Dear fellow geoscience teachers (and students who want to have their own fun at home),
Are you tired of paying an arm and a leg for cheap plastic geoscience models? Frustrated that the really good equipment costs more than you make in a month? Well, with a little bit of creativity and some elbow grease you can create long-lived, useful lab equipment in your classes too! I've put together an ever-growing compendium of step-by-step tutorials on how to make some slick geoscience lab equipment on the cheap. Most of these projects need some advanced planning to order the cheapest parts (ahem, Amazon Prime), but most parts can be found at hardware stores if push comes to shove.
Enjoy, and let me know through twitter or email if you have any questions or comments to improve this page.
Are you tired of paying an arm and a leg for cheap plastic geoscience models? Frustrated that the really good equipment costs more than you make in a month? Well, with a little bit of creativity and some elbow grease you can create long-lived, useful lab equipment in your classes too! I've put together an ever-growing compendium of step-by-step tutorials on how to make some slick geoscience lab equipment on the cheap. Most of these projects need some advanced planning to order the cheapest parts (ahem, Amazon Prime), but most parts can be found at hardware stores if push comes to shove.
Enjoy, and let me know through twitter or email if you have any questions or comments to improve this page.
Recirculating Stream Table for under $45
Need to make some stream tables on the cheap for your classes? Here's the least-expensive way I know how to do it for a recirculating model (No water is wasted!). This is a great way to explore fluvial geomorphology including stream channels, cut banks, point bars & distributary channels. If you really want to spend some time with them, it would be easy to add levees and cities in a flood plain. The boxes I used were only 36" long, but if you can find longer, that would be better!
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Groundwater Hydrology and Well Pumping SimulatorIn the Great Central Valley, it was often hard to convey to students how groundwater moves, changes over time and is usually interconnected. More importantly this model helps us understand that the water is a shared resource, even if landowners technically own the water underneath their feet. The included lesson traces a groundwater pollution plume using data from pumped well water.
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Earthquake Shake Table V 2.0My second attempt at a shake table. Constructions are still being put together.
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2-Liter Bottle Rocket LauncherA very basic launcher that works well for single stage rockets.
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