Science Lending Library
Serving Sarasota & Manatee County Schools
Science Lending Library Equipment & Kits
Sarasota/Manatee Branch
Earth & Space Science
Experiment with energy-efficient materials, heating, cooling, conduction, convection, and insulation. Investigate Earth's climate, the water cycle, and solar power. Construct and test solar, wind, and heat collection methods and learn about the energy conservation tricks used by plants. The kit contains energy houses, instructions, scientific explanations, and energy-saving tips. Some experiments require additional supplies. Grades 5th - 12th
Contains 3 fossil collections: Cenozoic, Paleozoic, & Mesozoic. All specimens are number coded with key. Paleozoic: Cambrian through Permian specimens Mesozoic: Triassic, Jurassic, & Cretaceous specimens Cenozoic: Paleocene to Recent specimens Florida State Standards: SC.7.E.6.2, SC.7.E.6.3, SC.7.E.6.4, SC.7.L.15.1, SC.7.L.15.2, SC.7.L.15.3, SC912.L.15.1, SC.912.L.15.2, SC.912.L.15.3, SC.912.L.15.4
Explores our universe by investigating the use of spectroscopes, an astrolabe, scale models, astrophotography, and other astronomer's tools. Includes 2 DVDs, a teacher's guide, answer sheets & evaluations. Expendable supplies not included. Grades 6th - 12th
Students create a scale model of the solar system, then analyze the processes that formed the planets, study planetary motion, and synthesize a comet. Includes the DVD Planets: New Discoveries. The Planets Videolab® consists of 10 workstations, including one observation station, plus teacher’s guide. Expendable supplies not included. Grades 6th - 12th
These hands-on lab activities provide a multi-learning approach to the topic of physical oceanography. Activities include the topics of bathymetry, ocean floor profiles, tides, sand and sedimentation types, density, turbidity, and surface currents. Kit includes materials for 11 workstations, the DVD Physical Oceanography, and complete teacher's guide. Expendable supplies not included. Grades 6th - 12th
Collection specimens include examples of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, rock forming minerals, ore forming minerals, and industrial minerals. Collection contains 40 1.5”-2” number-coded specimens, in a compartment tray and complete Rocks & Minerals Study Guide. (Grades 2-5)
Features 10 to 12 hands-on activities that can help students understand the concepts behind the basic weather conditions that produce our most common storms. Includes 2 DVDs, Thunderstorms: Nature's Fury and Hurricanes: Earth's Greatest Storms, teacher's guide, instructions for 12 complete workstations, student answer sheets, learning outcomes, pretests and post tests. Expendable supplies not included. Grades 6th - 12th
The Tectonic Sandbox vividly demonstrates convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries in an easy-to-use, self-contained, hands-on model. Students predict landform creations along tectonic boundaries as the crustal plates push, pull, and slide past each other in minutes instead of millions of years. Expendable supplies not included. Florida State Standards: SC.7.N.1.6, SC.7.N.3.2, SC.7.E.6.2, SC.7.E.6.5, SC.7.E.6.7, SC.7.P.11.1, SC.7.P.11.4, SC.912.E.6.2, SC.912.E.6.3
These hands-on activities help your students understand basic weather concepts about processes in our atmosphere. Students learn how to use weather instruments to gather data for their own classroom weather station. Kit consists of a week's worth of activities, including 2 DVDs: Weather at 5:00 and The Hydrologic Cycle, materials for 12 workstations, and a complete teacher's guide. Expendable supplies not included. Grades 6th - 12th
A comprehensive weather station with instant transmission, this wireless center collects rainfall, wind direction, wind chill, wind speed, indoor/outdoor temperature, relative humidity, and barometric pressure. This information can then be stored in 3 hour intervals for later retrieval, data comparison, or analysis. The LCD display also shows time, date with calendar comparison, forecast icon, and a 12 hour history graph for barometric pressure. Grades 6th - 12th
Equipment
Fast and accurate readings from 0 to 14 pH with a resolution of 0.01 pH. This compact tester features an easy-to-read LCD and simple to perform two-point calibration. Kit includes storage solution, calibration solutions, and pipets for rinsing. (6th - 12th grade)
An easy to use, 8-LED hand-held digital microscope with USB output interface for use with desktop or laptop computers. Detailed examination of any area you choose with the ability to take digital photographs and video for item comparisons. The LED feature can be turned on or off. Adjustable magnification from 10X - 200X, all in one compact lens! (NOT FOR USE WITH LIQUIDS) Florida State Standards: SC.912.L.14.4
This kit includes handheld Vernier LabQuest dataloggers, gas pressure sensors, and temperature sensors. Class set of 6.
