Time to actually do something FOR SCIENCE: I'm a science teacher at a low-income rural middle school. We were just given 5,500 dollars to make a science lab. What do I get?

seagazer · 7 months

I vote for a microscope, too -- the kind where you can project the image onto a screen so everyone can see the tiny things. It might help the students see that science is indeed true, whether or not they believe it. You also might consider a library of science documentaries.

Zamawe · 7 months

You might want to try the folks over at /r/askscience or if they consider it too off topic you could try /r/askscitech (the sub for science technology related questions)

ryeinn · 7 months

From an other teacher, my congratulations on the cash, good luck spending the cash.

You can get a long way in ecology with beans, potting soil, grass seed and grow lights. Some great science can be done. I know our environmental science teacher does tons of labs without tons of different materials. Some of them plant things, others use the beans as counters or goals or whatever to demonstrate things like evolution or the Tragedy of the Commons. I'll try to remember to pick his brain tomorrow at work.
Cells, there are some great models out there. Microscopes are expensive, but might be worth it. What do you want to do with this unit?
Electricity with 8th graders doesn't get more fun than mini-lightbulbs, D-cells and wire. If they are advanced enough you could do series and parallel, but that may be beyond an 8th grader.
For Newton you don't need tons. Precision masses can get expensive though, maybe look at scales to mass ordinary objects instead? This may be outside your budget, but Vernier makes some amazing tools. I swear by their products in my classroom.
Space science you can look at some software for observing. Celestia, Starry Night, Stellarium, Google Earth (which has Google Sky built it) all come to mind. Maybe think about a scale model of the solar system?
Tectonics and Weather stump me a bit. I don't teach Earth/Space so I'm not sure how to help with those two.

On a side note, I try to re-purpose as much as I can, catalogs always overcharge when selling to schools.

I think what I would do in your situation, instead of spreading the money out over the entire curriculum I would find one of the units that I want to concentrate on and develop a plan to really rock that unit in the face.

What are the barriers the kids experience in that unit?
What trips them up?
What do they not have at the ready at the beginning of the unit that they should?
How could you rebuild the curriculum and labs to help them overcome that unit?
Ask the kids (you said this somewhere in a reply, its a great idea!).

Have you looked at Donors Choose? Might be a place to start once you have a plan but don't have enough money. Good luck! I hope this works out terrific for you and your students!

kasim42784 · 7 months

This is probably how I would spend the money, based on the provided curriculum:

1) Life Science - Ecology to Intro Cell Biology:

I would buy around 6 compound microscopes. They are not very expensive and I found a decent model for roughly $280.00 a piece (free S&H). With this, you can cover both ecology and cell biology. If you have prepared slides of plant cells, it would be nice to see those under the scope (xylem, phloem, root tip structure, stomata, etc.). If you have H&E stained slides of animal cells, it would be nice to see different phases of the cell cycle when going over something like mitosis.

2) Physical Sciences - Electricity and Newton's Laws

In my mind, this will probably not be too expensive to cover. For Newton's laws of motion, you can probably buy a bunch of hotwheels car tracks and do simple group experiments with those. I had something like this in mind (~ $15.00 a piece). With these and a bunch of sweet hot wheels cars, I think you can cover the three laws just fine. For electricity, I had some simple kits in mind which would cover things like resistors, capacitors, power source and circuits but I don't know how much detail you would be going into in class. Nevertheless, on sciencekits.com, they have this, which is something like what I had in mind (~ $14.00).

3) Earth and Space Sciences:

For this, I would primarily want a nice sized globe (~ $550.00). With this, you can talk about continental drift, ocean currents, tilted axis on which the earth rotates, etc.

Some large maps of the world and the solar system would probably also be nice to have.

Earth Map (~ $15.00)

Solar System Map (~ $15.00)

For discussing geology, you can also look in to ordering a bunch of rock samples from here (~ $5.00 a piece)

4) Other Items:

If the class does not already have one, a nice projector would be great (~ $600.00). Hooked up to a computer, you can show videos and simulations of pretty much any topic you will discuss during the course. Maybe you can also get students to do mini-powerpoint presentations on whatever science topic - just to get them in the habit of doing presentations in front of their peers.

Also, if the class does not have one, a nice laptop would be great as well. You can hook it up to a projector and do whatever you want. From peering into the wonders of what Carl Sagan has to share on Youtube to whatever Jenna Jameson has to share on Xtube, it can all be done!

