Science matters

Thank you for equipping teachers of tomorrow

Thank you! The gifts you made in support of science equipment as part of our end-of-financial-year campaign in 2021 have helped teachers of tomorrow, like Evan Kelly, get ready for the classroom.

Evan pops on a lab coat to show how one of the new pieces of equipment we purchased with your help works. This compact Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer is the Swiss Army knife of the chemistry lab. It identifies unknown compounds, and does so quickly—by drastically reducing sample preparation time. “We just put the sample on, pull the anvil down and take the reading,” says lecturer Dr Gemma Christian. The machine is also more robust. “I’m not worried about breaking it,” says Evan, a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Teaching student. “And it’s so easy to use. In class, I see graphs produced by these machines and hear about the recording techniques, but now I can do my own recordings and produce my own graphs.”

Other equipment^ includes a High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (used for separating mixtures—remember the experiment that separated colours we provided in your campaign pack?), a disolved oxygen probe (for testing waterways), and microscopes you can take into the field. You also purchased other items like conductivity meters and PH probes that make everyday measurements in the lab easier.

The equipment “helps us to prepare high school teachers like Evan because knowing how these analytical tools work is fundamental to understanding the curriculum,” says Gemma. “We couldn’t deliver the course without the equipment. Thank you for believing in us.”

^ Here is the full list of equipment:

• Atomic Absorption Spectrometer
• Data loggers
• Electrical conductivity probe
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer
• High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph
• Oxygen probe
• Reverse Osmosis Water Purification System
• Trail cameras
• Transportable microscopes
• Water baths