 502 Cob. A collection of science experiments and activities, arranged in such categories as "Physical Attractions," "Curious Chemistry," and "Freaky Fluids."

Day, Trevor (2000). Youch! : real-life monsters up close. New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 591.65 Day. Close-up photographs and text about dangerous insects, snakes, reptiles, fish, and other animals. Includes movable flaps. Comment from a student at Lomond school:  "One blue ringed octopus contains enough venom to kill ten full grown people (page 7)."

Doherty, Paul (1995). The Chesire cat other eye-popping experiments on how we see the world. New York: Wiley.

 Du Quette, Keith (2002). They call me Woolly : what animal names can tell us. New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons. 590 Du.

Everts, Tammy (1995). Really weird animals. New York: Crabtree Pub. 591. Eve. Introduces such unusual animals as the narwhal, tarsier, hagfish, tuatara, and zorilla. Comment from a teacher at the Western Canada 2001 C.E.A. Teachers' Convention: "The Probiscis monkey's nose on page 28 is incredible!  The male Proboscis monkey has a larger nose than the female.  When the monkey honks, its nose shoots upward (p. 29).  "

Exploratorium. Teacher Institute (1991). The Exploratorium science snackbook. San Francisco: Exploratorium. 502 Exp.

Fleischman, John (2002). Phineas Gage : a gruesome but true story about brain science. Boston  : Houghton Mifflin. 362.197481 Fle

Funston, Sylvia (2000). The book of you : the science and fun! of why you look, feel, and act the way you do New York: Beech Tree Books. 155.2 Fun.

Gardner, Robert (2000). Science projects about the science behind magic. Berkeley Heights, NJ : Enslow Publishers. 507.8 Gar. Explains how to perform a variety of magic tricks by using the laws of nature, including demonstrations of air pressure, optical illusions, chemical reactions, and more.

Gold, Carol (1991). Science express. Toronto : Kids Can Press. 507.8 Gol.

Graham, Joan Bransfield (1999). Flicker flash. Boston : Houghton Mifflin. 811.54 Gra. A collection of poems celebrating light in its various forms, from candles and lamps to lightning and fireflies.

Hauser, Jill Frankel (1996). Super science concoctions : 50 mysterious mixtures for fabulous 
fun .Charlotte, VT : Williamson Publ. 502 Hau. Over 75 safe, inexpensive science experiments with mixtures that illustrate changes in form and chemical composition. Comment from a student at Lomond school:  "Draw a dragon on a strip of construction paper. Put a red dot with a felt-tip marker in the open mouth. Put it in 1/2 inch of water.  Watch fiery breath appear (page 27)." 

Hawcock, David (1998). The amazing pull-out pop-up body in a book. Toronto: Elan Press. 611 Haw.
Comment from a teacher at the Western Canada 2001 C.E.A. Teachers' Convention: "The whole body page was great!  It got a "wow" reaction from the group."

Hixson, B.K. Science Puzzles.

Hixson, B.K. Zero to Einstein in 60 : 60 experiments guaranteed to cure science nincompoopitis. Salt Lake City, UT : The Wild Goose Co. 502 Zer.

Horenstein, Henry (1999).
A is for-- ? : a photographer's alphabet of animals. San Diego : Harcourt Brace. 590 Hor.
With the letters of the alphabet as clues, readers are challenged to guess the identity of the animals pictured in the photographs.

Jenkins, Steve (2004). Actual size. Boston : Houghton Mifflin. In process. Discusses the gives examples of the size and weight of various animals and parts of animals.

Jenkins, Steve (1997). What do you do when something wants to eat you? Boston : Houghton Mifflin. 591.47 Jen. Describes how various animals, including an octopus, a bombardier beetle, a puff adder, and a gliding frog, escape danger. Comment from a teacher at the Western Canada 2001 C.E.A. Teachers' Convention: "The Bomardier Beetle can shoot hot chemicals from its bum, up to 500 times a second."

Jennings, Terry J. (1996). 101 amazing optical illusions : fantastic visual tricks. New York : Sterling Pub. 152.148 Jen. Provides simple instructions for creating a variety of visual tricks.

Levine, Shar and Johnstone, Leslie. Bathtub science. New York: Sterling Publishing. 532 Lev. Shows how to turn your bathtub into a laboratory and perform all sorts of experiments with water, such as showing how a submarine works, finding out when water moves upward by itself, and learning how to time your bath without a watch.

Liem, Tik L. (1992). Invitations to science inquiry. Chino Hills, CA : Science Inquiry Enterprises. 502 Lie Gr. 10-12. Over 400 discrepant events to interest and motivate your students in learning science!"

Locker, Thomas (2000). Cloud dance. Sand Diego: Harcourt. F Loc. Clouds of many shapes and sizes drift and dance across the sky. Includes factual information on the formation and different kinds of clouds. See also: Water Dance, with explanations of the water cycle.