All in all, this should roughly come out to:

6 Microscopes: $1680.00

10 Hotwheels Car Tracks: $150.00

Hotwheels Cars: $10.00 (for a pack of a bajillion)

10 Science Kits (Electricity): $140.00

1 Globe: $550.00

Maps: $30.00

10 Rock Samples: $50.00

Misc. Items (Magnets, Timers, Crafts): $200.00

1 Projector: $600.00

1 Laptop: ~$1000.00

Total: $4410.00

p.s. i would spend the remainder on dry ice.

hansn · 7 months

First, if you can save some of the money, do so. Better to have money to spend on something cool when you think of it than to spend it on something you wind up not using.

I'm also going to guess you have a small budget for consumables (chemicals, nitril gloves, swabs, lightbulbs, batteries, diodes the kids inevitably blow up, pH paper, etc.), which is enough to at least cover doing a few labs. I am going to also assume you're not adverse to some improv science using stuff from the hardware store.

I will also assume you have access to a computer and video projector.

If you can't save it, here's my list.

Essential: * Classroom set of splash and impact goggles (be sure the goggles you buy can do both): $315

5 scales, with a 0.01g precision, 200g range: 20x5=$100
Assorted chem glassware (I can itemize if you'd like): $400
Assorted lab hardware: $300
10 Sets of Mirrors and lenses: $260
Tuning forks: $5
Vacuum filtration and hand pump vacuum: $50
15 Hand crank generators: $160
15 Battery holders: $15
5 spectrometers: $45
15 magnifying glasses: $75
Variable regulated power supply (min of 0-15V, ideal 0-30V): $100
3 Almost decent multimeters (lots of requirements on this): $240
Breadboard, jumperwires, and enough electronic components to top out your knowledge of the subject (I can go into more detail here): $150
Butane torch: $30
Class set of electronics components (lightbulbs, resistors, leds, buzzers, alligator clips galore, motors, and whatever you might do a lab on): $200
Rock set: $50
2 sets, hanging spring scales (markings in newtons): $70
10 laser pointers (ideal if they can stand horizontally on their own): $50
Centrifuge (20ml min capacity): $60
Plankton net: $85
Trinocular biology microscope: $400
Boom trinocular dissecting microscope: $350
Wireless weather station: $40
Electroscope: $40
Hooked mass set (the hooks are really important in a lot of demos): $60
Pulleys: $250
15 stopwatches: $120
5 sets of color filters: $50

Wizbang optional (but cool):

Electrolysis setup: $25
High voltage power supply:$150
Crookes tubes (requires HV power supply): $80
Diamagnetism kit with pyrolytic carbon: $30
"Newton's Nightmare" toy (demo of lenz's law): $20
Wizard stick toy (actually a van de graff): $30
Class set of breadboards and components: $300
Cheap oscilloscope: $100
SpikerBox (a neuroscience probe for home use): $100
Arduino and assorted parts (you will have to take some time to learn it): $150
Magdenburg hemisphere: $40
Electric vacuum pump: $200
Vacuum plate and bell jar: $220
Tabletop lab incubator (keeps temp at 37 degrees): $380
Premade slides of mitosis: $20
Premade slides of general biology: $60
Radiometer: $10
Combination stirrer and hotplate: $150
Soldering iron (40W min): $80
Cleaned bones of a few mammals: $350
"Student" microtome: $110
Proper van de graff: $185
Class set of lab aprons: $245
Density cube set: $35
Moderate neodynium magnets (don't go overboard on size, they are more dangerous in a classroom than people realize): $50
Photogates and timers: More than they should be ($745 at Fisher, but should be much less)
Dissection trays and kits: $300
Levitron toy (floats a top using a dynamically controlled electromagnet): $30
Dewar flask (necessary for liquid nitrogen, obviously requires a source of liquid nitrogen to be useful): $175
Superconductor kit (requires liquid nitrogen supply and dewar vessel): $50
Classroom set of 15 cheap multimeters (assume they will measure volts but kids will burn out the ampmeter part immediately, some more advice is needed here): $120
IR Temperature sensor: $30

I could probably come up with other stuff, but this is a start. I am fairly sure these prices are realistic, although I did a few off the top of my head. Be sure to search amazon and ebay; do not assume Fisher Scientific, Flinn, or any of the other big education catalogs are well priced. It is rare to find a low price from an educational supply company.

I was more or less writing down what I had or wanted to have as a high school physics and general science teacher, but it was off the top of my head. I may have missed some critical items.

Obviously, some things are useful together, others are not. I put lab aprons in the optional part because I assumed you were not doing a lot of highly hazardous labs. In fact, if you are doing something that the lab apron needs to function (not just keep kids from having wet pants), you will need a more extensive safety plan (a shower and eye wash station at a minimum).

Your room seems to have desks, not tables. You might consider requesting tables, since kids will need to work in groups on many projects.

