How fast can your students react? Let them measure it. This interdisciplinary research activity includes a discussion on the functioning of the nervous system as well as the physics of objects in free fall.

Students learn early on that some people are left-handed while others are right-handed. Yet many will be surprised to learn that they are also left or right 'eyed', and that their eye preference does not always match that of their dominant hand.

Yeast is not a chemical reagent, but consists of unicellular microorganism that want to be treated nicely to do their job: Only if they have enough to eat and a comfortable ambient temperature will they produce those gas bubbles in the bread ...

Within minutes, our senses adapt to the environment. They are optimized to notify us quickly about changes in a stimulus (e.g. of the temperature, color or taste) rather than to measure absolute values.

If you can find a recent schoolbook that still claims that the tastes 'bitter', 'sour', 'salty' and 'sweet' are perceived exclusively at certain regions on the tongue: That's great! Don't miss the opportunity to teach your students the important lesson of critically ...

We usually take 3D vision for granted. As with many things, we only note its value once we have to cope without.

The water vapor in our breath becomes visible when it condensates on a mirror. You can use this every-day experience to challenge your students: Let them find evidence to convince you that it is actually water which appears (condenses) and quickly disappears ...

Most students know that they want to go swimming on a hot day, but far less will know why water has such a refreshingly cooling effect. Use this first-hand experience to start a discussion on why evaporation cools, and how mammals, including ...

This little game is based on a famous psychology experiment. Researchers demonstrated with it that humans often hold a confirmation bias: We naturally tend to seek evidence that confirms our current believes, rather than to look for evidence that falsifies theories. Karl ...

Looking at the speckle pattern of a laser beam can teach a very important lesson about science: ...

Why does wool feel warm and metal cold – even though both are at the same temperature? ...

Some experiments go to great length and cost to make sound waves visible. This extremely simple activity only requires a balloon and a few seconds, but is far more direct, personal and memorable.

Beyond creating an intriguing 3D effect, anaglyphs can give us some interesting insight in the way our brain processes colors and creates an 'image' of the world around us.

Communication is a difficult skill to master. The gap between the message we believe to 'send' and the message the other side 'receives' can be amusing, surprising or disastrous. This little experiment sheds light on one of the many reasons why communication ...

How is red related to cyan, or blue to yellow? Indeed, they are complementary colors – but what does this actually mean? This simple experiment turns abstract color theory into a tangible color filter puzzle that challenges your student's analytical thinking.