News

To stay up-to-date on what’s going on with LABScI, subscribe to our quarterly newsletter – just follow this link! Below is a snapshot from our most recent newsletter:

Stanford Polymer Collective

The Stanford Polymer Collective (SPC) and our friend Holden hosted two labs on the science behind polymers! Students learned about the composition of polymer-based materials, and what makes a polymer a polymer. What is a polymer? It’s simply a long chain of molecules. At the end of the second lab, we played with polystyrene, a thermoplastic polymer, popularly used for shrinky dinks! Thank you SPC!

Stanford Archaeology Department

Earlier this year, we got the chance to try hands-on archeology by examining artifacts discovered on the Stanford University campus! The Stanford Archaeology Department provided the artifacts from their collection and guided students through a careful study of each item. Using what they learned, students were able to explain where the artifacts might have come from and how they were used.

San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research

Special thanks to the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research for sending us their Tortoise Telemetry lab! Our students got the opportunity to be wildlife biologists, using radiotelemetry units to locate wandering tortoises. With the information they gathered, students could figure the best locations to release captured tortoises!

Developing a New Lab on Levers

With help from the Palo Alto Unified School District and Science teacher Tammy Juarez, we experimented with different ideas for a brand new Levers lab! Did you know there are three different classes of levers? Students tried out all three, and discovered how levers can help make work easier.

You can also find an archive of our past newsletters here!