Australia's Science Forum

I second that. Dissection Connection.

Hi guys I am a bit confused about the fat test with sudan III/sudan IV. Teacher asked to do fat test and on the sheet it said Sudan III. We had sudan IV but apparently that does the same thing so thought I would test it. It was bought ready made up as a 0.5% solution from Southern Biological. It doe...

Missed the poll but no I don't get moved around. I was employed as a lab assistant because of my background in science. I have never worked in anything but labs (since leaving uni anyway) so wouldn't feel comfortable anywhere else. I may help out doing other things, occasionally, if asked nicely :th...

I sound very much like Jen2. For senior years, I keep the PO book, do all the ordering and keep records of it. We are a prep to 12 school and there are separate budgets, which makes it really difficult. If it is stuff for MY's I have to get permission first, even for fairly small expenditures and th...

In regards to taping them around the edges, I meant immediately before them looking at them, not while they are incubating. Just to stop silly ones getting them open too easily. I don't trust the Year 6's enough. They would be disposed of immediately after viewing. Also, there has just been a discus...

Hi guys My year 6 teachers want to do steve spanglers "growing Bacteria" experiment next term. http://www.chemtalk.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=451/lab/experiments/growing-bacteria I am not really happy for them to do it. I know there is some discussion about whether these kinds of expe...

Peoples views seem to differ a bit on this one. Seems they have been told different things by different people. From my understanding of it you need to have a copy of the full SDS in the hazardous substance register. I was told (unofficially) that access to online SDS isn't adequate due to not being...

The people who run Dissection Connection have started a rock one called Rockhoundz. Not sure what they have or the details (they do come up on Google) but the way they run Dissection Connection is pretty good so Rockhoundz should be too.

I use toothpicks. The cheaper the better. Soaked in a conc solution to get the best results. You don't need much for toothpicks, I do it in the little plastic specimen pots. Then the students use tongs to hold the toothpicks in the flame. I don't think you need conc for all solutions but some you do...

This has always been a bit of a bugbear for me. Other classrooms don't have someone to keep them clean and tidy and seem to manage ok so I don't see why I should have to do that for all of the labs. Obviously I look after the "sciencey" side of it but not things like student desks and teac...

Ha ha. Thanks, finally got it off with the help of a couple of year 12 boys with big hands.

Hi guys Our Van de graaf's belt needs changing which is something I have never done before. I have opened up the bottom and released the belt there but now I need to "split the dome" to get to the top part. In the instructions it just says to hold the bottom half of the dome while turning ...

We use them for eyes every year and the teachers always happy with them. Lenses always appear clear, but I have never used fresh so not sure if they are as clear. Definitely not cloudy though.

Posted this but then deleted it as wasn't sure if it contravened forum rules, but had a look and as there is no email address or website I think it is OK! Labtek do free shipping for orders over $250 and are usually pretty reasonable and quick too. Not sure if that is who Wayne meant but they are al...

Last time we did something like this I edited the Chemwatch labels and just replaced the name of the chemical with the letter. I did express concern that this would give it away but the teachers said a: you are giving the students too much credit and b: they still have to justify why they say it is ...

It's the only one I know of but you can plug two into one power pack by piggy backing them. Only half as many to lug around then.

Ni!

Sounds like one of the schools I put in contact with him may be able to help him out. Just needs some planning.

Hi guys I have had a request from a year 6 teacher for ideas for their topic of “Our Changing World” where they will look at natural disasters. She was hoping for some “clever experiments they could do that link to this topic”. I have the Snack Tectonics one but think that ma...

The one on the left is the one made a few days ago now. The colour has really evened out a lot but is still patchier than it looks in the photo. The one on the right is with the phth powder, made yesterday. They have been together in a box overnight in the fridge with all their friends from the vari...