Biology / Life Science
Make scientific classification a hands-on activity with this interactive kit. Using the colorful and durable Bio Cards and a classification key, students learn how to group organisms according to common traits. Kit also includes a teacher's manual and student data sheets. (class set)
This research-grade equipment provides students opportunities to study Biotechnology, forensics, genetics, and numerous other aspects of the ever expanding science of molecular biology. Each kit contains enough equipment for 4 groups of students to perform experiments and activities. Included in each kit are pipettes, power source, gel trays with combs, and instructions. Consumable agar gels, buffer solution, stain, and DNA samples are not included.
Students work out monohybrid, dihybrid and test crosses using Punnett squares then collect data from real ears of corn and compare the expected results to the actual results. The included ears of corn have been specially polyurethaned to prevent “picking” and moth infestation. Includes materials for five student groups: 5 specimens of genetic corn, instructions, rubber bands. Florida State Standards: SC.7.L.16.1, SC.7.L.16.2
The large test tubes are the perfect size for sprouting seeds and growing seedlings. Use different soil types, or no soil at all, to grow and compare seedlings. A 360-degree view of growing plants from the roots up. Does not include seeds or substrates.
Students will explore how genetic ratios are derived from two basic laws of probability, as well as simulate monohybrid crosses of peas to understand how alleles are passed on, how traits are determined, and how to predict segregation. Also simulate a dihybrid cross of peas to understand independent assortment. Contains materials for 15 setups, a teacher’s guide, & student copymaster. Florida State Standards: SC.7.L.16.1, SC.7.L.16.2, SC.912.L.16.1, SC.912.L.16.2
Kit includes: 5 plant & animal cell slide sets and 2 cell models for demonstration purposes. Slide set includes 5 slides demonstrating the basic similarities and differences between animal and plant cells. Includes human cheek cells, Amphiuma liver, cork, onion bulb epidermis, privet leaf. Cell models come with identification key and blank student identification worksheets. (6th - 12th grade)
Plant a bean and watch it sprout and wind its way through a maze that you design. Watch the roots develop inside the transparent soil container, too. Includes a plastic maze with several adjustable shelf pieces, a see-through planter/root viewer, two cover cards to block light during germination, a watering pipette, plastic magnifying glass, and detailed instructions. Requires soil and dried beans for planting, not included.
Trunk includes skull replicas of the 5 sea turtles we see in Florida’s waters as well as a corresponding food item for each. The trunk also includes 10 model turtles, 10 calipers, measuring tapes, a scale, and a lesson binder.
Physics/ Physical Science
The Acceleration Car demonstrates nearly constant acceleration. Simply pull back on the spring-loaded, die-cast truck, then release. Use a tape measure & timer to measure the acceleration. (Kit includes meter sticks, stop watches, & mass sets) (2nd - 12th grade)
This simple but powerful toy provides a visible source of uniform speed. Students can easily quantify and graph their results, starting them on the road to a conceptual understanding of motion. The Constant Velocity Car comes with a data sheet including background, product information, and suggested activities. (Kit also includes tape measures & stop watches) Florida State Standards: SC.912.P.10.15, SC.912.P.10.16,SC.912,P.12.2,SC.912.P.12.3,SC.912.P.12.6,SC.912.P.12.9, SC.912.N.1.1
An extruded aluminum track and ball bearings on every moving part of the Car and Ramp system delivers precise, repeatable data when measuring velocity and acceleration. The 120 cm track is exceptionally straight and rigid and is designed for easy mounting to the workshop stand and pulleys. The teacher's guide includes five sample labs covering speed, acceleration, gravitational acceleration, inclined planes, and Conservation of Energy on reproducible student worksheets.