Your post mentions electrophoresis. It's cool and within the realm of high school or middle school science, but it requires a lot and gives very little. A gel box is only about $40, but unless you can make your own power supply (roughly 40V), that might be another $80. All the materials for DNA work are expensive as well, unless you're planning to run gels without real stuff in them (there are "simulation" kits). Gels are loaded with micropipettes, which are expensive themselves and require disposable tips (you can get away with fix volume micropipettes, but it is generally laborious). Ultimately, the lab procedures are long, and the results are not wizbang-impressive. That's okay for AP bio, but really is dull for a 13 year old.

I am fairly sure the prices are realistic for the bottom end of the market. Some of these are surprising; search for a centrifuge and you're likely to find they are $1200 and up, for example. But you can get one new for $60 on amazon (full disclosure, I don't know if it works well, but a centrifuge is awesome for all sorts of things). If you have any problems finding something, let me know. I didn't itemize the glass and lab equipment list, but those are partly dependent on what you want to do. I guessed a price based on 5x the lab glass and equipment cost listed in Thompson's fantastic book "Illustrated guide to home chemistry." Some of the glassware may not be useful to you, other parts you may need more of.

Obviously there are awesome things I would love to play with (and kids would get a kick out of) but no one could afford it for a educational lab (eg high speed video camera, thermal imager, etc.), but I left those off.

Finally, the best lab adapts to students' interests. My list is a set of general lab equipment, but there are lots of demos which require a few bits of something special. YouTube, other teachers, Walter Lewin's MIT (free opencourseware) physics lectures, or books can provide you with additional ideas. Some of those might require a few bits and bobbles which I didn't put here.

tl;dr Animatronic dinosaurs

Ben519 · 7 months

Physics teacher here, although not from the United States, so I really don't know how far you will go with them in each subjects. You can do a lot of things with a minimum of materials.

Have a multimeter already? If you want to study electricity, it's a must, especially to study electric circuits. Cool demo: build a battery out of a lemon and prove you can create an electric potential difference out of it. Cool lab: you can build a capacitor with two carton sheets with aluminum paper glued on them (conductive plates) and sheets of paper placed between the two aluminum faces (dielectric). Tell them to measure the capacity of the system in regards to the number of paper sheets between the two aluminum sides. Great lab. I really think multimeters are a must for electricity. A source of potential difference/current might be important to study direct current systems.

A Van de Graaf generator? Always exciting!

A Wimshurst machine? Maybe a little too advanced?

As for Newton's laws, I don't think any investment is needed. Usually, experiment and demo are made with a minimum of materials... Maybe a dynamometer?

Somali_Pir8 · 7 months

I am not sure how your ordering process works, but I suggest look on ebay. There are A LOT of completely fine biotech supplies on there from defunct companies. I had a professor buy a set of micropipette (retail ~$1000) for $40. Completely calibrated and everything. If you're able to go that route, you could get a better bang for your buck.

dietcokewLime · 7 months

One of these obviously

for only 8.95

Vibster · 7 months

How can this even be a science classroom? Where are your big sturdy benches? Your gas taps? Fume cupboard?

knowledge_is_power · 7 months

Seems like you should start with gravity because so far it looks like you are doing it wrong.

DarrenEdwards · 7 months

I am connected to science outreach, I may be able to find some programs for you to apply to, to get free materials.

Universities get money to promote science and they do need to reach out to schools.

LochNesMonster · 7 months

Anytime I was in school I always liked it when science teachers would do really hands on experiments with interesting chemical reactions. One good example is if you dissolve sodium acetate in near boiling water, chill it in the fridge, you can touch it to create instant ice at room temperature. Luckily my uncle owns a chemical supply company and really loves to help out local schools. I'm sure I could convince him to donate all you need for class, I'd just need about $3.50 for shipping and handling.

nolimitlane · 7 months

Its not enough!

Write Grants!

You need Photogate timers, long wooden boards, simple force carriages, Pulleys that can be clamped to the boards, Vernier Go! Motion Sensors, and Vernier Labquests.

There are people out there DYING to give away money to schools. All you gotta do is search the internet and ask for it.

I've worked at a private school the last 6 years, and we've written successful grants to the tune of over $20,000 when they are all totaled up. We bought Vernier Probeware, Sepup's SALI curriculum for Life Science, Microscopes, Vernier Labquests, and lots of other random equipment.

somad_ · 7 months

Thought it was an Australian school at first.

sikyon · 7 months

My suggestions, but I'm not sure about the costs:

I think that the key point that you want to promote in science class is critical thinking. In fact, I think this is the key point you want to promote short of university.

I think you can find some of the coolest experiments in ones that were done a long time ago. For example:

Life Science Lab: Abit trickey, but perhaps one demonstrating natural selection? Cell cultures that respond differently to different environmental factors which the students can change to see which cells prosper and which cells do not?

