Edu-Lab MicroScience kits. Kits and manuals from pound;5 to pound;460 from Edu-Lab Educational Products and Systems, Hamlin Way, Hardwick Narrows Industrial Estate, King’s Lynn PE30 4NG.
Tel: 01553 776464.
From mobile phones to palmtop computers, everything is getting smaller. Edu-Lab has taken this philosophy and miniaturised laboratory equipment to produce a wide range of low-cost, re-usable MicroScience kits. Developed in South Africa, they are used by 400,000 students, from primary schools to universities, in more than 30 countries.
Most of the kits cost between pound;10 and pound;25 and cover most practical activities relevant to the science curriculum. Equipment such as small-scale reaction vessels, spatulas, thermometers, methylated spirit burners, funnels and pipettes allow experiments to be carried out in the classroom or at home.
Edu-Lab can supply chemical reagents in volumes and concentrations tailored for each of the kits. For example, the Combostill can be used for organic chemical synthesis or distillation.
A small methylated spirit burner provides a heat source and the equipment can be safely mounted on the Comboplate, an ingenious plastic base.
A blood-grouping kit allows pupils to mix and check simulated blood samples for agglutination to demonstrate successful combinations of blood transfusions.
It contains all the required solutions, is easy to use and gives clear results that will help students understand this difficult area.
The primary science kit has a bewildering array of equipment. But new, more topic-specific kits are being launched at the Association for Science Education conference in January. Once revised, these kits may well provide low-cost, self-contained resources.
The small scale could prove troublesome for younger pupils; the equipment may be more suitable for upper primary.
Support materials are available with each of the kits and give detailed guidance on using them to perform many standard experiments and reactions.
The instructions are well written if a little basic. They contain no references to the national curriculum or Qualifications and Curriculum Authority schemes of work but, following feedback from teachers, revised materials should be available in the new year, which will link specifically to the curriculum.
With these kits, Edu-Lab has attempted to transform practical science. Lack of resources often limits opportunities to develop practical skills, but the MicroScience kits allow students to gain important hands-on experience.
Cliff Porter is a writer on science education
