{"id":753,"date":"2008-10-24T22:32:23","date_gmt":"2008-10-25T02:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=753"},"modified":"2008-12-08T20:10:52","modified_gmt":"2008-12-09T00:10:52","slug":"importance-of-science-lab-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=753","title":{"rendered":"Importance of science lab design"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Florida high school science teacher and FCS member recently asked for some help concerning a possible new science lab at her school. With her permission, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m posting her concerns here for y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all to mull over.<\/p>\n

It’s been said that our science wings will be torn down and rebuilt elsewhere to make way for a centralized cafeteria. I’m concerned that, if and when this truly happens, I will be shortchanged on lab\/classroom space.<\/p>\n

I recently visited a new high school to see their science classrooms and was saddened to find that the main chemistry lab was small and only had lab tables with stools. My current classroom is over twice the size and has long lab tables (for standing, not sitting) and a separate area for 28 individual student desks. This classroom-lab combo is far superior to the new design I’m seeing at other schools.<\/p>\n

I’ve emailed Flinn Scientific for information on new lab design and recommendations and have received some useful feedback. I had planned to share it with our principal, but do not get the impression that he’s familiar enough with science lab design to understand the significance it has to the educational process.<\/p>\n

I plan to talk with the School Board, the SAC committee and, if I’m lucky, directly with the architect. Any other ideas? Maybe they’ll listen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been suggested that she network with other science teachers in the area to brainstorm and maybe form a group with the goal to address this issue. She should also talk with the county science coordinator if she hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already.<\/p>\n

Here is a link to Flinn Scientific<\/a> that she mentions.<\/p>\n

I poked around on the Internet and found some sites that might be somewhat helpful. Here is the National Science Teachers Association’s position paper on The Integral Role of Laboratory Investigations in Science Instruction<\/a>. Here is something from the American Association of Physics Teachers: Role of Labs in High School Physics<\/a>. Here is a teacher’s assessment of some science labs<\/a> he’s seen local to him in Texas (yes, it’s a political candidate’s site, but still informative on this subject). And finally here is a pdf entitled The State of Middle School and High School Science Labs in the Kansas City Region<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anyone have any suggestions, advice or useful links to offer?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Florida high school science teacher and FCS member recently asked for some help concerning a possible new science lab at her school. With her permission, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m posting her concerns here for y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all to mull over. It’s been said that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-c9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":208,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=208","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":0},"title":"More science lab woes","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I noted poor school science lab conditions before, but it looks like the problem just isn't going away here in Florida: This is just sad Science facilities are so poor at one of Jacksonville's best high schools, that a science teacher began renovating them himself. Jim Stehr of Fletcher High\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=91","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":1},"title":"Hands-on is the way to go","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science congratulates Kit Hitchcock of Lely Elementary School for brining science to life for the kids in her school. Thank you for showing children how interesting science really is! For the first time in their elementary school careers, the Lely Elementary School fifth-graders are experimenting with science\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":164,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=164","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":2},"title":"Sinks drain into buckets in science lab?!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Now here is\u00c2\u00a0a sad state of affairs. It's not like it's expected that every school in the state should have state-of-the-art science labs, but could some at least hook up some plumbing? NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. -- At a time when science is a growing part of Duval County student education,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=52","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":3},"title":"Science takes priority","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"New science lab opens at Hallmark Elementary Science slid from the back burner to the front Friday at Hallmark Elementary School as students, faculty and volunteers gathered for the grand opening of a new science lab. Principal Shere\u00c3\u00a9 Cagle said the idea to create a lab came after the school's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":115,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=115","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":4},"title":"Solving crime in the classroom","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"High school biology teacher Amye O'Steen has a great background from which to draw to help her teaching. She was a lab technician for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and now in addition to Biology courses she teaches about crime scene investigations. It seems like a great idea to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":74,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=74","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":5},"title":"The look, and the feel and the smell","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a good article weighing the merits of virtual learning labs on the Internet. Should a student earn credit for mixing chemicals online rather than in a real lab? This article shows that there are no simple answers. It might be better to be in the lab, but what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}