Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Kathy Gombos told her entire student body seated inside the school’s gymnasium on Tuesday, January 13, “We are all very excited…”

A few moments later Sandy Hook School math/science specialist Kris Feda introduced Bill Nye “The Science Guy” to the assembled students. Ms Feda explained that Mr Nye has made science his career and shared some highlights from his work.

“So let’s give a Sandy Hook School welcome to Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy,’” Ms Feda said.

After announcing he would be speaking about energy, Mr Nye showed the students two tubes, one made of aluminum and one made of copper. He also held up two “really fun strong magnets,” before asking for two student volunteers.

The students dropped the magnets into the tubes, discovering the magnets did not fall as they typically would. Students across the gymnasium let out gasps as they witnessed the magnets fall through the cylinders slower than they would have fallen if dropped to the ground on their own.

Mr Nye explained, using a nearly clear green sheet wrapped around the tubes, that the students were witnessing magnetic fields.

Everything within the gymnasium, Mr Nye said — from the steel beams in the ceiling to the rivets in the bleachers — were made thanks to a discovery by scientist Michael Faraday. Using that discovery, Mr Nye said, people have been able to “change the world.”

Mr Nye called on another volunteer to show how energy from a crank could be used to make light bulbs shine. Light bulbs have changed from when he was a kid, he told the students, and today’s LED (or light-emitting diode) lights require less energy than the light bulbs of his childhood.

“This is the future guys,” Mr Nye told the students. “If we can find ways to get the same job done with less energy — dare I say it?— we will be able to change the world!”

And that change will not come from magic, Mr Nye said, but, “with science,” the students finished for him.

Before taking questions from students, Mr Nye also demonstrated a Stirling engine running off of heat differences, using ice. He also said he anticipates Stirling engines, which he said were patented in 1807, will be used more in the future, due to the capability of running off of “just a little bit of heat.”

“The key to the future,” Mr Nye added later, “is not just to do less, but to do more with less.”

He also told the students there are still things to discover in the universe.

“The discoveries that will be made in your lifetime will make me go like this…” he said before dropping his jaw and opening his eyes wide.

This story has been updated to reflect scientist Michael Faraday's work with magnetic fields.