Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Enjoy some Bill Nye



We've discovered Bill Nye at my home recently; this video on chemical reactions (23 minutes long, I note) is eminently watchable and frequently requested. He and his team of kids manage to teach a bunch of simple facts, including that:
  • Everything is made of chemicals. 
  • Chemicals react to create new chemicals. 
  • Some of the reactions are energetic, some of them are not. 
The PPE requirements are interesting (I note that "Candace the Science Gal"* goes into Bill's lab, stands in front of the flame and then puts on her eyewear). All in all, a classic of chemical education. 

I wonder if people think that there are too many explosions in this video? I thought there were just enough. 

4 comments:

  1. Old man clutching his suspendersJanuary 15, 2014 at 6:49 PM

    It's a real shame that we don't really have an equivalent show to Bill Nye (or Beakman's World) these days. Square One, Reading Rainbow, 3-2-1 contact. These were some quality shows that didn't treat kids like idiots the way modern shows like Sid the Science Kid do. Mr. Wizard would not have tolerated such foolishness.

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  2. hey, I am a chemist. Can I also play one on TV?

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    Replies
    1. Why not get out there and do it in real life? We've seen what happens when people who aren't chemists try to do live demos.

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  3. came across this article: Yes, teach STEM in a foreign language (Chinese, Arabic, Spanish)! http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/progress/2014/01/maryland-pairs-world-languages-with-stem-to-increase-21st-century-skills/
    Because future STEM jobs will be in China anyways...problem solved.

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looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20