10.9 Managing Classroom Materials and Facilities

As a science teacher you will be responsible for the materials that you will need to teach science---from textbooks, to string, to microscopes and rock samples. Where are materials for the science classroom obtained, and how should they be organized in the classroom facility?

Materials for Science Teaching

If you ever have gone to a national science conference, or even a state science conference, you come away knowing that there is an enormous supply of materials---textbooks, hands-on materials, and equipment---available for science teaching.

Inventorying science materials. It is important to a have broad view of the nature of science materials and equipment. As a science teacher you will use textbooks, supplemental books, computers, audio-tutorial materials, day-to-day teaching supplies, equipment, and various technological projectors. Two aspects of science materials and equipment are considered here. First, an evaluation of the nature of equipment and materials should be made, and then an inventory of existing equipment and materials so that accurate accounting can be made.

Evaluating the teaching/learning equipment and materials needs of a science department requires collaboration among members of the science department. As a student intern or student teacher, you will have the opportunity to gain some insight into equipment and materials needs by discussing the checklist shown in Figure 1 with a member of a science department.

Figure 1 Science Equipment and Materials Checklist Directions: Rate each item on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high). For each item, make comments about the teaching/learning potential for the science department. 1. Up-to-date textbooks and laboratory manuals (or equivalent materials in courses designed not to have textbooks or lab manuals are provided. 2. Supplementary books, reference books, and other printed materials representing a considerable range of sophistication and diversity of student interest are provided. 3. Various programmed learning materials are available to facilitate independent student learning of specific skills and content. 4. Students are provided access to a computer and appropriate software and are instructed in the use of this equipment. 5. The school or department library includes an adequate selection of books, periodicals, and pamphlets on the sciences, the social impact of science, and the history, philosophy, and sociology of science and technology. 6. Filmloops, transparencies, filmstrips, motion pictures, and videos are available and attainable when needed by students and/or teachers. 7. Projectors for filmloops, filmstrips, motion pictures, videos, and transparencies are available and attainable when needed. 8. The recorders, cassettes, and VCR's are available and attainable when needed. 9. Equipment and materials for laboratory experimentation and individual student projects are adequate and available when needed. 10. The system of distribution of laboratory supplies and equipment is reasonably simple and efficient. 11. Provisions are made for prompt replacement of equipment that wears out or is lost, stolen, or damaged beyond repair. 12. An effective, continuous inventory of science equipment and supplies is maintained. 13. Catalogues of science equipment and supplies are readily available to science teachers. 14. Procedures for requesting and ordering supplies and equipment are reasonable, simple and efficient. 15. Science teachers are centrally and effectively involved in the selection and purchase of all instructional equipment and materials for use in the science department.

A checklist evaluation such as this provides an evaluation of a science department's inventory of equipment and materials. Keeping up with equipment and materials needs to be a cooperative effort among members of the department. In a middle schools, in which teachers are not organized into content departments, the science teachers across teams need to collaborate to evaluate the equipment and materials, and then move to the next step, keeping an accurate inventory so that orders can be made for each year.

The budgets for purchasing science equipment and materials is typically very limited. Textbooks for science are often purchased on a rotating basis every four to six years. These funds are provided by the state government in half of the state in the U.S., and by the local schools in the remaining states. The purchase of teaching materials for laboratory work is cited as a problem in many schools, although this varies considerably from one district to the other. Equipment and material needed can be evaluated more effectively if an inventory is made and kept up-to-date. A paper and pencil inventory can keep up with existing materials, and be used to make decisions when ordering time rolls around. Some science departments use one of several computer programs to inventory science materials.

Obtaining Science Supplies. Science equipment and materials can be obtained locally, or from textbook companies, computers suppliers, and science suppliers. A worthwhile activity for you is to write to some of the companies that are listed below (Figures 2 and 3) and request their current catalog.

It is important to find out which companies can be relied on for purchasing science teaching materials. Other teachers can of course be of help, but it is worthwhile to investigate this on your own. Writing and requesting a catalog is one way to begin. Visiting the vendors at science conferences is another. For instance, if you are a biology teacher and you want to order live organisms, you will want to be sure that the company will deliver when they promise. Establishing a relationship with the company, either via the mail, or through a sales representative are ways to insure good service.

Science Kits. Science teaching materials can not only be purchased as individual items, but you can also purchase kits of science materials. A number of science suppliers have designed science kits around single topic areas such as weather, mechanics, magnetism, electricity, sound, aeronautics, plant growth, energy alternatives, human body, ecology. The kits contain the hands-on materials that you can use to design inquiry activities, experiments, and demonstrations. Most kits are supplemented with a teacher's guide or resource book describing suggested activities and experiments.

Ecology Kit	Light and Optics Kit
Materials enable you to design activities on: • water filtration • chemical pollution • polluted air • noise pollution • sedimentation (purifying water) • erosion • flooding • oil spills • conservation • natural decay • thermal pollution	Materials enable you to design activities on: • reflection of light • radiometer • mirror images • multiple images • spectra • mirror writing • water-drop microscope • shadows • periscope • pinhole camera • spectroscopes

Microchemistry kits are a recent innovation of kit makers, and have provided chemistry teachers an opportunity to plan chemistry activities in a safety enhanced environment. For instance, kits focus on concepts and principles such as acids, bases and salts, rates of reaction, electrochemistry, and organic chemistry. There are several advantages to the microscience kits. For one, the quantities of chemical are minimal yet the chemistry remains the same as if larger quantities were used. Lab set up time is reduced since the teacher does not need to prepare as much material. The activities also lend themselves to desk-top lab experiences, and in some cases movement into the lab is unnecessary.

A number of curriculum projects in recent years have designed science units or modules of study, and have packaged the teaching materials into kits. CEPUP (Chemical Education for Public Understanding Project---see Chapter 6) is a good example. The CEPUP materials incorporate the same principle as the microchemistry kits; investigative hands-on science activities are performed by students, but with smaller quantities of materials.

Science kits can be ordered from a number of science suppliers. Here are several that provide kits that can be used at the middle school and high school level.

• Carolina Biological Supply Co.

2700 York Rd.

Burlington, NC 27215

1-800-334-5551

• Fisher Scientific-EMD

4901 W. LeMoyne Street

Chicago, IL 60651

1-800-621-4769

• Frey Scientific

P.O. Box 8101

Mansfied, OH 44901

1-800-225-FREY

• Science Kit & Boreal Laboratories

Tonawanda, NY 14150

1-800-828-7777

Science kits provide the science teacher with a unit approach to ordering teaching materials, and it supports the hands-on/minds-on philosophy developed in this book. Since most kits contain generic supply of teaching materials for a topic, the science teacher can be creative and innovative when planning lessons. For example a kit on "kitchen chemistry" would contain contain materials enabling you to design lessons on mixtures, compounds, solutions, crystals, acids, bases, electrolysis, and chromatography. Instead of having to order items separately, the innovative teacher can order a kit then tailor it to the kinds of experiences deemed appropriate for his or her students.

Science kits can also be an organizational structure for storing and maintaining science materials. Once you have purchased several kits, you can then begin to design and develop your kits basing them on your own teaching units.

Science teachers have taken the concept of science kits and adapted it to create what commonly are called "shoe-box" science learning kits. These learning kits have the same characteristics as commercial science kits; they contain smaller quantities of science materials and they focus on science concepts and principles. Shoe-box kits can be easily stored, and facilitates the management of the science teaching environment.