I don’t punish kids who are smart, attentive, or efficient. Too often teacher punish those kids with more work. This morning several kids were absent. I went ahead and had the remaining two do the lab and write their lab reports in class. During the next class, they can work on the previous lab report and complete the brain model while the rest of the class makes up the lab they missed.
There are always a few really sharp kids who master a concept immediately. Instead of additional problem sets, I offer them the test. After the test, the teen can work on a lab report or an extra lab, such as the MEL kits, whichever the kid prefers. This is an opportunity to have the kid complete any missed assignments. I might let them work on a project in advance, such as a cell model or a model I want to use for class. Ask the child what he or she would rather do, including work on another class’s material entirely.
We’re doing some experiments about the nervous system: A Nervous Experiment, Exploring the Nervous System, and Five Senses. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a few labs! A Nervous Experiment is an ideal home-school lab; the equipment includes a ruler and paper clip. You can create a hypothesis. My kids created a spreadsheet and we discussed the names of the muscles and controlled variables. (Try to put the paper lip on the same area each time. We used the index finger, deltoid muscle, and trapezius.)
Next we did Flinn’s The Five Senses. We did the PTC paper, eye test and Weber hearing test with a tuning fork.
We did the blind spot and reaction time labs.
Only two students were here today. I’ll have to repeat all of the labs on Thursday. Sigh. Once again, my Co-op isn’t any different from yours.
Let’s start planning! You probably are taking a break. Yet, your family is home and now bored. Since you are not Grinch, you won’t resume classes until after the New Year—although January 2-3rd is looking more and more likely. Have a plan! How about codes? Spend an hour making Secret Codes. Yes, buy candy! You could use beads. Have a blast!
Here are instructions for knitting in binary. Your teen can practice knitting a scarf with her own message. I did!
My husband and I teach Co-op Science and Math classes. Guess what? Student misbehave! I know you are shocked! We have tiered consequences. If the misbehavior is minor, we assign 15 minutes of cleaning, usually vacuuming the rugs in the basement or mopping the stairs. If a student removes his or her safety classes during lab, he or she cleans up everyone’s lab stations and washes all of the equipment. Last year, we had a large and naughty group. We had a whiteboard with consequences for misbehavior. I look for jobs that need to be completed: pencils sharpened, kits sorted, labs pulled, boards cleaned, models created, etc. If the behavior is egregious, such as pretending to stab a lab partner with a scalpel, the consequences are greater. In fact we treat lab misbehavior more seriously. Teens know they should not dangle dissection pieces in their classmates’ faces. No one should dare another to drink a solution. (I have threatened to ship any kids who drink a chemical solution to the ER. I would ask the ER staff to empty their stomachs. Only once in my entire career have two students licked a chemical. The nurse and I discussed the ER, an ambulance, and the IV with the two teen present as we called poison control. The nurse suggested asking the ER to fish around inserting the IV in the vein in the forehead. Those two teens did not misbehave again. Yes, I tell this story on the first day of Chemistry class.). Those teens vacuum and mop the basement and stairs. I added rug shampooing this year. Two students this year are perilously close to making cleaning the basement a Christmas project. One was pretending to stay Expo cleaner in his mouth like a breath spray. We may add wiping the rafters. Look for jobs you want completed and loathe doing yourself, such as sorting a molecular model kit or sharpening a bag of colored pencils with a hand-sharpener. I find showing student the consequences at the beginning of the year to be effective. We had stacks of tax materials that needed to be sorted and stacked on shelves. The first day of classes everyone was shown the project. Let me tell you, everyone has been much better behaved this year.
I shop for used science kits all the time. However, I want value. Yes, most of the time the best online deals are at Good Will online. Certain companies, such as Quality Science Labs or Lab-Aids have terrific kits. I paid full price for the Lab-Aids Molecules of Life and DNA kits. (We use these kits in both Bio and Chem.) I buy the Innovating Science Blood Test kits at eBay, usually. (It’s just easier than making up my own fake blood.) These are new, unopened kits at a discounted price. Otherwise, I look for used kits—even for the Chemistry kits. I have loads of chemicals; most of the time the ones in the kit are fine. Here’s the thing. The good kits are hard to find. Too often they are over priced on eBay. My goal-price for a QSL kit is $50, including shipping.
QSL kits are jammed packed with goodies. I especially like the Physics and the Chemistry kits. The MicroChem kit recommended for the Apologia Chemistry program looks like the QSL kit.
Lab-Aids and Innovating Science also have good kits. I like the blood test kit from Innovating Science.
The Lab-Aids Molecules of Life Kit is also a keeper.
The kids made clay brain models and dissected sheep brains. We used three brains. (One kid was ill, which was why we dissected today. Said teen gets too upset when we dissect. We’ll do more clay models next week when he returns.) We used this online guide and this specimen set. One caveat: the specimens are very expensive. It is very hard to discern parts of the brain in ANY of the specimens. You may want to save your money and make clay models based on the dissection diagrams.
What do you need to start doing some microscale chemistry labs? There are a few pieces of basic equipment. Flinn Scientific’s micro chemistry section has loads of inspiration.
You can start with pipettes and a tranparency sheet. Try Pleasing Precipitates. You can adapt labs. Instead of reacting with milliliters of solutions, you use drops. Stir with toothpicks, craft sticks, or wooden coffee sticks.
