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Science

Do Modern ‘No Chemical’ Chemistry Kits for Kids Take the Fun Out of Science?

Dec. 27, 2012 3:27pm

Some parents hoping to encourage their children’s interest in science might have given a chemistry kit this holiday season, but these science toys look very different from the ones the parents themselves might have received decades earlier.

Jennifer Kingson for the New York Times wrote that while the chemistry sets of yesteryear might have been alarming and slightly dangerous, today’s kits are so safe some even say “no chem,” meaning “no chemicals” are included. Sounds a slightly counterintuitive for a chemistry set, no?

Chemistry Sets Evolve to Have Fewer Chemicals But Still Interest Children in Science

Gilbert chemistry set from the 1940s is composed almost entirely of chemicals for experiments. (Image: Wikimedia)

Chemistry Sets Evolve to Have Fewer Chemicals But Still Interest Children in Science

Modern science kits have less chemical compounds included. (Photo: Toys R Us)

“Basically, you have to be able to eat everything in the science kit,” Jim Becker, president of SmartLab Toys, said to the Times.

Here’s more about the evolution of the kits:

Certainly, science toys have evolved. In the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s, Erector Sets and chemistry sets with real glassware, chemicals and spirit lamps were “meant to breed a scientific culture in America,” said Art Molella, a science historian who directs the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. The atomic era of the 1950s and the launching of Sputnik ushered in science kits that pointed out the possibilities in energy and space, including some with samples of real radioactive ore. For better or worse, Mr. Molella said, “there was a lot of hands-on aspects to it, not like our video games today.”

Some like science blogger Kimberly Gerson said modern kits “are a lot less open-ended these days,” while science writer William Gurstelle said the outcome of kits has improved beyond “some light precipitate at the bottom of the beaker.”

These more interesting chemistry products like slime production, Kingson reported Reneé Whitney, a vice president at Be Amazing! Toys, saying is what makes science interesting but that’s not all.

“Once they’ve had the ‘wow effect,’ we try to explain why it happened,” Whitney told the Times. The point of the kits is to “to teach them to think like scientists,” she said.

Another benefit of the less dangerous kits, Kingson wrote is many experiments can be conducted without parental help or overly watchful supervision.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation has been collecting kits from a variety of decades for posterity. It has one of the largest chemistry set collections as a public institution. Watch their video about the sets with a look at some of the oldest ones:

Read more of Kingson’s comparison between old and new chemistry kits for children on the New York Times here.

(H/T: Boing Boing)

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Comments (73)

1 2 3
  • Salamander
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 5:38pm

    How to cook a frog!

    Report this comment

    Salamander  
  • BeingThere
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 5:13pm

    This is why we have so many STUPID effin’ people walking around. Not everyone is meant to grow up. Stop messing with natural selection!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And BTW, this is also why Obama is in the white house!!!!!

    Report this comment

    BeingThere  
  • RANGER1965
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 5:11pm

    When I was 15 I saved my money and sent off for a book called the Poor Man’s James Bond. A book that is in the same category as the Anarchist Cook Book. I bought it because it was chock full of recipes for making explosives, poisons, fireworks, and everything else you can imagine.

    It was an amazing book, and I learned to love chemistry because of it. I made bombs, big and small and detonated them in the valleys and canyons in the high desert near my home. I pulverized boulders, destroyed an old wrecked car that had been abandoned for years, and sent tons of cliff side careening down a 1000 foot slope. I even built a 12 foot aluminum missile that self destructed at about 10,000 feet and shook every window in my town.
    What my friends and I did that summer and the following summer was incredibly dangerous, and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I aced my chemistry and physics courses in high school, and after a stint in the military, in college as well. My love for science began in the High Deserts of New Mexico, with a crazy book, that would likely label me as a terrorist today.

    Report this comment

    RANGER1965  
  • mary12153
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 5:01pm

    Brother had a chemistry set 60 years ago. If you can’t stink up the house really really good, what fun is it? We also played with mercury. I would rub it on a quarter – made a nice shiny coin. Was fun to watch the little beads of mercury flow into one big blob too.

    Report this comment

    mary12153  
  • hi
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:50pm

    I was upset when my cousin got a chemistry kit and I got a doll. But , I became a scientist anyway. I don’t think the kits drive kids to be scientists. It’s in their DNA no matter which toy you give them.

    Report this comment

    hi  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:44pm

    The current standard “liberal chemistry kit” for Children only comes with latex and lubricants…

    Report this comment

    The-Monk  
  • DougHuffman
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:29pm

    There’s no wonder that so few know even what is science.

    As to an edible chemistry set, no. Both chemical components of a vinegar and baking soda device are edible common food products.

    Report this comment

    DougHuffman  
  • MrSunshine
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:28pm

    If you can’t make something go BOOM, what fun is it?

    Oh $#!+, I think I hear the ATF coming!

    Report this comment

    MrSunshine  
    • FISH_BONE
      Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:42pm

      If you can’t make things go BOOM….. you’re obviously going to the wrong Mexican Restaurant.

      Report this comment

      FISH_BONE  
    • MrSunshine
      Posted on December 28, 2012 at 9:47am

      Fishbone, the only Mex restaurant in my town is owned and operated by actual Mexicans. However, I can relate to your statement because they serve the blandest Mex food I’ve ever eaten. They don’t use enough spice to make a mouse fart!

      Report this comment

      MrSunshine  
  • JIMC5499
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:24pm

    They haven’t only dumbed down the Chemistry sets that you can buy for your child, they have dumbed down the way Science is taught in our schools. Now it is slanted towards Environmental Science so that our children can be exposed to Green propaganda like Global Warming.

