Equipment+Catalogs

=This page contains information about Science Equipment Catalogs=

Carolina Biological Supply
[] (equipment catalogs) Allie White I looked at the Carolina website because when I was googling supplies for laboratories that would be performed in my Biology classes and most of the supplies could be found here. I also was sent information through NSTA and one of the blogs the teachers talked about how much they liked the Carolina website for ordering supplies because they are quality supplies and get shipped in time. Overall the webpage was decently priced.

Carolina Biological Supply Company (reviewed by Bob Podlinski)
Carolina's online catalog was very impressive. Navigating the site was very easy, and the descriptions of the products were very helpful. There are an incredible amount of products, and they list many alternatives to dissection, such as models and videos for sale. In addition to laboratory materials for biology, chemistry, physics and environmental science, there are resources for teachers and K-8 curriculum programs. This would be the site I would use for all of my laboratory needs.

Carolina Biological Supplies (reviewed by Emily Detter) I did my review on the Carolina Biological Supplies Catalog, online version. I was very impressed with this catalog. It offered anything from living organisms to __#|lab equipment__ and supplies to chemistry and physics. This site was very easy to navigate through and had everything clearly labeled with ratings and prices on every item. Not only did this site offer supplies to buy, but it also included k-8 curriculum guides and a teacher resource tab. In the teachers resource tab, there were free educational videos in the areas of genetics, living organisms, chemistry and life science. This tab also offered classroom acitivity ideas, lab safety information, workshop downloads, instruction manuals and buying guides, and teacher tips. Some of the prices on this site did seem a little expensive, but overall I thought that this site was very helpful and would be a great site to buy products as well as to find free informational videos and activities.

Carolina Science 2010 (Whitney Twining) This catalog has equipment for life science, environmental science, earth and space science, chemistry, physics, publications and media, and general lab equipment and supplies. I was kind of amazed with all of the stuff that is out there and the price of it. The smallest size stirbar is $3.00, which is crazy because these get dumped down the drain on accident all the time. They sell numerous kits that many students could use which is very helful when it comes to chemistry labs. The organization and display of all the equipment is very helpful and makes it easy to navigate through or see if the product is what you are looking for. They sell a lot of the equipment in a package but do have single items available. The posters they sell are very informational and would be great to decorate with or use as a teaching tool. It has available "Why study posters?" for each subject which I thinkg would be a great connector for students since we always get that question. They sell computer software to help will many topics in all branches of science and they can help students see what is being talked about while using the __#|technology__ they are used to. This catalog would be great for the entire science department which could be less confusing.

Carolina Biological Supply Company 2010 (reviewed by Jim Bratcher) The Carolina Biological Supply Company has been in __#|business__ since 1927. From the name, one might assume that they only provide supplies for the biological sciences but in fact their catalog covers most disciplines including Earth and Space science. The vast majority of the products offered in my specialty area are fairly inexpensive. Their models and demonstration sets for example are very reasonable at with most priced at less than $100. The online version of the catalog even had fairly good quality telescopes for less than $300; a truly great price for a reflecting telescope. Because the Carolina Company offers supplies for so many different disciplines, it is easy to find items for highly interdisciplinary topics such as the stellar life cycles. Instead of searching a physics supply catalog for one item, a chemistry catalog another, and then an earth science catalog for a third; everything is available in one place and can be ordered together as part of one purchase order and shipment. Not only is this much more convenient, it also saves time and cuts down on paperwork. The Carolina Company also provides a huge amount of online support via the “Teacher Resources” link on the homepage. This section of the site offers links to state standards (with materials specific to each standard), material safety data sheets, classroom activities, interactive games and simulations, and teacher 2 teacher tips – hands on tips from other teachers regarding everything from how to clean glassware to making artificial blood. I highly recommend Carolina Biological Supply Company and will definitely be using them in the future.

Flinn Scientific
Flinn Scientific reviewed by Kassandra Brady I had the actual paper copy of this catalog. The setup was self explanatory and setup up in an easy wat to use. It began with new products than went through the chemistry supplie, next was physical science, than Biology, than Earth science and finished of with an index so you can quickly find what your looking for than going through the huge catalog page by page. Looking through the catalog the prices seemed reasonable but it was compared to other catalog prices. Flinn also gave you four options to purchase your equipment and they were: mail, phone, fax, and online. Overall the Flinn catalog could be a very useful resource in any science teachers classroom just because readability of it.

