Free elements sets for schools

[gotolady]

Good morning Stuart,
My element samples have just arrived. WOW they are magic and my teachers are going to be thrilled to have such a great resource available to them.
Thanks so much.

[StuartBatten]

Good morning Stuart,
My element samples have just arrived. WOW they are magic and my teachers are going to be thrilled to have such a great resource available to them.
Thanks so much.

[StuartBatten]

Apologies is I sound slightly cranky, but after loading and labelling ca. 60K samples, and assembling 1600 sets across two rounds of sets (including the last bit I need to do over summer), most of it personally, it does start to annoy me when I have to wade through more than 1000 orders currently on my spreadsheets and fix addresses. One order even gave the postal address as just 'Myrtleford'. Good Grief!

Hey Stuart, you sound just like a typical, cranky labbie! You will fit right in because we have all had our ranting moments

Thank you for all your hard work putting these together. Our kit looks amazing and I have had a look at your storage/display suggestions.
Can I ask - what was the motivation behind all the work and who funded it? Was it some sort of educational project? Just curious.

Ahhh... that's a somewhat convoluted story. Apologies for the long ramble below (good lord! how did this reply get so long?), but you did ask...

I've been collecting samples of the elements for a few years now. It started with a display for my office wall; I now have several other collections in briefcases that are great for outreach visits to schools, etc. These are 'complete' collections - I have samples of every element except the really naughty ones (i.e. short half-lifes). There's some pictures of these on my personal website (stuartbatten.net).

2019 was the International Year of the Periodic Table, and as part of that I was asked to give the RACI's Hartung Lectures, which are public lectures to various schools around Victoria. These were obviously on the topic of the Periodic Table. While preparing for these, the following thought process occurred in the space of about 15 minutes:

1. Hmm. It would be nice to give out a couple of little samples of pure elements to some kids. Maybe something for best question(s)? A couple of little trinkets.

2. Why not make up little sets of a couple of different elements?

3. Really should give them to the schools as a whole. That way the whole class can get to see them.

4. I wonder how many I could put in each set.

5. Why should it just be the few schools that are lucky enough to be able to come to the lectures. What about the remote schools that never get to come to these things? I grew up on a farm in country Victoria, so this is something I'm very passionate about.

6. Why just Victoria? Why not make a bunch for each state.

So 15 minutes later I'd rather naively decided to make 600 sets (100 for each state) and try to send them out to every nook and cranny of the country. Starting with the most remote and under-resourced schools, and then working my way up the ladder in a series of rounds starting with remote/rural/regional govt schools, then remote/rural/regional private schools, then capital city government schools, and then finally (if I had any left) capital city private schools.

Then it was a matter of trying to drum up enough sponsorship to fund it all so that they were free to schools. I started with the cheapest elements (hence the origin of "N (78%)"!!). Each new sponsor then allowed me to buy another element or two. In some cases chemical companies were able to donate samples, and I tried to ensure that the samples all looked different from each other (i.e. not 25 sheets of grey metal or wire) so that the collection would be as visually engaging as possible.

In the end it was a big success, I managed (from memory) to pass it across the nose of every school in Australia bar private schools in Melb/Syd/Bris/Adelaide/Canberra before I ran out of sets, and I then got my life back. The International Year of the Periodic Table was finished, and the project seemed to go well. Then, you know, that COVID thing hit...

But it kinda bugged me that I didn't get to every school in the country. At least to give every school the chance at a set (only 25-35% of schools offered followed up, but at least if they followed up I knew the set had a better chance of being used).

Plus, I thought it's such a brilliant idea it almost demands that it should be done again. And yet no-one was going to do it if it wasn't me. Strange thinking I know, but the idea almost demanded to be done again (or at least it did in my head). I don't mean that in an egotistical way. I mean that in the sense that the concept seemed to have a life of its own - it turned out to be such a simple yet impactful concept that it practically demanded that some schmuck (i.e. me) really should do it again.

So here I am again. More sets, more samples due to more funding this time (the first round was a *really* effective proof-of-concept to get new sponsors on board the second time around), plus I had a vague idea of what I was doing this time. Let's also add expansion packs for the first round sets, a website, and some class plans coming (I hope) from some teachers who offered to write a few. Lots of rubbish television binge-watched while loading or labelling samples, lots of smashing kg-sized lumps of Cr or Bi with a crowbar or sledgehammer in my garage again (search #elementsets on Twitter if you don't believe me!). Same priority list of rounds as before, but now there should be enough sets to get me all the way to the end (especially with 600 sets already in first round schools).

But this second round of 1000 sets will be the last. Definitely. Absolutely. My colleagues and family would probably lynch me if I even looked sideways at a third round. Plus my day job's been a little neglected of late.

Oh, and I have a similar outreach project for primary schools I'm working on with others (BraggYourPattern.com) that is going to need some more attention soon....

[StuartBatten]

One more quick thing. If you're in Qld then the Qld Ed dept internet doesn't play nicely with Google Forms. It's you, not me - it works fine in every other state and sector. But I've had lots of orders from Qld - the workaround it to just fill in the form using a device or computer that doesn't connect to the internet via the Qld Ed network. Easiest examples are a home computer or a mobile phone connecting to the mobile network (not the school wifi). But I do need the forms filled in before I can send anything out as my logistics all work off the spreadsheets behind them.

[Anna Z]

You're a legend Stuart, thanks so much for your passion

[macca]

Hi Stuart,

Mine have just arrived and I can't thank you enough they are fantastic, I can't wait to show the chemistry teachers and kids.

Thanks you so much for all your hard work.

As Anna Z said you're a legend

[Prima]

What a fabulous story, Stuart! My Head Teacher was delighted with his set and hasn't even let me take a good look at it! Your website is also amazing, thank you so much for your passion, energy and dedication! I am sure you have made a difference to many future Scientists!

[RosalieL]

Ditto what Prima said! Mine just arrived today. I can't imagine how monotonous that must have been to put all the sets together but such a wonderful resource and I love that it is attached to the school only.

[LabbieSeth]

Hi all, i just wanted to ask for an update on how everyone is storing/displaying their element sets now that we have had time.... hopefully.... to rack through our brains and come up with different ways to keep our head teacher happy xD
Thanking you in advance

[macca]

love ours, is a lot brighter in colour than the photo. Mounted on a black board.

[RosalieL]

That looks really good, macca!

Ours are still in their box. We don't have enough wall space to display them at this stage, but... "when we get new labs..." ...I will make sure they are up for all to see!