U.S. government produces science kits
The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven (N.Y.) National Laboratory has developed science education kits for middle school, high school and college students.
The four kits, being marketed under a cooperative research and development agreement with WARD'S Natural Science of Rochester, N.Y., focus on environmental chemistry and life sciences.
"We worked directly with the scientists at Brookhaven Lab to identify the kit concepts," said Scott Bronson, a Brookhaven educational coordinator. "The kits provide a context for teaching scientific principles, and with the materials and instruction provided, students can perform experiments themselves.
"Hundreds of students participating in educational programs at Brookhaven tested the kits before they were marketed," he added.
Students can learn about environmental chemistry by using two kits that are based on a green-chemistry process invented by Brookhaven Lab scientists.
Another kit involves the use of the T7 bacterial virus, which forms the basis of the T7 expression system, developed and patented at Brookhaven during the 1980s and 1990s, and used worldwide to produce specific proteins within bacterial cells.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
