measuring cups

I teach seventh grade life science at a local public school.

Yesterday I attempted to demonstrate osmosis to the class by looking at a thin piece of red cabbage under a microscope (projecting to the class through video to the television) and letting salt water run through it using capillary action between the slide and cover slip (it's actually pretty cool and worth the time if you've got a spare microscope, slides, and cover slips at home).

I was having a bit of trouble getting the salt water to flow over the cabbage sample (by that capillary action I was telling you about) and, mildly frustrated, I let out a loud, yet controlled, "SCIENCE!".

And I thought, "Hmmm.... did I just do that? Yep-- yes I did. I did give a good 'Science!' just then..."

And I had to think fast to explain myself.

So I convinced my fourth period class that if you yell, "SCIENCE!" every now and again during a lab or experiment, you will find quicker results.

Soon thereafter, I heard one hesitant, "Science!"... then another, and before I knew it, several members of the class were cheering on the experiment with a "SCIENCE!" here and a "SCIENCE!" there.

And it was then that I realized that this teaching thing wasn't so bad.



semipermeable
|ˌsemēˈpərmēəbəl; ˌsemˌī-|
adjective
(of a material or membrane) allowing certain substances to pass through it but not others, esp. allowing the passage of a solvent but not of certain solutes.


but of course... you already knew that.