Category: schools technology

featuring the “museum of data logging” with 20 years of school equipment

temperature sensor

visitors this year: 80 Sensors to measure heat and temperature These sensors are available in all flavours to suit different applications. You should be able to decide on the type that suits whole class...

the brilliant all-in-one printer from HP (2001)

visitors this year: 152 Hewlett-Packard hp psc 950 All-in one printer, scanner, copier, fax and photo-card reader. (TES December 2001) £299 Contact: www.hp.com. Reviewed by Roger Frost Need a photo printer, flatbed scanner and...

Apple iMac (2002)

visitors this year: 132 Reviewed by Roger Frost for Times Educational Supplement April 2002Value 4* Quality 5* Fitness 5* Features 5* You will not find a tastier looking computer than Apple’s iMac. It is a sight...

monitor classroom noise

visitors this year: 55 A most asked question was ‘what can I use this data logger for?’ My most used answer to this was to use it as a noise meter. When I needed...

how to store a pH probe

visitors this year: 59 I read somewhere that pH probes do not last forever and that may be so. It was certainly true for the draw full of pH probes, all left to dry,...

simple harmonic motion

visitors this year: 32 Simple harmonic motion is rarely as simple as the lesson title implies. This potentiometer-based sensor measures angles as its core rotates. Attaching a ruler as shown (or hack saw blade)...

hack for test tube holders – like no other

visitors this year: 135 From Roger Frost’s austerity lab tips, when you run training days in hotels, one improvises, as this tip shows: This IKEA tea towel clip gained an unusual second life as boiling...

new kinds of computer mice

visitors this year: 63 Mice and machines – interacting with computers (For Production Solutions Magazine November 2000) by Roger Frost Little has changed with the way that we interact with a computer. Its mouse...

ultra-violet sensor

visitors this year: 40 Might be used for measuring the variation in UV light during the day or as meter to compare sun creams and sunglasses. UV sensors can be found in ‘wearables’ like...

voltage & current sensors

visitors this year: 62 The scope for electrical measurement as obviously as big as the subject itself. Data logging systems tend to measure changes over time and that suits these sensors to measuring the...

position or angle sensor

visitors this year: 67 This sensor allows superb and easy to do investigations into the swing of a pendulum leading on to studies of harmonic motion and damping. (See several examples nearby). It allows...

oxygen and pH sensors

visitors this year: 60 oxygen sensor Sensor is used in conjunction with an oxygen electrode. Good for demonstrations where you monitor photosynthesis, fermentation or where you re-breathe the air in plastic bag.  Before you...

humidity sensor

visitors this year: 44 A less widely used sensor that nevertheless shows interesting results when monitoring environments over time. Place one in a polythene bag with your hand, or a plant and see how...

conductivity sensor

visitors this year: 36 This sensor is used in conjunction with a conductivity cell. It tends to used as a stand-alone meter to measure salinity or total dissolved solids in water. Offers some enhancement...

balance sensor

visitors this year: 28 Balances and interfaces have for a long time tried to find a common language for talking to each other. A few systems found this and offered a balance adapter that...

pressure sensor

visitors this year: 36 A surprisingly useful sensor which is usually on the expensive side. They come in various ranges and while no single range handles all uses you can settle on a mid...

light sensor & colorimeter

visitors this year: 123 Often used elaborately to produce a makeshift colorimeter, the light is very useful for many biology and chemistry experiments on rates of reactions. As monochromatic light is less important with...

heat flow sensor

visitors this year: 32 Used to measure the flow and direction of heat through clothing or building materials. It contains countless thermistors and unlike a temperature sensor, provides readings as Watts/m2. While its classroom...