Markes, Julie (2001). Good thing you're not an octopus! New York : HarperCollins. F Mar.
A little boy finds that his life is pretty easy compared to how it might be.

Moje, Steven (1998). 100 science experiments with paper. New York: Sterling. 502 Moj.

Robinson, Richard (1999). Conjuring in the kitchen, or, Laboratory in the living room (Science magic series). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 502 Rob. Reveals to you the secret science behind some dazzling magic tricks.

Schwartz, David (2007). Where in the wild? Camouflaged creatures concealed...and revealed. Berkeley: Tricycle Press. 591.472 Sch. Poetry and flap pages conceal and reveal hidden creatures.

Sciezka, Jon (2004). Science verse. Penguin: Toronto. In process. When the teacher tells his class that they can hear the poetry of science in everything, a student is struck with a curse and begins hearing nothing but science verses that sound very much like some well-known poems.

Settel, Joanne (1999).  Exploding ants : amazing facts about how animals adapt. New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 591.5 Set. Describes examples of animal behavior that may strike humans as  disgusting, including the "gross" ways animals find food, shelter, and safety in the natural world. Comment from a student at Lomond school:  "I liked the picture of  the balloon bird."  The throat pouch of the frigate bird puffs out like a balloon.  He uses it to attract females, and scare away other males (page 19).

Sierra, Judy (2004). Wild about books. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. F Sie. A librarian named Mavis McGrew introduces the animals in the zoo to the joy of reading when she drives her bookmobile to the zoo by mistake.

Simon, Seymour (2001). Animals nobody loves. New York : SeaStar Books. 591.65 Sim

Simon, Seymour (2003). Eyes and ears. New York: HarperCollins. 612.8 Sim. Describes the anatomy of the eye and ear, how those organs function and some ways in which they may malfunction, and how the brain is also involved in our seeing and hearing.

Simon, Seymour (1998). Now you see it, now you don't : the amazing world of optical  illusions. New York : Morrow Junior Books. 152.148 Sim. Comment from a student at Lomond school:  "The pictures are cool:  They trick your brain." 

Simon, Seymour (2000). Out of sight : pictures of hidden worlds. New York : SeaStar Books. 612.84 Sim. Shows pictures of objects which are too small, too far away, or too fast to see without mechanical assistance such as microscopes, telescopes, X-rays, and other techniques. Comment from a student at Lomond school:  "In this picture it is showing beautiful circles and spirals in a path of subatomic particles millions of times smaller than a period at the end of a sentence (page 18). Comment from another student at Lomond school:  "I loved how the virus looks (page 6)." 

Szpirglas, Jeff (2004). Gross universe: your guide to all disgusting things under the sun. Toronto: Maple Tree Press. 573 Szp. Learn important science facts such as: the burps and farts of a single sheep in one day could fill 15 pop bottles.

VanCleave, Janice Pratt (2001). Janice VanCleave's teaching the fun of science. New York : John Wiley.      507.8 Van. Proven projects that get the kids excited about science. This book helps the user balance "the free spirit of discovery with the business of recording and sharing scientific data" (p. 2).

Verstraete, Larry (1999). Accidental discoveries : from laughing gas to dynamite. Markham, Ont. : Scholastic Canada, c1999. 500 Ver. Comment from a teacher at the Western Canada 2001 C.E.A. Teachers' Convention: "A good summary of serendipitous discoveries in the world of science, easy reading level, very practical, 'real' for kids in S.T.S. class.

Wick, Walter (1998).  Walter Wick's optical tricks. New York ; Toronto : Scholastic. 152.148 Wic.     Presents a series of optical illusions and explains what is seen.

Wiese, Jim (2000).  Head to toe science : over 40 eye-popping, spine-tingling, heart-
pounding activities that teach kids about the human body.  New York : Toronto : John Wiley & Sons. 612 Wie. Introduces the circulatory system, muscles, digestion, senses,  and other body parts and functions through a collection of activities and experiments which can be developed into science fair projects.

Wulffson, Don L (2000). Toys! : amazing stories behind some great inventions. New York : Henry Holt. 688.72 Wul. Describes the creation of a variety of toys and games, from seesaws to Silly Putty and toy soldiers to Trivial Pursuit. Comment from a student at Lomond school:  "The slinky toy was a goof-up, and it wasn't meant to be (page 5)."  The slinky was originally designed to help level electronic instruments on battleships, as they  pitched up and down in the waves.  It didn't work well for this purpose.  However, the slinky did end up in battle:  They were tossed over high tree branches as makeshift antennas in the Vietnam War.

Search for Science Fun and Magic on the Web

• See the Curriculum Laboratory Web Site at: http://www.uleth.ca/edu/currlab/lessonplan.cfm

• Cool, funky tricks from PBS Zoom
• Bill Nye, The Science Guy!
• Ontario Science Centre's "SciZone"
• Exploratorium Science Snacks
• Funology's "The Science of Having Fun" Laboratory
• Yahoolighan's Science Experiments and Activities List