Experiences

Experiments are memorable

P.L

Romania

Lower Secondary School

Chemistry

Laboratory

Direct

Experiments are memorable and a teacher can make them even more memorable if s/he links them to students’ everyday events. I remember one particular experiment. We carried out the experiment with the black light and petroleum jelly and then thought of using it for Halloween school festival. One of the students was supposed to tell a story about a ghost whose hands were glowing at night. It was an application of the black light experiment. We needed few things: a black light, petroleum jelly and latex gloves. The success was fabulous. The student appeared on the stage and started his story. Nobody noticed he was wearing a pair of latex gloves. He had previously covered his gloves in a thin layer of petroleum jelly. When he mentioned the ghost with the glowing hands somebody turned off the lights in the room, and turned on the black light, which was very close to him. The audience was thrilled. Everybody could see the glowing gloves wave to them. Needless to say we had to explain the “trick” to everybody.