This 48-piece density set provides four different sized specimens for each of 12 different materials. Each set of 4 density samples comes in its own tube for easy management. Measuring the mass and volume of each sample specimen allows students to plot Mass vs. Volume, and determine the density of their individual material by calculating the slope of the resulting line. Includes: aluminum, PVC, acrylic, wood, polypropylene, phenolic, polyurethane and PTFE, plus scales & graduated cylinders.
Stand on a rotational turntable and twist the handheld wheel to demonstrate gyroscopic motion and the conservation of angular momentum, or tie a rope to an eye screw in one of the handles of the spinning wheel to demonstrate precess. Includes turntable, bicycle wheel, mini gyroscope & activity instructions. Turntable can support up to 200 lbs and and has non-skid patches to prevent skidding or slipping. Grades 6th - 12th
Demonstrate the relationship between speed and kinetic energy by dropping a ball from two different heights onto a bed of soft clay. For the second drop, the ball is traveling twice as fast, and it forms a crater four times as deep, indicating that it has four times the energy. After the demonstration, the clay can be removed and cut in half along the crater marks to measure and compare the depth of the craters. Includes instructions and student worksheets. Grades 6th - 12th
Study refraction and reflection using the laser ray box and 7 prisms in this economical set. Use the graduated circle printed on the set’s mat to measure angles of reflection and refraction. Set features double-convex, double-concave, trapezoid, rectangular, semicircular, right-angle prisms, mirror and a hollow semicircular prism to measure the optical properties of liquids. Includes a sheet of 14 light ray diagrams for reference. Grades 9th - 12th
This clear tank has a circular scale graduated in 5° increments, making it easy for students to measure angles of reflection and refraction. Rotate the laser and observe first a reflected ray, then both a reflected and refracted ray, and finally just a refracted ray. Florida State Standards: SC.912.P.10.14, SC.912.P.10.16, SC.P.10.20, SC.912.P.10.21, SC.912.N.3.3
The original "Hodson" Light Box and Optical Set includes all the equipment needed to perform 30 experiments on reflection, refraction, and color. The durable light box has an adjustable lens that can project a parallel, convergent, or divergent beam. The front face accommodates slit plates or color filters and the rear hinged mirrors allow mixing of all 3 beams. Comes with a 12-V, 3-amp DC power supply. Grades 6th - 12th
Amaze your students with the wonders of magnetism as they make magnets float in midair, go on a magnetic scavenger hunt, even see how a magnet’s poles work! This kit has all your class needs for unlimited exploration and discovery, including horseshoe magnets, powerful bar magnets, magnetic wands, compasses and more. Includes handy activity cards filled with fun experiments.
This environmentally and kid-friendly vehicle reflects clean energy uses and demonstrates a more effective use of natural resources. As saltwater reacts with the magnesium metal sheet, the car can operate for about 5-7 hours continuously. All the materials used in this kit are environmentally safe and clean, with no toxins or disposal concerns.
Explore heat transfer, absorption and reflection of heat, phase changes, chemical & physical changes, and thermal conductivity with this hands-on thermal energy kit. Kit contains materials for two hands-on investigations (Ice Melting Blocks and Chemical Heat Packs) and IR temperature gauges. (1st - 12th grade)
Use this tuning fork set and cups of water to explore sound and vibration with your students. Includes two sets of tuning forks, cups and special "sound spoon headphones" for students to experiment with how sound waves travel through different substances.
This kit consists of five hands-on experiments to explore the properties of waves and sound. Students experiment with concepts such as frequency, amplitude, period, interference, resonance and the Doppler effect. This complete “activity stations” lab kit is suitable for introductory or advanced-level class. Detailed instructions and all necessary materials are provided. Enough materials for a class of thirty students working in groups of three. Grades 9th - 12th