Flinn Scientific reviewed by Rachael Shearouse
I chose to review Flinn because that is the catalog used by ESASD so I had access to it. The catalog was organized by subject which made it easy to navigate through to find the materials that you needed. They had a fairly large selection of preserved animals for dissections. They had samples from different phylums which can be used in a biology, zoology, or animal phys. class. Flinn also had DNA kits and general laboratory equipment that every science classroom would need. The prices seemed to me reasonable and from using things purchased through Flinn the quality is great. I would definitely purchase from Flinn for my classroom in the future.

Flinn Scientific: Online Catalog by Chris Torres

The catalog that I looked into was Flinn’s online catalog. I liked that they had an alphabetical index list. This made it easy to find specific items because you could just go and try and find whatever you are looking for. Another thing I like about this catalog is that it offers almost anything from live animals to chemicals, to microscopes, and more. I think some things I found in the catalog seemed slightly more costly than could be purchased through other avenues. One thing I did appreciate is that on the online catalog there are directions for storage, care, health hazards, etc. I would’ve liked to look at a hard of the catalog because for some reason certain items could not be clicked on. Other than that I found this to be a good resource for materials and one that I’d probably use in my own classroom.

Flinn Scientific Incorporated: "Flinn Science Catalog Reference Manual 2012" (Review by Amber Anderson)
May I begin by commenting on how fantastic Flinn Scientific is? Their website alone provide multitudes of varying resources, from lesson plans to interactive videos to how to dispose of chemical wastes! The catalog that I reviewed, once again, proved my previous claim but, in tangible form. As soon as the manual is opened, you will automatically be overwhelmed with the number of items they offer. New products as well as those that are specialized based on subject area are included and, the company went as far as to organize and color code each subject so they can be easily identified through the manual. The price of materials seem fairly reasonable; however, I have never had a need to purchase scientific equipment until recently so I could be mistaken. Overall, this manual would be useful for any teacher and will always be used as a reference for materials in my classroom. (p.s. this is the most recent edition of the manual; therefore, being most useful for a 2012 classroom.)

Ward Natural Science
Ward Natural Science reviewed by Jamie Huber

I chose to review Ward Natural Science after seeing one of their catalogs, I checked out their website, and Ward offers a great variety of equipment for many different science disciplines. The catalog and website states that Ward has been offering educational products since 1862. At the top of the web catalog are different tabs that take the interested party to equipment available for Biology, Geology, Chemistry, Physical Science, Environmental Science, and Forensic Science. Under each specific tab, is what seemed to me, all of the equipment needed to stock a classroom/lab for any of the fore mentioned science endeavors. The items available on the site have clear pictures and a brief description of the item. Scroll a little down from the item and you can find out if anybody has submitted a review after purchasing that item. Even though the catalog was pretty thick, the website definitely had equipment to check out. Also, the website seemed like any other place to buy something on the internet, seemed pretty secure and the interested party can sign-up to get discounts through emails.

Sargent-Welch
Sargent-Welch: Science Education Equipment, Supplies & Lab Furniture (Reviewed by: Shannon Jones) I looked into the Sargent-Welch catalog because this is the one that most of my high school science teachers used to get supplies. I have never looked into a catalog before so I am not sure what to expect. The layout is very easy to use, you can search for items or browse through different departments (biology, chemistry, physics, etc.) They have a “deal of the day” item at the top of every page and offer great discounts on a lot of items. When you click on the Biology tab, all the items available come up on the left hand side with a number of how many are in stock so it makes it easy to see if they have what you need right away rather than going through all the pages on the website. The catalog is very thorough and offers a large variety of materials!

Fisher Scientific
Fisher Scientific (reviewed by Sara Shatt)

I chose to review the online version of the Fisher Scientific catalog. ([]). At first glance, I didn't really like the catalog. The layout looked confusing and I didn't really know what I was looking for. The images were well spaced, but the wrapping text made the page look cluttered. But upon further exploration of the site, I started to like the catalog more. The products are organized based on the age group that they are appropriate for (Elementary, Secondary, College). The Chemistry section (as well as other sections) have a complete Table of Contents that is easy to read and navigate. The catalog looks like a book, but you can click on each item to get a more in depth explanation and to add to your shopping cart. The products clearly tell you how many students each item accomadates, and has entire kits for experiments so you don't have to buy everything seperately. The kits even briefly describe the experiment so it's easy for teachers to put together a lesson. All in all, this catalog is very helpful for teachers.

