Title:

Designing The Perfect School Science Lab

Word Count:
512

Summary:
School science laboratories seem to always be designed by accountants. They are
generally poorly laid out and ill-equipped to serve their purpose.I have taught in
many of these disasters and have designed other labs that have been a pleasure to
teach in.

It would be nice if price was not a constraining factor in all school building
design, but it is.The best way to approach the design of your lab is from the
stand-point of what you need, then pare it down if the total cost...

Keywords:
lab design, school, lab, science teaching, school science

Article Body:
School science laboratories seem to always be designed by accountants. They are
generally poorly laid out and ill-equipped to serve their purpose.I have taught in
many of these disasters and have designed other labs that have been a pleasure to
teach in.

It would be nice if price was not a constraining factor in all school building
design, but it is.The best way to approach the design of your lab is from the
stand-point of what you need, then pare it down if the total cost is over-budget.

A school laboratory is usually larger than the average classroom. This is because
it may have 35 students moving around it, flames from Bunsen burners, sinks,
electrical equipment and glassware all at the same time, as well as writing
materials, computers and boards. The whole setup sounds impossible.

Ideally you need to separate student writing areas from student experimental areas.
The easiest way to do this is to have sinks, electrical outlets and workbenches
around the three sides of the room. Cupboards for glassware and electrical
equipment will slot underneath these workbenches. There needs to be a clear walkway
all around the room in front of these workbenches, so that students can move about
safely. The fouth side of the room will be where the board and teacher's bench are.

You will need fume hoods, or fume cupboards, with extraction facilities to the
outside. School fume hoods are not used very often, because the chemicals used in
school labs are not aprticularly noxious. Fume hoods are best situated on the wall
with the board and the teacher's area. Using a fume hood with a class is largely
impractical because of the logistics issues involved with 35 students wanting to
use one or two small spaces at the same time. These areas will be used infrequently
and only briefly.

You will also need desks or benches for students to sit at to write at and for non-
practical lessons. These workbenches will are best situated about five feet away
from the perimeter work benches. The exact arrangement of these workspaces will
depend on the dimensions of your laboratory.

A fan arrangement works well, with the desks end on to where the taecher stands.
Other possibilities include joined groups of desks and desks tee-ed off the
teacher's desk. Groups of desks make for more chatter amongst your students.
If you are installing an LCD projector, then consider mounting it from the ceiling
where it projects to the board at the front.

That gives you your perfect school laboratory. You will almost certainly be
overbudget at this point. How can you reduce the cost?

* Cut the number of sinks - A large cost saving, but disastrous in terms of
increasing student movement during experimental work. Consider long sinks at the
back of the worktop though.
* Cut the number of electrical outlets - Small savings
* Cut the number of cupboards - Large savings possible, but increases student
movement around the laboratory, and where do you put all the equipment?
* Have just one fume-hood - Large savings, and you will rarely use it anyway.