When you think of science, do dollar signs flash before your eyes? It doesn’t have to be that way. In the content areas of life science, physical science, and earth and space science, you can choose from plenty of labs, activities, and equipment that are inexpensive, safe, meet standards, and still require students to think and use problem solving skills.
Using these strategies, you can make the most of your science budget . . .
- Use dollar store items for projects, models, and activity supplies. The supplies are significantly less than hobby stores or art stores. Purchase plastic metric measuring cups and spoons.
- When appropriate, switch from glassware to plasticware. You won’t have to worry about breakage, and the cost is usually less than glassware.
- Encourage students to engineer and create their own measuring equipment by calibrating various sizes of colorless, transparent plastic cups with volume graduations made with permanent markers.
- Look for substitutions for expensive equipment. We offer items designed to save teachers money.
- Small, portable balances with 0.1g or 0.01g precision: Carolina Electronic Pocket Balances.
- Turn a smartphone into a spectrophotometer: Carolina Spectroscopy Chamber. Explore activities to use with smartphones.
- Spectral analysis from a handheld device: Economy Spectroscope.
- Turn any tablet or smartphone into a laboratory grade microscope that’s also portable: uHandy Mobile Microscopes.
- Look for high-quality, free activities your students will enjoy. Browse the Carolina Knowledge Center for activities by discipline and grade level.
Here are some of our favorites:
- Carolina Essentials for High School—free activities addressing the NGSS across life science, physical science, and earth and space science.
- Sweet Solutions for Science on a Shoestring
- More Sweet Solutions: Part 2
- Paper Clip Chemistry: Part 1
- Paper Clip Chemistry: Part 2
- Paper Clip Chemistry: Part 3
These suggestions can help you put a few dollars back into your budget while making your planning and preparation a bit easier. We urge you to never scrimp on lab safety. Student safety is always the top priority.
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