    Report this comment

    JIMC5499  
    • hi
      Posted on December 27, 2012 at 5:00pm

      I agree. They teach them how man is making animals die and make biology so depressing that no one wants to hear that. In medical school they are changing the MCATS so that sociology instead of some sciences is part of the entrance exam! So soon we will have a bunch of stupid docs like they have in socialist countries and like our AA docs.

      Report this comment

      hi  
  • RaydocX
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:24pm

    By the time i went to school, i knew if my parents said ‘no’ it meant no.
    That easily applied to teachers, too.

    We have so coddled our kids, and let them have their way endlessly and to adults adversity, that they no longer listen to us when it is important.

    In high school chemistry, one of the less than adept kids brought a fork one day and while we watched stuck it into the outlet on his lab table… he learned a lesson, that most of us (all of us?) already knew, and learning it with the rest of us falling off of our stools laughing i suspect made sure it was not a lesson he forgot.

    Sadly, at a national level, under the guise of ‘helping’ or ‘protecting’ our children we have so limited their experience that it won’t be the exception sticking a metal object in an outlet… kids will be in high school or beyond before they understand about dangers that were obvious to us, and not just electricity or chemicals… strangers… money handling… purchasing… making friends… dealing with co-workers and employers… the list is simply ENDLESS.

    Our state changed teen driving laws ‘for their protection’ which means only they could not vote so could not prevent it… In practice the limitations mean little Johnny goes away to college without the experience we had, so that the accidents he has now are without mom and dad there to provide comfort, advice, and rides… it pushes the problem down the road, which is what our Government is doing in everything.

    Report this comment

    RaydocX  
  • wordweaver
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:22pm

    Merely a reflection of the U.S. legal system and the likelihood of a company getting sued if a child started gobbling down chemicals. Now days, before you hand a child a toy, you have to consider all of the possible ways he/she can misuse the toy and hurt themselves. Heck of a shame. In my day, if the chemistry set didn’t promise at least a chance that you might burn your eyebrows off, then it wasn’t worth buying.

    Report this comment

    wordweaver  
  • searching for the Truth
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:20pm

    Yes !

    Report this comment

    searching for the Truth  
  • Mr Galt
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:15pm

    This is so unbelievably GAY. Thankfully, I had the real thing, and so I learned why you can pour acid into water, but not vice versa; and why it’s not a good idea to heat chloride crystals.

    OK, so I did tend to do things the set manual said NOT to do, but today I’m a for-real scientist, and I remember my for-real chemistry set and microscope with great fondness.

    Report this comment

    Mr Galt  
  • Clownzilla
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:10pm

    They should call it the “Making it easier for China to destroy us in science education\innovation” kit

    Report this comment

    Clownzilla  
  • Balpit
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:07pm

    How are kids supposed to learn science with a dumbed-down science kit?

    Report this comment

    Balpit  
    • ResistSocialism
      Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:25pm

      they aren’t because socialists want people to be dumb

      Report this comment

      ResistSocialism  
    • Noonien_Soong
      Posted on December 29, 2012 at 10:33pm

      It wouldn’t be too long before someone finds out that a child with an above average IQ and smarter than OBie gets sent off to a Gulag. There he is somewhat forced to do work for the Government. Lo and behold we later find out the student has found out a way to use fusion power to power future space craft.

      Report this comment

      Noonien_Soong  
  • Locked
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:03pm

    Er… one is a general purpose science set, the other was focused on chemistry.

    Equating the two is like pretending that math is only about addition.

    And no, I wouldn’t buy a child a general purpose science kit; if they were actually interested, I would supervise them on a “dangerous” chemistry set.

    Report this comment

    Locked  
  • FISH_BONE
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:00pm

    I feel the need to reinforce the fact that the current Kenyan occupant of the White House is a total POS. Sorry about being off topic for this story, but I needed to get that off my chest. Now back to the chemistry set…..

    Report this comment

    FISH_BONE  
  • Minnaloushe
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:50pm

    Why would you need a chemistry set?
    If The Party says you can fly to the moon, then you can fly to the moon.
    If The Party says PI is precisely equal to “3″, then it is precisely equal to “3″.
    Chemistry sets have always been this way. If you think otherwise, then you have a defective memory and need remediating.

    “Ignorance is Strength”
    — George Orwell

    Report this comment

    Minnaloushe  
  • Minnaloushe
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:47pm

    “Idiocracy” for real.

    Report this comment

    Minnaloushe  
  • HotFixIt
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:47pm

    I desperately wanted a chemisty set and microscope when I was a kid.. my brother got them! I got barbies and blankets!

    Report this comment

    HotFixIt  
  • Armyof One
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:45pm

    “..genius”

    Obviously, I did not have a spelling kit in my youth :)

    Report this comment

    Armyof One  
  • Armyof One
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:44pm

    Those real chemical sets gave us the genious of going to the moon, flying faster than the speed of sound, building a re-usable spacecraft, discovering advances in medicine, fuels, foods.

    Now we have kids and young adults who vote on a man only because he’s black…or something.

    Report this comment

    Armyof One  
  • mellowlady
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:38pm

    It is time to teach the kids how to make “bath salts” and how to grow psychedelic mushrooms on birdseed so that they rediscover the “wow” factor of science.

    Report this comment

    mellowlady  
  • Cavallo
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:36pm

    I notice it doesn’t call it a “chemistry set” any longer. They look more like a basic physics set. Kinetic energy, pressure, etc type experiments. Might it be safe to say that chemistry sets are no longer available to the young 21st century student. Maybe Amazon or Ebay have older real chem sets to buy.

    Report this comment

    Cavallo  
  • Cavallo
    Posted on December 27, 2012 at 3:33pm

    Gay.

    Report this comment

    Cavallo  
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