Fisher Science Education Catalog 2010 (reviewed by Steve Beautz)

First when looking through the catalog, I liked how they had featured products in the beginning of the catalog which many teachers would be interested in. Also, I liked how it was seperated into each field of science so it was easy to find the products that you were looking for without looking through the whole catalog if you didnt need to. It seemed to have all the equipment at science teacher would need for the classroom and in the laboratory. Seemed that a lot of the equipment is pretty pricey but its hard to tell without ever having to buy science equipment before. It was also nice how each product gave a little description of it and gives the specs of each. Overall, i think that Fisher has many good products and products for each field of science and would use this catalog in the future.

NASCO
NASCO science 2011 (reviewed by Brittany Baccaro) This catalog is a great tool for teachers. When you first open the book there is a table of contents labeled by each type of science. Underneath the labels there are subtopics of these sciences and page numbers. This catalog includes everything from lab supplies to animals to lab benches. Each item has a paragraph written the item and what its use is. It also contains its price and catalog number. I think this catalog is a good resource but it may be smart as a teacher to compare catalogs for price differences as well as the quality of the product. Overall I would say I could see myself using this catalog in my classroom.

NASCO Science 2011 ( reviewed by Ryan Kelleher)

Nasco science catalogue has a variety of supplies for many different types of science ranging form Biology to physical science, chemistry, laboratory equipment and more. This can be found in the index. This is the first time I am looking at a science catalogue so I cannot tell you if the prices are reasonable. the supplies are broken up into different size shipping units. In biology the equipment rages from live specimens to pet, equipment for entomology and dissections. They also have plant life and much more. I feel this is a good source to obtain supplies for the classroom although I would have to compare the other catalogs. One important thing is that this seems like a great source for live specimens rather then lab equipment at least for biology.

Nasco Science 2012 (Reviewed by Heather Malin) This catalog has supplies listed for just about every type of classroom. It starts off with supplies for biological sciences (which also has subcategories underneath it), then there's chemistry, lab supplies, earth science, space science, physical science, and general science. This catalog is color coated based off of the subjects the teacher may be looking for, which makes looking through the catalog fairly easy. Just for a general price comparison I picked some supplies I personally would use in the classroom and compared them with the prices with the more popular catalog flinn scientific. After looking at about 10 different items typically found in a biology classroom, I was able to conclude that for the most part, Nasco sciences prices tend to be lower for the exact same supplies than flinn scientific. However, flinn scientific seemed to offer more lab activities and ideas than Nasco, where Nasco seemed to just provide supplies for the classroom. Overall, however, I feel that his catalog would be very beneficial for a science teacher to use in their classroom, especially if they are ordering supplies or displays for their classroom.

Nasco Science 2011 (Reviewed by Josh Egner) This catalog has it all from tie dye laboratory coats to foam. The catalog starts with a quick index that includes lab supplies as well as different concentrations of science such as biology, earth, chemistry, space, physical, and general sciences. Each science has a color label on the outside of the book so you can find the section you are looking for easily. Prices are listed for each item as well. The items included seem to range for all ages of students. I recommend this catalog solely for the fact that Nasco has a huge variety of supplies. Everything a teacher could possibly need can be found within this catalog. I also feel that it is very easy to find items with the index provided in the back of the catalog.

Nasco Science 2012 (reviewed by Bryan Freeman) This catalog was very impressive. All subject areas within science seem to be equally represented within this catalog. The resources within the Earth Science area seem to be reasonably priced for the most part, however some things I would like for my classroom are probably too expensive. I like that the Earth Science activities offered in the catalog have plenty of options for all levels of earth science. This would be important to me as I am not sure which level I am going to end up teaching Earth Science. I would recommend this catalog to any science teacher regardless of which science class they taught.

