Debby Venable
Oklahoma STEM Ambassador


ZAP!!!!  I sure can remember walking across the carpet in the house and getting zapped by just touching the doorknob, and if it was dark, I could actually see the sparks fly.  I was young and did not know what was happening, but I did know that it kinda scared me.  It hurt!!  So when my dad would intentionally rub his socks back and forth across the carpet and chase me to touch my ear with his finger, it did not take me long to understand that it was not fun.  

Then one day in school we were studying static electricity in science, and of course it was just reading from the chapter on electricity, but it still did not explain the concept or what was happening when my ear got ‘zapped”.  I was fortunate to be a member of my 4-H Club afterschool.  True I grew up in a school that had a population of only 100 kids in grades 1-8, but we had lots of caring parents that wanted us to have the fun that 4-H Clubs offered.

It was in that 4-H experience that I finally learned about static electricity and many, many other concepts through hands-on activities.  It was then that not only the shock of walking across my carpet at home and getting a jolt made sense, but also what I had been reading in my science book finally clicked.   I know that hands-on activities always worked and gave me clarity, showed me HOW to learn a difficult concept.  I took to it like a “duck to water” and I’ve never stopped “quacking “about informal hands-on science because it “sticks” . It gives students reference points to have a concept stick to, in that if they are studying prehistoric animal’s size.  It is just hard for anyone to imagine the size of a tyrannosaurs because they have no point of reference since they don’t see one every day!

So when you take the kids outside and measure the length on a dino footprint and have all the students stand inside the print, you have hooked them for life, something they will never forget.  They are engaged and will never forget that concept.  Isn’t that what we are all here for? Making lifelong learners?  Sounds soooooo simple to me.  I get it.  That is why I teach the way I do and concepts like static electricity is no longer just getting zapped” by some mysterious ray, it is a scientific phenomenon that they now understand.  Have fun with the static electricity lessons that I have included for your kids to experience.  They are simple, inexpensive, and guaranteed to “electrify” your students.   Go forth and ‘zap’ STEM misunderstandings.

Click here to download 4 fun activities!