I like to use dropper bottles, reaction plates, plastic paint palettes, craft sticks, and toothpicks for microscale labs.
HST has the best price on individual reaction plates or drop plates. Plastic, paint palettes work well, too. Try the Dollar Tree! Below are sample equipment for you to gauge prices if you would like to make your own microscale lab kit.
This year is an anomaly. The Advanced Biology class (Anatomy) may only do twenty labs and dissections. We’ll do a bunch of models, such as the clay, anatomical models. We’re doing the microscope labs, too. But genuine labs? Fewer. I’m spending so much time reviewing muscles, bones, names, etymology, POGIL, and notes we won’t have as much time for labs. (We will dissect a brain, eye, heart, and kidney. I do have fetal pigs ready. I bought a blood test kit and urinalysis kit, too.)
My goal for Physical Science, Life Science, Biology, and Chemistry classes is 50 labs. Always. We usually do at least 30. Why? The lab gives the topic meaning. Whenever possible I start with a lab. When we talked about cell membranes as part of cells we did the Cell Membrane Bubble Lab, paired with a paper, membrane model. (Here, here, and here are paper, membrane models.)
When I introduce chemical reactions, I start with Reaction in a Bag, which has both a change in color and temperature, observable changes.
We do chemical and physical changes in a lab. Kids remember just about everything they do and almost nothing I say. Once I start to teach an idea I can refer to the lab. For example, I can pull out the Diffusion lab (yogurt cup with the baggie of starch) and talk through the process of iodine diffusing into the baggie to change the color of the starch.
You have the lab experience and the props to help the kids understand a concept. I haven’t found anything which helps kids master a topic. Want to teach a kid about gravity? Do Ball Drop. Drop pinky balls, tennis balls, golf balls, marbles, ping pong balls. Repeat over and over to check the results. Kids are ready to talk about the concepts after the lab. Yes, I have spent an hour dropping different balls because the kids didn’t like the idea that they fall at the same rate.
Labs, experiments, and activities should reinforce a concept or an idea. I use labs or models to introduce new ideas. I can tape the paper model to the wall and use it to teach. We can redo a confusing lab again after we learn a new concept. Labs aren’t something we do to earn lab credit for a high school class; they are at the heart of my classes.
I do microscale labs whenever I can. Why? I can do more labs. They are cheaper and safer. Usually, even the chemicals are diluted—which means they last longer. The equipment is cheap and fun to use: reaction plates, Petrie dishes, pencil lead, dropper bottles, cassette cases, and transfer pipettes. I use craft sticks and toothpicks as stir sticks. You can cut a straw to make a scoop. Everything is tiny and cute! Start with microscale labs! Don’t drag out expensive equipment first! You’ll diminish the fun of microscale labs.
Here is a good introduction to microscale.) Sign up for an account with the Royal Society of Chemistry to find loads of articles, such as Apparatus and Techniques. UNESCO has a program which promotes microscale chemistry experiments to developing countries. Here is a microscale experiment lab manual. It uses a kit from Radmaste. I just ordered 12 sets from eBay for next year’s class. I am so excited! The kits should have micro burners! We’ll see if they’re safe or not. Flinn Scientific sells a micro burner for $10. However, Flinn will NOT ship to homes. They will ship to a church office. I have made calls with their customer service department and explained that the class was taught at the church. They were willing to ship directly to the church.
I bought five MicroChem kits for next year’s class, too. I’m anticipating a large group. Each team can have a Radmaste kit to house basic equipment. It gives teens ownership in the class. If you buy a used MicroChem kit be sure it has the lab manual.
Do more labs! Have more fun! Rig your own microscale equipment! Let your teen improvise! By all means do more labs!
Too often families feel as though they are short-changing their teens if they don’t provide expensive glassware for their Chemistry classes. You aren’t. I use 250 mL, borosilicate beakers to heat solutions. I use 250 mL Erlenmeyer flasks mainly for gas law labs with rubber stoppers. The only time I use a borosilicate graduated cylinder is to dilute concentrated acids—therefore rarely! Usually I order 1M concentrations. Most of the time my Chem classes use lab grade, plastic beakers, funnels, and cylinders. I have about one dozen pieces of glassware I use very infrequently. I do microscale Chem labs as often as possible. Plastic, paint palettes work well as reaction plates. Here is an example of the type of glassware you are probably tempted to buy,
In it are test tubes, glass stirring rods, a thistle tube, glass funnel, and culture tube. Guess what? Glassware of any type is used reluctantly in any Chem class. What? High School Chemistry teachers are practical people trying to stretch limited budgets. Those glass stoppers? They freeze inside the flask all the time, rendering both the stopper and flask useless. Broken glassware is expensive to replace. Cuts and breakage require reports—also to be avoided. Therefore many, many high school Chemistry teachers use plastic labware as much as possible. They do microscale labs to minimize, cost, waste, and accidents. Stop worrying that your Chem class is a pale shadow of the one he would receive in a school setting. Do all the labs in the textbook. Go crazy and buy a microscale lab kit! (Find a used set.) Ask friends who do have their kids enrolled in a school. How many labs do they do? What equipment do they use? The results will surprise you.