Physical science: A really fun experiment is to get a copper tube and a magnet. Drop the magnet into the tube and see what happens.

You could demonstrate breakdown voltages - so for example the open circuit system whre you increase the energy on one electrode until it sparks. The voltage of the electrodes can be controlled. And then you ask, why is it that only when you reach a threshold that the effect happens? Naively one might assume that you'd get a slow ramping up of the effect, not just a sudden breakdown.

Potato batteries are always interesting as well - perhaps have them try to optimize the system and observe what kinds of potatoes and setups work better?

Earth and space science - I think a cool experiment here might be to demonstrate convection in water as an analogy to the atmosphere. Add food coloring to a heat gradient in water to demonstrate convection currents? The size and scope of the universe is very difficult... but what might be cool is to try and map out the seasons based on a projected image of the stars. So for example, given that the northern hemisphere stars look like this model all year around, can you guess what it might look like when it's the middle of the summer?

As for tectonic plates... no idea lol.

I think the key thing is to encourage critical thinking. Flashy toys are fun, but you are somewhat doing a disservice to the students if you make them think that flashy toys and cool explosions are what scientists and engineers do. But if you can encourage them to actually like critical thinking (by rewarding correct logic with flashy results) then you will have really a great job.

But I'm not a teacher, so I have no idea if it's age appropriate.

Campanas · 7 months

Simple circuits: get a bunch of LED lights, small motors, things that are easy to hook up to batteries. Buzzers can be fun but noisy.

Make a scale model of the solar system: get some styrofoam balls and paint and have the kids help make the planets and set them up with appropriate distances between them.

frigginhumid · 7 months

$5500. I guess the state has other priorities but it's a start. If you can bring up scores in literacy and numeracy as a result of engaging students in reading and calculating they might throw you a bigger bone.

Microscopes

Electricity kits

Weather stuff

Interactive SmartBoard

stopscopiesme · 7 months

Life science: Animals! Ants, fish, and birds maybe. Microscopes and cool slides.

Physical science: Those carts you can smash into each other and the tracks that go with them. Tesla coil. Springs.

Earth and space science: I don't have any buying suggestions, but you should definitely do that demonstration where you make a to-scale model of the solar system, getting farther and farther away from the school as you move outward through the planets.

TheTrueHighlander · 7 months

Do you have an annual upkeep. I am asking this because anything that would need annual refill like chemical equipment is off the charts.

I, personally, wish I would have been able to do more stuff with electricity in my youth. There is so many careers that the field can lead into. EE, CS, electrician, and it really a must for any Engineering field in general. There are a lot of cool electrical boards that I am sure are cheap to purchase that you can reuse and do labs on.

Physical science is kinda cool because at that level you can make all your labs with duct tape and string so I recommend that you make your lesson plan in advance and then look into labs that you can do on that content. That is what I did with my chemistry class.

Earth science is cool. But I don't know of a lot of stuff, that you can use during the day, that will benefit you.

Life Science, man, there are a lot of google chemical/biological labs out there. Terrarium's are awesome but they do have upkeep. If upkeep is a problem then don't use animal. Just get some baller not indigenous plants. Or even something cheap like Water Hyacinth, some fertilizer, and stick it in a aquarium with some light. They will look awesome in bloom.

Brednbuttah · 7 months

For life science, I believe you can order tadpole kits on the net. The students can watch them go through the entire life cycle.

Edit: FYI tad poles grows into frogs

Lumburg · 7 months

Get some electrophoresis kits brah. Should be relatively cheap and give your kids some good experience for college, and potentially motivate them with some real science.

Edit: At the time I wrote this I didn't realize that these kids were in middle school. It might be a little advanced for them.

Therash · 7 months

Cook meth, obtain more currency.

Dumblonde · 7 months

How is you classroom set up with computers? Laptops or tablets could facilitate a lot of studies.

GustavoFrings · 7 months

Anything to do with dry ice! 10lbs of it $20 near me.... oh how I scienced the hell out of my school with dry ice.

Edit NSFL Not Me but Dry ice bomb injury

MrTallFish · 7 months

You get on reddit and wait for someone with a clue.

Mostly ask the kids, Involve them.

shanshan412 · 7 months

Microscopes, dissection kits, rock and mineral samples, solar system models, tons of colorful posters (or have the kids draw some science-related decorations as a fun project), and Bill Nye videos. Lots of Bill Nye videos.

pozitron · 7 months

I am not a teacher, but as a ME student in college right now here is what I think would make a fun and interesting lab. I don't know what your lesson plans are or how much this stuff would ultimately cost but the idea is to get the simple/cheap (price not quality) stuff.