Nasco Science 2010 (reviewed by Thomas Kotch)[]Nasco bills itself as “The Science Teacher's Favorite Catalog!” While that may be a bit of marketing hyperbole, the catalog is full of most items any science teacher could use in their elementary or secondary classroom. It's divided into sections appropriate for biology, chemistry, earth science, space science, physical science, and general science. The presentation is straightforward with little or no filler but it's all here. There are several pages of prepared demonstrations and ready-to– go lab experiments. Most experiments are scaled for 15 students. Nasco offers most of the reagents necessary for general chemistry experiments and much of the ancillary items (posters, periodic tables, models, books) for demonstrations and room decorating. Their offerings of laboratory supplies are adequate with the full array of standard items available such as balances, glassware, ring stands, test-tube holders etc. The Nasco catalog is no-frills but sufficient for most needs. Nasco Science 2005 (reviewed by Tamara McCombs) This is an excellent catalog for all science teachers, as it contains products for Biology, Earth Science, Space Science, Physical Science, and General Science classrooms. It is advertised as being "budget sensitive", and prices to appear to be very reasonable. It makes available a great variety of preserved marine and terrestrial specimens accompanied by dissection guides that are excellent for Biology and Anatomy & Physiology classes. It has all the supplies I can imagine needing in a lab and thorough descriptions of all the items. I would definitely recommend this catalog to any science teacher.

Nasco Science 2010 (reviewed by Taylor Hartey) The Nasco Science catalog was easy to navigate. Each subject is a different color which makes it easy for the teacher to look through their individual subject material. There is no advertising on any of the pages so it gets right down to business. All the products seem to be reasonably priced. There are also products for different age groups which I thought was helpful. In the Lab Supply section there were some products aimed toward younger children, but also there were more high tech devises for more experienced or older students. I thought the Nasco Science catalog had everything a teacher would need to put in the science classroom.

Nasco Science 2011 (reviewed by Brooke E Lininger) Though this catalog is relatively puny in size compared to some of the other cataolgs available, I was very impressed with the content. The catalog is well organized and easy to navigate for specific topic needs, providing a wide variety of classroom supplies for any conceivable need. I persued the biology section thoroughly and was surprised by the number of teaching ideas that came to me because of the different specimens and kits available. I hadn't thought much about using a catalog as a resource for teaching ideas and inspiration- it seems like a catalog would be a functional guide used only when you need to order supplies for something specific in your classroom- but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of ideas sparked by looking at the items in this catalog. If a teacher is struggling to come up with teaching ideas and activities for upcoming lessons, persuing this catalog will surely provide ideas. I was also surprised by how affordable some items are, and shocked at how expensive others are (it seems perhaps like equipment companies are marketing more expensive supplies towards popular topics like forensics...good old economics). I suspect almost any teacher could find something useful in this catalog just by browsing, and if looking for something more specific the layout is user friendly and accessible. It speaks volumes to your own "nerd meter" when you make a personal wish list while looking trhough a science catalog!

Nasco Science 2012 (Reviewed by Sal-Lee Patti)

I thought this was a great catalog for teachers. The catalog is organized very well. Each division of science was broken up into separate sections (Biological, Chemistry, Earth, Space, Physical, and General) and color coded to easily distinguish the section. There was also a section for lab supplies. There was a variety of items for each section. Most items were named, had a picture, price, and some sort of descriptor. The items also seemed to be well priced. I also thought it was helpful that they gave a phone number, fax number, mailing address, and website/ email right in the beginning for their customers. In the back of the catalog they had a well organized index of the products. The order form, shipping, and delivery section also seemed simple and easy to use.

Nasco Science 2012 (Reviewed by Leanne Rios) When looking through this catalog, I found that it was easy to use as far as what classes the teacher is teaching. The table of contents is broken up by science catagories and was easily distinguishable by certain colors for instance Biology is purple coded and Chemisty is green coded. Also there is a seprate section for lab supplies as well. Looking at the items availible in the catalog, I found them to be reasonably priced and they even provided a picture of the item so you know what it should look like. Over all I would recommend this book to any teacher in need of science materials.

