Ruby’s Lab Manual
English: Laboratory Manual
Spanish: Manual de laboratorio
This manual consists of 28 experiments (someday I may add more). There is a range of experimental and conceptual difficulty. I believe children ages 5-10 would find something to interest them – please contact me if you can confirm or deny this!
Each experiment has the following:
1) Reminder box: reminds kids what to do BEFORE conducting the experiment
2) A Learning Goal: always in green text
3) A Caution box: contains any safety warnings associated with the experiment
4) Materials & Methods
5) Indicators when kids should make Predictions: always in purple text
6) Indicators when kids should document their Observations: always in orange text
7) What’s Happening: brief description of scientific concepts utilized
8) Who Uses This in Real Life: brief description of scientists who use these concepts
9) A profile of a woman who is the kind of scientist described above
10) A mostly complete list of materials needed for experiments (excludes things like bowls)
11) A list of sources used to make the manual
Expansion Packs
1. Halloween Expansion Pack – 5 spooky experiments to download.
2. Thanksgiving Expansion Pack – 3 new themed experiments!
3. Winter Holiday Expansion Pack – 4 winter holiday experiments.
Donations
Many have asked if they can pay me for my work. That is not necessary. However, if you are willing and able, please make a donation to any of the following charities in my name:
1) National Girls Collaborative Project
2) IGNITE
3) Visiola Foundation
4) Girl Start
This laboratory manual was compiled and curated from various freely available online sources. I have made changes here and there to wording, but I do not claim any of this as my own intellectual property. All websites used to make this manual have been included at the end.
Many thanks to Danielle Shannon for front and back cover art!
Funding to translate the manual into Spanish, print manuals, and build supply kits for kids in the local area has been provided by:
1. The Reilly Center
2. The Center for Social Concerns
3. National Science Policy Network
Lab manual and supply kit production and distribution were made possible by the tireless efforts of Sasha Padilla, Rob Stanley, & Morgan Widhalm-Munsen of Notre Dame’s Science Policy Initiative.
The lab manual was translated into Spanish by the brilliant Sebastián Murgueitio Ramírez.
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, please feel free to email me. Also, as you can see by the rest of my website, this is not my area of expertise, please be forgiving of mistakes made.
Women in STEM Coloring Books
I am always on the look out for fun ways to demonstrate to my niece the diversity of women in STEM fields. Luckily, there are so many kind and generous folks in STEM who are willing to do the heavy lifting, and often in beautifully creative ways.
Here are two Women in STEM coloring books to share with the budding scientists in your family!
Think like a Girl by the Vilchek Foundation
ColorMePhD by Dr. Julie Rorror