Physics:

ring stands (general use)
air cart / glide cart (velocity, momentum, collisions)
IR motion timers (measurement of velocity - with air carts, pendulum, etc...)
wave table / wave generator (harmonic motion, constructive/destructive interference)
prisms (optics)
concave & convex magnifying glasses
low watt laser (a laser pointer)
parabolic mirror (reflection - darn cool to burn stuff with sunlight)
flat mirrors (optics)

Bio:

animals (snake, spider, mice, crickets)
plants (a local plant that is interesting and an exotic plant - venus fly trap, pitcher plant, orchid)
Grow lamp
Water distiller
Stereo microscope - with video out (show plant/animal features - also used in Geo to show minerals)
Simple Glassware (petri dishes, graduated cylinders, flasks, test tubes, droppers)
Basic pH/disolved O2 test equipment (either electronic or paper/one time use)

Geo:

Rock sample kit
Loupes
Telescope / Binoculars (look at the moon, stars or clouds)
Hi Power Rocket w/ video camera - (A fun class demonstration that can be used for Physics as well)

Charts:

PTOE
Sky Chart
Cell Chart
Weather / Cloud Chart
Living Things Chart (Shows each kingdom and a few of their sub categories - sorry not a bio major here)

In my opinion the charts should be there to give the students something to look at while they are not paying attention to you. (yes their minds will wander, but at least they might learn something from the charts if they are not listening to you)

I have no idea if this could be purchased for under $5500. If you are going to be doing this stuff as demonstrations then get as high of quality stuff as you can get without sacrificing the diversity of experiments.

Edit: I give up on Reddit formatting. I hate it. Or at least I hate the stupid documentation.

addicted68098 · 7 months

I heard kids like fire so you should buy bunsen burners, lots and lots of bunsen burners. Matches too, things to light on fire.

wooly_bully · 7 months

You might want to ask r/askscience ;)

mdrabz · 7 months

Some kind of laser. You can threaten to aim it at the nearest government building unless they give you more than a measly $5500!

FrostyM288 · 7 months

By far my favorite lab (though this was done in college) was to design the control system for an inverted pendulum like this. Obviously students won't understand the control theory, but it's an awesome engineering example. Find out how a system works and you can design something to solve a problem in that system.

For them to actually do something, you can probably give pendulums of different lengths/masses and make them change the parameters of the a pre-designed controller.

I like this idea cuz most students know that lasers or vandergraph generators are cool, but what's the point?! This has a goal that can be achieved through some complex understanding. If they like it, you can be like, if you want to work on this type of stuff, you're gonna need a much better understanding of physics and math. Thus, motivation to work harder.

What'll you say for a vandergraph generator? This is cool looking and a fun toy...but you probably don't care why/how it works so just play with it for now.

ChipsConQueso · 7 months

flinn scientific offers a wide variety of "kits" for most of, if not all these subjects. their website

a standard set of beakers, thermometers, etc. also not a bad plan

CarlGauss · 7 months

there are lots of freshmen physics setups that are kinda neat to demonstrate newton's laws (ball tracks and air tracks).

A neat thing for magnetic fields is to get a plexiglass box/dish. Put some iron shavings in it. Then get various STRONG magnets. If you place the north pole of a magnet on one side, and the south pole on the other side the shavings will align themselves along the field lines due to their ferromagnetism. You can play around with two magnets, or four magnets to show what a quadrapole field looks like (which is used in mass spectroscopy). The best part is you can put this setup on a projector for the whole class to see.

More here

khrak · 7 months

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/portable-usb-5-500x-2-0-mp-cmos-digital-microscope-with-8-led-illumination-black-47484

A few $60 USB 5-500x microscope would probably help in the life science department, assuming you have a few computers to use.

Pretty solid reviews and the user uploaded videos look pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4yjC1mql1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us7JL10D2WM

gamebear · 7 months

An old bicycle wheel to demonstrate precession and conservation of angular momentum and because its really impressive. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83MZp3BcyFM) Wire, lots of D-cell batteries, battery holders, and nail polish for simple electric motors. (http://www.scienceguy.org/Articles/BuildSimpleElectricMotor.aspx)

teachmetonight · 7 months

Not an inventory, just a suggestion.

As someone who works in a middle school with very limited funding, I find it easier to get a good variety of materials if I set them up into "stations." Rather than getting a whole class set of microscopes for your cell bio unit, get 4 or 5 and have a microscope station. You can do the same with scales, samples, etc. Newton's Laws were all discovered long before some of the fancy high-tech lab materials that are sometimes used for these labs, and springs, pullies, and weights come cheap.

