Australia's Science Forum

Gratnell are great system - I wanted them but we couldn't afford them. I use their trolleys though for Rocks - I have one in every prep Room and they can just be wheeled into rooms for classes...

When i was in Melbourne a year ago, the museum there had a shop which had all sorts of interesting specimens available for sale.. Maybe you could contact them - or perhaps the museum in sydney

Have you ever gone swimming in Myuna Bay in Lake Macquarie in summer? Myuna Bay is reasonably shallow for a fair way out and used to be a lovely sandy area safe for kids to swim. :-) The outlet from thepower station a few kms away makes the water warm in winter - but in summer, I have been there whe...

Doeds anyone else have trouble with serrata catalogue online?
I often have trouble using the search - it comes up with 'not found'... yet I KNOW they stock the stuff!
I sit with their printed catalogue and just use the internet to check prices....
maybe if enough have troubles we should let them know

Well it looks like my little fishies didn't die for nothing! They have contributed to knowledge.. :D ALSO - the locksmiths are in today - they are putting locks on all the doors into my prep rooms - it's only taken 7 years and 8 dead fish! #-o Have you ever wished you had never got out of bed? Well,...

Thank you all for your input and sympathy.. I will follow your suggestions when I get the tank up and running again.. I asked the maintenace guy if he could make a huge metal cage with rings on the floor .. not to put the fish tank in, but to chain all the students up whenever they use that room!!!!...

Thank you thank you thank you.... that is EXACTLY what I was after....

I have my suspicions about what happened... Some of our staff are not very vigilant in watching students - if you all catch my drift! One of these had a class in that room on Monday afternoon. I think one of his students slipped into the Prep room and grabbed the 2M HCl that was in there for another...

AHA! the pH of the water is 3 !!!!
No wonder my poor little things died...
As no classes in that room yesterday did any pracs with chemicals, what would it take to change neutral water to this pH ina 3ft tank??

The fish look like they have been dead for days! Their scales are falling off and their bodies are disintegrating- that just doesn't happen overnight! I reckon one of my little darlings thought they would add something extra to the water! I have removed the still alive ones and put them into an isol...

Well - Ocker , i WAS thinking of the MALE teacher who asked for it originally

I saw this kit on the Australian geographic web site. We could really do with it for our Juniors. Apparently Australian Geographic no longer sell it.. :-( it is a 4M product. It has a model of the Earth with the moon on an arm swinging around the earth.. Has anyone seen anything similar when they ha...

Yesterday they were fine... swimming around looking happy .. if fish can smile they were...
Today 8 of them are dead, died, kaput, finito!!!!!

I just grew the most beautiful Borax crystal star - have to SHOW the staff something knew or they just go into automatic mode!
Sweeeeeeeeeet.....

I have been laughing here with tears running down my cheeks... a curette!
I agree with Ocker - i would have thought burette...
But come to think of it .. hey - lets all have an In-service atyour place and we can SEE how to do a curette on the teacher!!!!!

Sorry to hear of your husbands illness .. however, I hope that this time together will be a special one - God be with you
Pam

We have had good results this year - I use bleach solution to sterilise everything.. then rinse with distilled water. Make sure the yeast isnt out of date, and we just use the yeast and sugar .. We use buchner flasks - with the side arm, and plastic tubing which goes into a beaker of limewater.. I u...

I use the solutions - yes they do go 'off' after a while, but are easy to use and because they are colour-coded are easy for the teachers to use..

Hi pkij, In this area we non-DET schools had no access to any In-services .. so Ocker and I got together, and with support from our HODs, we got one going.. We include all the Catholic High Schools in this Diocese and many of the Independent Christian and some Grammar schools .. We are now 'official...

Since inflation has been running at 4%, how come they think that 2.5% is a reasonable offer????
And I hate the way pay rises are in percentages.. that means the rich DO get richer and the rest of us keep slipping backwards...