VanCleave's Science Fun

Your Guide to Science Projects, Fun Experiments, and Science Research

ABOUT THE SOUND PICTURE

With mouth wide open, vibrating air coming up the throat from the vocal chords leaving the open mouth and spreading in all directions. Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50+ best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years and now am creating this science website.   My scream was not staged. The picture was to be of two adult cats, which I was holding. A microsecond before the camera snapped, the two cats dug their claws into my skin as they prepared to leap out of my arms. A picture like this is great for making inferences. Kids could make "guesses" as to why I am screaming. They would be drawing on facts from the photo, such as I look like I am in pain or maybe I am just pretending.

Sound Supplies and Sound Investigations

Educational Innovation Sound Supplies A black and yellow logo for Educational Innovations. A place to find fun science supplies.

Tips for Teaching Science

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Notes from Janice’s Desk Tip 1:Make Science Activities a Hit in Your Classroom. Here are some strategies you can use to make science both a fun-filled adventure for students and the easiest and most organized period of your day. Know the Experiment. Read each experiment completely before starting, and practice doing the experiment prior to […]

Science Fair Projects: Botany

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Notes from Janice’s Desk In the United States, science fair projects generally start in autumn. Even though this is not our plant growing season indoors plant projects work very well. Botany is the study of plants. The picture shows tomato plants grown from seeds planted at different times. This is one way to compare the […]

Skin:Watersoaked

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Notes from Janice’s Desk There are various explanations of why fingers and toes wrinkle when  they are soaked in water for a time. Most scientists suggest that the tough outer layer of skin made up of dead keratin cells is responsible. But an exact reason cannot be given because it is not known –yet. In […]

Color

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Notes from Janice’s Desk Color is listed as a physical property of a material. This is because most people see colors the same way. . This is because most people Color is listed as a physical property of not a  a property of the nervous system of the animal perceiving the light. Revise the following […]

Lightning

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Notes from Janice’s Desk Lightning is so awesome, beautiful, but very dangerous. Each year lightning does more damage to property as well as injuries than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined. For more awesome photos of lightning, see   EXTREME INSTABILITY For a fun activity, see LIGHTNING If your thinking about doing a science project, you […]

Science Fair Project: Teacher Tips

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Notes from Janice’s Desk The best way to learn is by experience. So the best way to teach a process is for students to experience it. Teach the processes required for a successful science fair project using a classroom project. The class as a group will help design. You might even create a story to […]

Sense of Smell

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Notes from Janice’s Desk You smell things, such as a French Fries, because molecules leave the food and enter the air. When this air containing molecules from the French Fries enters your nose, special cells on the surface inside your nose capture the molecules. These special smelling cells have hairlike bristles covered with a slippery […]

Butterfly: Proboscus

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OOPS! Proboscus , Proboscis is the correct spelling for this insect feeding tube. Only vertebrates (animals with backbones) have teeth as we know them. Invertebrates (animals without a backbone),  such as some  biting and chewing insects, including caterpillars, are  have structures that function like “teeth.” These mouth parts, called mandibles, have small, sharp projections used […]

Science Fair Projects: Gross Experiment

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Notes from Janice’s Desk I was recently told of a science project done by a team of young boys. The boys had excitedly described the event as being the grossest and coolest thing they had ever done. Their gross-cool experiment was chewing a piece of cracker, then spitting it in a container and testing it […]

Chemistry: Matter

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Notes from Janice’s Desk Chemistry is one of my favorite sciences. Actually, I am not sure which I like the best, chemistry or physics.  But there is such an overlap of between all the science, so I guess I like them all. Chemistry is the study of the properties (characteristics) and behavior of matter. Physics […]