As I discussed in Physics Lab 1 and Physics C Curriculum, I’m homeschooling my son and one other high-school student in calculus-based physics using the Matter and Interactions book. Although I’ve made the decision (for now) to build or improvise as much of the equipment for labs as possible, I am still interested in what home-schoolers can buy ready made.
For a few years I’ve been getting Pasco Scientific catalogs, which have very fine toys for schools that are dripping with money, but I’ve yet to see anything in those catalogs that seems worth the very high prices. On the tagpdq mailing list, someone else recently asked where they could get lab equipment and supplies for home schooling (or after-schooling, the message was not clear) science courses.
I’ve collected a few of the responses, but not had time to check them out yet:
- SK Science Kit and Boreal Laboratories looks like they have some more reasonably priced physics equipment.
- http://www.hometrainingtools.com
- http://www.qualitysciencelabs.com/physics-labs/
- http://sciencekit.com only mentioned as a K-8 resource
- Carolina Biological Supply I know that they are a major supplier for AP bio classes in schools: AP Biology kits. It seems they also do stuff for AP chem and physics.
- Thames and Kosmos best known for the chemistry sets, they also have physics sets aimed at younger audiences (ages 8 and up and ages 10 and up). These are probably not suitable for the physics curriculum I’m looking at.
- http://www.labpaq.com
If anyone wants to point me to still more sources, I’d be glad to collect pointers. (I already have plenty for do-it-yourself stuff with the Arduino, so I’m more looking for the mechanical parts of physics labs than electronics or measuring equipment.)
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I’ve just started ordering from Prolab Scientific (http://www.prolabscientific.com). The quality varies (a friend just ordered a small trebuchet that is fun to play with but far too delicate to stand up to a classroom), but so far the prices appear decent. I’ve also occasionally found useful bits and pieces at http://thinkgeek.com, but they tend to be expensive and electronic (you could do better with your Arduino, I suspect). Thanks for the homeschooling details; I don’t think I have anything useful to add most of the time but it’s very interesting to follow your decision-making process, and I suspect I will come back to your resource lists for ideas to use with my class.
Comment by Mylène — 2011 September 16 @ 18:58 |
We manufacture and export physics lab equipment / instruments for school, college and teaching laboratory since 1954. We are based in Ambala.click more
Comment by aticoexport — 2014 June 23 @ 03:17 |
I’ve since bought things from Arbor Scientific (http://www.arborsci.com/) and BME Lab and Science (https://www.bmelabandscience.com/).
Comment by gasstationwithoutpumps — 2014 June 23 @ 05:48 |