STEVE SPANGLER
He’s been described as the guy who shoots potatoes, makes toilet paper fly, and mixes up a perfect batch of slime. But he may be best known for teaching millions of people how to turn an ordinary bottle of soda into an erupting geyser of fun. His now famous Mentos Geyser Experiment became an Internet sensation in September of 2005 and spawned more than a thousand related exploding soda experiments on videos sites like YouTube.com
On the education side, Steve Spangler is nationally known as a teacher's teacher who shares his passion for learning in the classroom, on the platform, and through the airwaves. Over the last 15 years, Steve has made over 500 television appearances as an authority on hands-on science and inquiry-based learning. His cool science demonstrations and creative insights earned him an Emmy as the host of NBC television’s News for Kids.
Spangler joined the Denver NBC affiliate, KUSA-TV 9News, in 2001 as their Science Education Specialist. His weekly experiments and science segments are designed to teach viewers creative ways to make learning fun and never fail to surprise his co-hosts who seem to enjoy an occasional blast from a fire extinguisher or are eager to help trigger a few exploding pumpkins... all in the name of science.
Since 1991, Spangler has served as the Executive Director of the National Hands-on Science Institute, which includes hands-on trainings workshops for teachers and administrators. The Institute’s successful model of combining hands-on training for teachers with on-site practice and evaluation with children has attracted the attention of educators throughout the country.
With twelve years experience in the classroom in the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado, Steve continues to share his creative learning strategies and inquiry research as a consultant for the Littleton Public Schools in Colorado. The focus of his work centers around hands-on learning and student motivation.
Steve Spangler's online videos showing his favorite science demonstrations and latest creations continue to catch the attention of parents, teachers, television producers and even a talk show host here and there. Steve had the privilege of being a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in September of 2007 with a return visit in November. Ellen learned how to change her voice using a special gas, use liquid nitrogen to flash freeze fruit, perform the classic tablecloth trick and use giant rings of smoke to blow cups off the heads of people in the audience. Recently, Steve has also made appearances on the Food Network and the History Channel.
As a business leader, Steve Spangler combined his experiences as a teacher and his work in the educational toy industry to start his own business dedicated to creating products that make learning science fun. As the original founder and CEO of Be Amazing! Toys, Steve and his creative team of designers have developed more than 80 educational toys and science related products for companies like Scholastic, Target. the Discovery Channel Store, and Toys R' Us.
Steve Spangler Science serves as both a catalog and on-line business dedicated to offering its customers educational toys and one of a kind learning resources. The company's unique business strategies and attention-getting creations have been featured recently in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine and TIME Magazine where on-line readers voted Steve Spangler #18 in the Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year for 2006.
So, what is Steve doing right now?
He's probably making some gadget ooze, bubble, fizz, bounce, smoke, or maybe he's creating a new idea to get another human being turned on to life's small wonders.