Frey Scientific
Frey Scientific (reviewed by Randall Hall)

I chose to review the 2009 edition of Frey Scientific, which is a member of the School Specialty Family. Right from the beginning I was impressed by how well it was organized and easy to use. It is not just a jumble of scientific products thrown into a catalog. The pages are basically organized into major topics and disciplines such as: Inquiry Investigations, Data collection, Software, General Science, Biology, Environmental Science, Earth and Space, Chemistry, Lab Safety, Physics, Lab Supplies and Equipment, Furniture, Multimedia and Technology and finally, Classroom Supplies. An index at the beginning of the catalog along with color code pages makes finding each section pretty easy. Another index is found at the beginning of each section which lets you know where to find certain products within that disciplines section.

Looking throughout the Earth and Space Science section in more detail I noticed a number of relevant products that would be useful in the classroom. One product in particular is the CPO Science Stream Table. It would be used to demonstrate and observe how rivers form and meander through soil. This comes with two buckets, a distribution tray, a support stage and sediment. It is priced at $125.00. Although this would be very effective in the classroom I think a handy science teacher could make this product for far less money. Other products seem fairly priced.

Over all I think this is a very nice looking, well organized and easy to use science catalog. The large pictures and well spaced out products on the pages makes looking for and at products easy on the eyes. One last thing I like about the Frey catalog is that the National Science Education Standards are listed on one of the pages. This will allow a teacher to match up standards to products they want to buy. This may be needed to add justification to their purchase.

Others
Pasco Catalogue reviewed by (Joseph Konopinski)

This catalogue had great materials and experimental materials for the laboratory classroom. The book was geared more towards the college level and the pricing was a bit higher. However, the neat ideas and activities in this manual were awesome. You could get anything from little electric cars, to beakers, to full scale demonstration apparatuses. This was a great tool to think about for future ideas to use in the classroom. Even if you did not want to buy the materials you could always use their ideas and make your own.

Schoolmasters Science 2010 reviewed by Kristin D'Arienzo

When looking through the schoolmasters science catalog I did notice that most of the equipment that would be necessary in my classroom is very expensive. Aside from the every day objects that are either disposable or available in many stores the specific equipment is very expensive. I did like the organization of the catalog, which is categorized by equipment and then organized by subject. The first quarter of the catalog includes lab equipment which is then followed by Chemistry and then the multiple areas of Physics. Life science and general science are next, which includes biology for life science and general science has books, posters, science fair and awards. This catalog is useful to an extent because it encompasses all the different subjects that science covers. For my profession I would be more interested in a catalog that is more focused on Biology and the tools needed in my classroom.

Boreal Northwest: Reviewd By Justin Tice

I reviewed the online catalog of the company known as Boreal Northeast who deals with the sale of science education related lab equipment. I reviewed the online catalog due to time constraints denying me the ability to receive a tangible copy of the catalog. The website is easy to access and provides good visuals as well as written descriptions of the products under question. the company is seemingly small in comparison to others of its type and the online catalog lacked the broad range of materials that would make it more useful in more numerous classes. The site seemed to have its products fall within three major categories; animal specimens and mounts, dissection equipment and mounts, and anatomy and physiology materials. For this reason I would not suggest this company as a go to resource guide in that it is so very limited in the scope of materials it carries. Schoolmasters Science 2010 (reviewed by Trina Carito) This paper catalog begins with a nice table of contents which separates materials into science concentrations, as well as types of equipment. The first 19 pages are dedicated to various microscopes ranging from $36.50 to $1995.00. There are many types of chemistry lab ware, including metric balances, glass ware and safety equipment. Modeling kits for creating molecules are available in various versions. There are kits available to perform specific labs, which includes the chemicals or substances needed, as well as a lab procedure and safety guidelines. There are not however single chemicals for sale, so if a teacher was looking to order chemicals he/she must use a different company. There are several posters which can be utilized in the classroom such as large posters of the periodic table. At the end of the catalog there is a very helpful index which will help teachers find exactly what they are looking for.

Catalogue of Physics Experiments by Leybold Didactic GMBH, 2001. Reviewed by Joe Pereira Looking through the catalog you can tell it gets right to the point, there is no fluff. The index section is split up in 7 sections with each having its own topic. The topics range from mechanics to atomic physics and nuclear physics equipment. Each one of those sections are split up into more specific categories. The categories are split up into topics you would want to study, not into equipment available. Each page in the catalog has a piece of equipment that you could use in your lab with information about what it measures. It also has a section with two short experiments. However, the experiments are very short and are not specific at all and shouldn't be used in the classroom without further detail.

