As a beginning middle school science teacher, I made the mistake of assuming that students had already been exposed to the use of basic equipment before arriving in my classroom. This assumption resulted in disconnected spring scales, stripped triple-beam balances, broken glassware, cracked thermometers that were used as drumsticks, and the list goes on.

I now use quick, one-day, equipment review mini-labs before conducting activities that require the use of that equipment. With the confidence of equipment knowledge, students can then focus on the learning objectives throughout the rest of the unit.

In this activity, students will identify the limits of different scales in a set and use them to collect simple data similar to the types of data indicated in the Physical Science standards at multiple grade levels. The activity was written for 6-8th grade students with diverse abilities, and was designed for a flipped classroom with students working in pairs/small groups depending on equipment supply.