Cheap Labs for Science Teachers

Cheap Labs for Science Teachers

These are some labs you can do with a minimum of expendable cost. I have many other labs on the downloadables page of this website. I tried to only list relatively cheap labs here.

This chart does not take into account the cost of non-expendables. In other words, these labs assume you have a minimal stock of science lab items.

Minimal stock to me includes: beakers, graduated cylinders, funnels, thermometers, stopwatches, heating devices (Bunsen burners or hot plates), scales, and rulers.

Lab:	Concepts Covered:	Materials Needed	Ways to Save more money	Notes:
Mass & Volume of Water	Density,Graphing, Mass, Volume	water (free for budget)	none	Assuming you have any kind of scales and graduated cylinders, this lab is completely free for your budget
Penny Density	Density, Physical Properties, Mass, Volume	pennies (1 cent a piece)	ask students to bring in pennies pennies can be reused	Assumes you have scales. Rulers can be substituted for graduated cylinders to measure volume rather than doing water displacement
Plastics Investigation	Uses of physical properties, density, chemical properties, observations	plastics with recycle codes 1-6 cut up into small pieces (free) acetone water (free) rubbing alcohol Mazola corn oil copper wire ($1-2)	ask students to bring in plastic containers with recycle codes buy materials at Costco (initial cost higher, but will last a long time)	Though the list is long, most items, when purchased, will serve you for about 5 years (ex. buy Mazola corn oil from Costco, and you will have enough for 5+ years of the lab) This lab assumes you have a hot plate and bunsen burners. Alternatively, you could use alcohol burners for this lab.
Plastics Inquiry	Physical Properties, Inquiry, variables	variety of plastic bags weights of some kind "darts"	Collect all kinds of plastic bags Use things you have laying around for weights (pennies, etc.) Darts can be made from a sharp pencil or from a cork with a paper clip stuck in it.	Students set up their own experiment in this one
Solubility Lab	Solubility, solutions, observations, kinetic theory, inquiry, variables	water (free) sugar salt baking soda corn starch	have students dissolve into only 20 mL of water--you will use up less solute this way purchase materials at Costco	This lab can test both the solubility of different solutes in water, and it can test temperature of solvent (water).
Phase change lab-water	Phases of matter, phase changes, temperature, kinetic theory	water (free)	if you have hot plates, you could have students bring in pots to boil the water in, rather than beakers	Assuming you have beakers, a heating device, stopwatches, and thermometers, this lab is entirely free
Phase change lab-wax	Phases of matter, phase changes, temperature, kinetic theory	wax ice (free if you have an ice machine in your locker room)	The wax can be reused each year	Assuming you have beakers, test tubes, a heating device, stopwatches, and thermometers, this lab only requires that you purchase wax.
Cartesian Diver Lab	Boyle's Law, compressibility, density, volume, pressure	2-liter bottles (free) eyedropper water	All but the water can be reused each year	Great way to tie in Boyle's Law with density, easy to set up, only cost is for eyedroppers, which can be reused
Charles' Law Lab	Charles' Law, temperature, volume, kinetic theory	plastic pipettes nuts water (free)	All items can be used	You will need a graduated cylinder like vessel for this lab, but it doesn't have to be marked, so anything long and narrow will work
Chromatography Lab	Solubility, mixtures, physical properties	filter paper markers water (free)	Use coffee filters in place of filter paper Markers can be used by you after lab is completed	Great way to show liquid/liquid mixture separation.
Atomic Structure Practice	atomic structure, orbitals, valence electrons	beans (3 kinds)	Beans can be reused each year	Requires you to provide students with a blank handout of atom structure
Isotope Lab	atomic structure, isotopes, graphing	beans (3 kinds)	Beans can be reused each year	Assumes you have a scale and a container to put the beans in (bean "isotopes" must be counted out and prepared ahead of time
Conservation of Mass Lab-Steel Wool	conservation of mass, chemical reactions,	steel wool	Ask students to bring in steel wool	Assumes you have a scale and heating device One bag of steel wool pads should easily last you 2-3 years with 5 classes each year.
Penny Half-life lab	radioactivity, half-life, nuclear chemistry	pennies	Ask students to bring in pennies Pennies can be reused	This is an alternative to the popular M&M lab, which, while popular, costs quite a bit more than this lab
Frosty the Snowman Lab	radioactivity, half-life, nuclear chemistry, radiometric dating, nature of science	ice	None	Assumes you have graduated cylinders and funnels
Radiometric Dating Lab	radioactivity, half-life, nuclear chemistry, radiometric dating, nature of science	beads of about 6 different colors	Ask students to bring in beads Supplies can be stored and reused indefinitely	Assumes you have some type of container (ziploc bags, Petri dishes, cups, etc.)
Speed Lab	speed, motion, frame of reference, units	no expendables (see notes)	None	Assumes you have meter sticks and stop watches
Work Lab	work, force	no expendables (see notes)	None	Assumes you have a scale. Uses common classroom items like chairs, books, pencils, that do not get destroyed in the process of the lab
Power Lab	power, work, rate, speed	no expendables (see notes)	None	Assumes you have a scale Uses common classroom items that do not get destroyed
Lever Lab	simple machines, force, torque	pennies binder clips or hexagonal pencil	Ask students to bring in pennies and pencils Pennies can be reused	Assumes you have a flat ruler and a regular hexagon shaped pencil or binder clip as the fulcrum
Paper Airplane Investigation	forces, flight, inquiry, variables	scrap 8.5x11" paper (free)	Ask students to use scrap paper from binders or save scrap paper in your classroom	Assumes you have a measuring device and/or stopwatches Assumes you either use the standard paper airplane folding pattern or that you have books or Internet access
Reflection lab	reflection	box of mirror tiles ($10-$12) flashlights batteries	All items but batteries can be reused indefinitely (except batteries) Ask kids to bring in flashlights & batteries	mirror tiles can be purchased at Home Depot, etc. One box will be enough for this lab. Assumes you have protractors Though this lab seems a bit expensive, if you have flashlights or a place to borrow them, the only cost is for the mirror tiles.
Echo Lab	echolocation, reflection of sound	nothing	None	Assumes you have a meter stick and a large flat wall at your school somewhere.
Horoscope Lab	pseudoscience, inquiry, variables	nothing	None	Requires that you look up horoscopes, remove the "sign" from them, and assign them a letter (for which you make a key)...the only cost is for the paper to run off the copies