Elizabeth Hubbard’s 2nd block Science 8 class recently practiced some hands-on science when they learned how plasma balls generate an electric field and how different objects interact with this field. Hubbard showed the students that just putting a light bulb near the plasma ball made the bulb light up because of the energy generated by the ball. Students were then allowed to touch the ball.

“Touching the plasma ball was really exciting because it gave you a funny feeling. It makes your fingers tingle,” said 8th grader Alex Pellicane. Hubbard said this is an activity that she really looks forward to. “As a teacher, giving students hands-on experience helps them learn and retain information better,” She added that “giving students a chance to get up and interact also gets them more excited about the material. And hey– it is totally cool to get a light bulb to light up without plugging it in!”