I would also recommend seeing if a local university or more well-off neighboring school has any used equipment that they'd be willing to sell you for cheap. Our school got our microscopes from a university that was getting ready to update their labs. They went for about $100 used from a distributor, and the university sold them to us for $15 each.

rlaw68 · 7 months

First of all, congratulations! This is cool :-)

One good microscope that can project onto a screen probably outweighs 25 entry level scopes, at least in my opinion (science fan, not a science teacher)

Memorable science stuff: model rockets, big chart of evolutionary tree, all of the BBC Life/Planet Earth stuff (especially the blu-ray/Robert Attenborough versions), the Cartoon History of Genetics books by Larry Gonick, the DK Publishing big coffee table book of plant & animal fossils from each epoch.

A few other awesome, accessible science books (if you think these would interest your students): The Code Book by Simon Singh, The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley, The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins, Longitude by Dava Sobel.

Also, you mentioned the size of the universe. Have you seen this? It's a really, really cool thing to blow people's minds who don't really know the scale (up and down) of physical things.

ShhGoToSleep · 7 months

Periodic Elements information, Celestial Sphere, Rene Descartes/Carl Sagan/Sir Isaac Newton/etc. posters, microscopes, telescopes, as far as Biology...buy ALL the diagrams, a small rock kit to show example of different kinds of Earth, put brilliant scientific quotes up ALL over the room...etc.

I have much more if interested, this has been a dream of mine.

Dendarri · 7 months

If you have a science club and an area to use is a nice telescope would be useful. Finding and identifying the planets, looking at their orbits, looking at the moon. All very cool. And of course discussing lenses and magnification.

Lenses, light, and lasers are always fun. Could be used for math or to discuss the true nature of light (wave/particle). Also to talk about how eyes work.

Astro493 · 7 months

A decent telescope. Even if city lights make usage more difficult, you can use filters and do awesome daytime sun studies!

ZeroSobel · 7 months

It's for younger kids, but Scratch does some programming fundamentals. The best feature is that it's free. Alice is more technical, but I fucking hate it and everything it does.

nintendoinnuendo · 7 months

I think a fishtank which was suggested before is a good idea. A simple freshwater tank will suffice and you can put a lot of neat shit in there. Kids love animals, and colors, and something they can get attached to, they will enjoy the fish no question. Let a different kid feed the tank every day or something, let kids volunteer to help clean it , which they will.

babygame · 7 months

Get some lenses, learn about optics, build a telescope and a microscope from the same kit! Should not be expensive, check out Edmund Scientific.

Actually, just go check out Edmund Scientific-- there is a ton of stuff there.

33554432 · 7 months

A side note you might find useful: a simple method for DNA extraction. also I would maybe buy some glassware (graduated cylinders, beakers (<150ml), Erlenmeyer flasks) and Bunsen burners and get them used to basic lab techniques (filtering, heating, measuring, and mixing).

cornholio12 · 7 months

I would get a lot of REUSABLE and inexpensive things for demonstrations. Like maybe $1-2K in stuff from here (magnets, thermometers, motors, pumps, prisms, etc.) http://www.scientificsonline.com/

Obviously anything that could display images and videos from the Internet would be crucial. You can play videos even somewhere like Youtube that cover all of those topics. Maybe a cheap 480p projector and a couple spare bulbs and a cheap laptop.

Given the limited budget, I would focus on group demonstrations rather than making sure you have enough of something for each student. Obviously reusable things would be very important.

samurai77 · 7 months

Stellarium if you have a computer and a projector you can have an awesome Planetarium and it's Open source so 0$

Jensaarai · 7 months

Stock up on cornstarch. Mix with water

Buy a bangin' stereo system.

Rock out... WITH SCIENCE!

jakemcd184 · 7 months

It looks like you are getting a lot of troll answers. :-( That's a bad sign for the future of science in our nation. That said, I'd highly recommend buying a few books that encourage "at home" science projects. You will probably do the experiments at school but the idea is that the suggested experiments will be cost effective. We all know that $5,500 isn't enough to buy too much so you need to buy something that sparks the imagination. You also can't go wrong with a computer and interactive, science-based software. Anything that makes a 7th or 8th grader say "wow" means you've spent the money wisely. Worry less about teaching science; put your effort towards sparking curiosity in our youths!

knowledge_is_power · 7 months

Van de Graff Generator. You can shock the trouble makers.

GustavoFrings · 7 months

Why are all your chairs screwed to the ceiling? Did Pouncy House strike again?

[deleted] · 7 months

I would put that money into into researching how your classrooms got upside down.

tim212 · 7 months

You're probably not going to get funding like this again, so get things that don't run out and that don't break. Getting a year or two's worth of chemicals could be really cool but in 2 years you're back to square one.

