School Science

This book provides experiments and demonstrations, as well as academic background, on science suitable for schools. Do not assume that everything is safe! Most will have some sort of safety advice on the page but the absence of written precautions does not mean that you can just go and play ahead. If you are an adult, you should use your own judgement and common sense. If you are a minor (child), it is highly recommended that you should ask for more advice and help from your teachers and parents.

Introduction to science

• Electricity

• Types of Electric Circuit

School physics experiments and demonstrations

• How to make a transformer
• Westminster motor kits
• Atmospheric pressure demonstration
• Hydraulics demonstration
• The Indian rope trick (magnetism)
• Demonstrating properties of waves with a ripple tank
• Demonstrating the properties of waves on an Oscilloscope
• Rotational Inertia Experiment

School biology experiments and demonstrations

• How to prepare an onion cell slide
• Staining onion cells without methylene blue
• Nail varnish impressions of stomata
• Paper chromatography of amino acids
• Screaming jelly babies
• Testing leaves for starch
• Using water snails and pond weed to investigate the carbon cycle
• Winkler test for dissolved oxygen
• Osmosis demonstration
  • Apparatus for demonstrating osmosis using visking tubing
• Bell jar model lungs
• Showing CO₂ is produced by respiration using Huff'n'Puff
• Measuring transpiration with a Potometer
• Demonstrating the effects of amylases on starch
• Oyster cultivation in seawater ponds
• Frog dissection

School chemistry experiments and demonstrations

• Flour bomb demonstration
• Flour fire ball
• Screaming jelly babies
• Cannon fire
• Lemon Battery
• Creating chemical solutions

Constructing school science lab equipment

• Microscope slide
• Agar plate
• Cell holder
• Gram staining
• Bulb holder
• Simple switches
• Conductivity test
• OHP coil
• Friction blocks
• Hydraulics demonstration
• Angular momentum apparatus
• Demo periscope
• Graticule slides
• Bell jar model lungs
• Model of the plough
• Apparatus for demonstrating osmosis
• Torque demonstration
• Making Charles' law tubes
• Mercury cleanup

School science technician

In schools, the science technician is the person who prepares the practical equipment and makes up the solutions used in school science labs. The role also includes instructing and assisting teachers with practical skills, including class demonstrations, for advanced techniques across all disciplines. Many are very well qualified and have degrees, such as a Bachelor's degree (B.A. or B.Sc.) or Master's degree (M.Sc.) and/or other professional qualifications such as the HNC, HND and NVQ.

Their main duties include:

• Care of living organisms
• Making up solutions
• School science experiments and demonstrations
• Inventory
• Stock control
• Budget and Accounts
• Repairing and constructing lab equipment