Schools Equipment For Tomorrow'S Scientists

EE April 1987 SCHOOLS EQUIPMENT FOR TOMORROW"S SCIENTISTS From magnifying glasses to microscopes, callipers to computer interfaces, pipettes to pH meters: the range of equipment in the catalogues of educational laboratory suppliers is vast and continually changing in response to technologi- cal and educational de- velopments. The introduction of micro- computers such as the BBC B and the RM 380Z to schools in the United Kingdom has been rapidly followed by the develop- ment of computer inter- faces whose purpose is either to enable data from school laboratory ex- periments to be captured, processed and displayed, or to control simple de- vices. Similarly, the rapid adop- tion by industry of biotech- nological techniques has led Britain"s major sup- pliers to sell kits by which these techniques can be simulated in schools. How- ever, not all new equip- ment is stimulated by recent technological inno- vations: an educational concern to introduce science and technology to pupils aged...