Covering the walls in whiteboards could be a good idea. You could leave loads of cool science stuff written on them so the kids always have something cool to learn available to them without forcing it on them. They can also go up to the board to write out homework answers and such (idk if they're the kind of kids who would want to do that though)

I second the microscope idea (ants are always free, so is blood)

A telescope could be cool if they'd come see Saturn after school

Burning copper to make green and potassium to make purple shouldn't get too expensive and would keep kids interested

Halefire · 7 months

Microscope is definitely essential. Some cheap dissection tools could help as well, and some kind of projector/screen on which you can show images or videos.

James-VZ · 7 months

I like the sign that says "How do we tell the weather?" Walk outside, stupid!

peifferu · 7 months

get a weather station with a barometer, thermometer, and humidity gauge (idk what the actual name is...) the microscope is a good idea too.

bluegender03 · 7 months

Model. Fucking. Rockets. My teacher created saturday science class that many of the students would actually go to. I forever loved science because of that teacher. Also, cornstarch + water = MAGIC (aka non-newtonian fluid)

_Volpina_ · 7 months

I'll get downvotes for this, but here we go, down-arrows be damned:

Don't forget / ignore the girls in your class. Girls sometimes get intimidated by all this technical stuff, so they don't ask a lot of questions or show much enthusiasm. They are used to getting dolls and make-up kits for Christmas, not science kits or electric toys or toy tools. And as they grow older, the gap widens.

I remember how I, as a little girl, got girlie toys and cute dresses for Christmas and my birthdays, while guys in the neighbourhood had bedrooms filled with Lego train kits, toy lab equipment, downscaled but fully functional tools, and so on. For those boys, it was a small step from the toys they were used to, to learning science in school.

For me and most of the other girls in my class, science class was just too different from anything we had experience with. So we would ask stupid questions, the guys would laugh, and the teacher would sigh dramatically because we just didn't get it.

But we did get it: science class was for boys. So we shut up and tried to make ourselves as unnoticeable as possible. Which wasn't difficult, because the teacher preferred teaching the boys, and the boys didn't want us on their teams.

For every girl showing enthusiasm in science class there will be at least five boys who compete with her for your attention. Therefore many questions will never be asked, or they will be drowned out.

This is only tangentially related to your original question, I know. Still, I wanted to mention it, as it is important. I think evidence-based teaching will make science easier, especially if combined with building/growing/making useful things. Make strings of blinking Christmas lights. Make soap from scratch and mix in different dyes/scents. Make candles and oil lamps using candle gel, paraffin, wax, stearine, etc. Plant seeds and grow herbs and plants, using different types of soil and fertilisers. Make dyes using natural and chemical ingredients and dye different types of fabrics/materials. Etc etc.

Also, enthusiasm is wildly catchy! And praise is the best fertiliser for young minds.

Oh, and rocks are cool. I may be somewhat biased because I personally think rocks are cool, but: rocks are cool! You know those semi precious gemstones and natural crystals that you can buy in new age stores (they're supposedly used in healing and stuff - but you may want to leave that bit out). They're cheap, colourful, cool, and you can used them to teach about geology and lots of other cool rock related stuff. Show them agates and amethysts and they'll be hooked for life. I know this because rocks!

FamousDeadPerson · 7 months

Hydroflouric acid, large plastic drum, cadaver.

chiablo · 7 months

If you're going to have it be for electronics as well as chemistry, i'd highlt recommend a bench variable power supply. Make sure it has surge protection and lets you throttle current (electrical fire is scary.) You can get a cheap one for about $120 or so.

ST33L3 · 7 months

DO: http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/a/aa020404a.htm We did this last year, 10th grade CP Chemistry. Easy as shit. Totally doesn't apply to your curriculum, but it's ice cream. I mean, come on.

DON'T: I also recall having to do a Bunsen burner lab at one point. I do not advocate these labs if you value lab equipment. Totally melted some shit in the process, and we were a pretty level-headed set of 16 year olds. Given that your group is even younger, I'd refrain.

ALWAYS: Dissect shit. Dissection is fucking fascinating. I was a bitch in middle school. Totally wore only Juicy sweats and had 20 different kinds of lip gloss and had blonde highlights yet somehow still, when it came time to dissect le frogs, I was okay with this. Poking dead animals with metal sticks is always fun for kids no matter how prissy or annoying they are.

The kids, not the dead organisms.

physjunkie · 7 months

I'm a little late to the party, so this may get buried, but as far as the physical science portion of the class goes, I would recommend Logger Pro software,a few laptops, and a camera. Logger Pro is a very cool program where you can upload video or image to take data on moving objects in real time. My university uses it in some of their physics classes, and I plan on using it when I start teaching next year.

IWatchWormsHaveSex · 7 months

Something with GFP.

TheBeaverCleaver · 7 months

If you do a lot of dissection, Consider a video projector system This will let your demonstrate relatively small things (like where a frog's lungs are) effectively.