//SK Science Kit and Boreal Laboratories// [] (reviewed by Bob Verdon)
Categories on website: After School, Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry & Chemicals, Clearance, Cool Science, Earth Science, Ecology & Environment, Elementary, Forensics, HomeSchooling, Instructional Technology, Labware & Furniture, Microscopes & Microscopy, New Products, Physics, Standards Guide, State Test Kits, Teacher Developed Classroom Tested and Clearance Highlighted item included scale/balance, lab furniture, pH paper, AP series Lab Series, owl pellets, microscopes, and prisms. Web site was well constructed and has many categories and items examples include the sections; Biology (2473 items) and Elementary (4032 items). Hardware including furniture and software are available for a full range of science class experiences (it would seem) from elementary to secondary. They do not use the word //secondary// though//,// I assume they do not want to be painted into a corner because they also sell to college science laboratories? I found the category, “Teacher Developed Classroom Tested” interesting. Does it mean that the rest of the catalogue is not; “Teacher Developed Classroom Tested”? But maybe that’s only me looking at the marketing aspect of the site. There are ways to navigate the site by subject. I put in the word //Ecology// and came up with several (but not a lot) of game oriented project based software and tools for teaching specific ecology-based lessons. The site is very student centered/ interactive focused which relates to the emphasis on constructivist approaches to education. There was also examples of non-dissecting/ and non-toxic (no formaldehyde) animals and props available. These items would be for teachers/schools wanted to keep away from the liability concerns of using the traditional formaldehyde and student dissecting lab experiences. Overall there seemed to be a large amount of material available for the science teacher’s classroom. The site was easy to navigate and had many choices for the science teacher’s classroom on all levels from elementary to secondary and beyond.

Bioquip [] (reviewed by Don Detwiler)
Here is a more specialized supplier. This company called Bioquip specializes in Entomology related equipment which can be very useful for a biology classroom or for ecology and environmental science projects. They do have a print cataloge but the majority of their business is through their website which is much more user friendly than their black and white catalogue. They also offer bulk and specialized discounts on many items and by joining their mailing list. So for the purposes of this review I'll focus on the website. Becasue they cator to a variety of audiences besides educational institutions they don't offer much in the way of lesson suggestions. The site and catalogue are really only truely useful if you know what you are looking for, but they have the best sellection and variety of insect related equipment availible. It is important to remember that this is a niche market site, they only carry entomology supplies, though many items can be used for other purposes. A good example is their disection scopes. The scopes they offer are very good for entomology purposes but are probably more expensive and higher quality than the scopes required for many general science applications. Disection kits are also availible though again a different supplier will likely have a different pricing because these kits include specialized instruments for entomology. For Entomology related projects bioquip is the place to go. I have delt with them personally and found their customer service to be both friendly and knowledgable, but again they are not a catch all clearing house like Ward scientific.

Brinkmann Laboratory Products (reviewed by Matt Sieminksi)
I went through a Brinkmann Laboratory Products equipment catalog. When first thumbing through this catalog it was quite obvious that is is chemistry based. There are several pieces of equipment that i will never use in my classroom but there are a few that i would. One such object or piece of equipment that i found was a bottle top dispenser. this can be used for any type of solution that needs to be measured to a certain specification. this would work great for students that had some type of disability that would hinder them from using a pipette. speaking of pipettes they were also available for purchase. in the beginning of the catalog there is a bunch of sticky tabs kind of like post-it notes that you can insert into the text to keep your place when ordering. that idea was pretty clever. then i went to there website Brinkmanncanada.com. i looked through this site and tried to find something that i could use in my classroom if and when i get one. they sell this total exhaust enclosure or a fume hood that seems to be pretty easy to install. you needed to hook it up to a four inch vac line that are found in laboratories. the filter was built in so it just sucked the gases or fumes through that and then into the vac line. i found that interesting because when i was observing one of my teachers in a secondary classroom, he told me the filter was on the roof of the school. so needless to say if your classroom is without a fume hood this is a great way to get one. only bad part was that you have to call or email for a price so im guessing that it must be expensive.