OK, now it may sound strange for me to tell you not to show videos to your students, but there is method in my madness. Think back to when you were in school. You probably had at least one science teacher that stands out. It was probably the one that did all the cool science tricks, and made science interesting. You can be that teacher. You SHOULD be that teacher. And it is easy to do.

Before you start showing the videos to your students, look through them and pick out some to hold back. For example, instead of showing your students "The Old Tablecloth Trick", watch it yourself and learn how to do it. Practice until you can do the demonstration. Then read the text version and make sure that you understand the science fully. Use the site as a training resource, instead of just a video site.

At a later date, you may wind up showing the video to your students, but you should notice a difference in the way that they react. Robert Krampf is doing the same demonstration that you did!

You can also dig through the hundreds of text experiments on the site for even more demo ideas. Almost all of them use common materials and are easy to master. Don't worry that you are stealing my ideas. After all, most of these demonstrations I learned from other science educators. Some of them have been around longer than I have.

The important thing is that by becoming "the cool science teacher" you can also become "the effective science teacher", making science interesting and understandable. That will put your students in the proper mindset for understanding the science instead of just memorizing it, and that "aha!" moment of understanding is a wonder-filled thing.