Gosssamer · 7 months

A Van de Graff is essential

PoetryTycoon · 7 months

Construct with your class a Rube Goldberg machine! My 7th grade science teacher taught us basic physics preceding our assembling an elaborate egg-frying apparatus.

yetanotherdummy · 7 months

Get some lab benches. Seriously.

sfcjohn · 7 months

I don't fully know, but please provide them with a copy of this free pdf, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/52436636/The-Golden-Book-of-Chemistry-Experiments

Your balance sheet will only lose paper expenses and toner expenses but I have a feeling that is already provided for you. We have to teach our children good science and how to improvise when we are not afforded the opportunities and an educational system that is failing us. I am working in collaboration with others to fix this and have already created a theoretical framework. Now I have to figure out how to build a framework to replace the Common Core Standards. Your imput as a science teacher will be greatly appreciated.

John

SwsMiss · 7 months

If it hasn't been said: A SMARTboard

Also, check out "Donorschoose.org"

senatorpjt · 7 months

I was a rural high school science teacher. I got fired because I came up with a lab wherein the students would try to make rockets out of matches and tinfoil, but the smell of burning matches got the school evacuated because I had to teach chemistry in an earth science room. So, my answer is, fume hoods.

ecu11b · 7 months

First thing is first. You should get some work benches. You can probbally make them your self if you can get the parts cheap enough. Then get some stuff to do fun experiments. Zinc coat pennies. Make green flames. fun stuff then explain the science behind it. You can do a lot of fun stuff with electricity

giantsparklerobot · 7 months

It looks like you're set up as far as it goes for electronics (projectors, a TV, and hopefully at least one computer) so I wouldn't waste any money there. Look for things that are reusable and don't have a high cost of upkeep.

Basics

First and foremost set aside some money for classroom basics that will be useful for any type of science lab.

Safety goggles
Good quality rulers
Tape measures
Stopwatches
Duct tape
Wire clips
Cheap multimeters
Battery chargers

Life Sciences

This is probably the cheapest subject to teach since a lot of the things you'll cover can be grown in coffee cans and mason jars. You'll need flower pots, some spades, watering cans, and some grow lights if you don't have good natural lighting. You can do simple and cheap projects like a tabletop biosphere with some mason jars. You should probably get one decent microscope with a camera you can hook up to a computer or directly to a projector. The students don't need to learn to use a microscope, they need to learn about whatever you're looking at with the microscope.

Physical Sciences

If you want to teach the kids electronics buy this whole series of books and several of these bad boys. The Electronic Playgrounds are fantastic for teaching basic electronics because they don't need any soldering, are very versatile, and best of all reusable. If you lose some of the wire they come with just clip your own. IIRC the instruction booklet gives all the gauges different wires.

Earth/Space Sciences

These sciences are larger in scale and scope than you might be able to demonstrate in the classroom. You might buy a cheap weather station and make a project out of keeping track of the readings. Over the years students will be able to compare their measurements to those of classes made years prior. This is also a place where decent software or just some good imagery will help teach the subject.

Check out the following sites for some idea for experiments/demonstrations/activities and then work backwards from there. Figure out what you would need to perform experiments you think will fit your lesson plans and then build a shopping list. There's a multitude of science demonstration projects you can do very inexpensively. If you're smart with your money you can fund your science lab for the next few years even if you've got to spend all the money right now.

Exploratorium Science Explorer
PBS Kids Science Experiments
Hands-on Activities for Teaching Biology to High School or Middle School Students
National Geographic Lesson Plans
Scientific American Bring Science Home

Get a class subscription to Make magazine, National Geographic, Astronomy Magazine and whatever else seems appropriate. Build a small science library in the classroom. Get some good science oriented DVDs. As a practical matter you might also want to get a nice locking cabinet to store whatever nice new things you end up buying. It would be horrible to spend your grant money only to have all your new expensive equipment stolen by some asshole.

seersucker · 7 months

An RV and an ex student.

aresdesmoulins · 7 months

I'm not a scientist, but I am a programmer.

That being said, If you would allow it, I would love to send you a couple of Arduino boards and various motors, buttons, lights, buzzers, etc...as well as a few books (Getting started with Arduino, and a few other "howto" books) that would enable your kids to really, really quickly get into building small fast projects and learning fundamentals like circuits, logic, loops, events, triggers, and the like that are absolutely relevant in both software and hardware engineering!

I can only afford to send you like 2 or 3 of them as i'm a broke-ish twentysomething just starting out in my career, but one thing that really broke the barrier for me to get into building geeky things and thinking logically was a simple electronics kit I got when I was around 6. Without that small set the passion for geekery wouldn't have been kindled in me and gotten me where I am today so I would LOVE the opportunity to possibly ignite that same passion for another kid!

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login