The ASSIST (Australian Science Support Information for Teachers and Technicians) advisory service has been “rebooted” in the last 6 months after more funding has been obtained to keep it running.

The demand for the advisory services of Science ASSIST continues to grow. The Science ASSIST website now has over 2,400 registered users and since August 2014 there have been close to 93,000 unique visitors and 40% of these come back to the website!!

A selection of new questions

• LAB EQUIPMENT – Lab dishwasher for the school laboratory. What should we get?
• CHEMICALS – Why does concentrated sulfuric acid go brown? If you use a diluted solution (2M) of the brown acid as part of the standardisation of potassium permanganate, will it work and are results reliable?
• STORAGE OF OFFAL – Is it acceptable to store offal such as plucks, hearts and kidneys in a freezer for a long time (months) before use? If so, should the freezer (in prep room) be locked?
• DRONES – Which ones have people used? We are looking for something for a year 8/9 STEAM course?
• CHEMICAL DISPOSAL – What is the best way to dispose of small quantities (less than 50mL each) of 20%, 30% and 50%) ethylene glycol solutions?

New resources
SOP: Performing a chicken wing dissection
SOP: Performing a brain dissection

Science ASSIST has a suite of 8 dissection SOPs. They have also answered questions relating to dissections in school science. Check all of these resources out here.

Updating of existing resources as @ November 2017

• All 282 answers to questions..at a glance! See the Quick links to technical questions document.
• In the Quick links to technical resources document you can see a list of all the technical resources developed by Science ASSIST.
• The Science ASSIST School Science Suppliers list was last updated on 27 November.

Please make it your new year’s resolution to spread the word about Science ASSIST to all your lab tech and teacher colleagues.