For Schools & After-School Programs
Your students find real microplastics in real water — and watch them glow.
A complete classroom microplastics lab: the same kit sold to homes and water professionals, plus a grade-banded curriculum and five sealed plastic reference samples — polyester, nylon, PET, polyethylene, polystyrene. One class period. $100, everything included.
This isn't a simulation or a worksheet about pollution somewhere else. Students stain, filter, and count plastic particles from water they collected themselves — then publish their results to a national public water-quality database. Real method, real data, real science.
Microscope · staining vials · filters · curriculum · 5 plastic reference samples
The lab, in one class period
Collect a sample
Tap water from the classroom sink, the drinking fountain, a water bottle from home — or one of the five included plastic reference samples for a guaranteed result.
Stain it
One pre-measured vial of Nile Red — the same fluorescent dye university labs use. It binds to plastic and nothing else. No powders, no mixing, no measuring.
Filter it
Students push the sample through a 25mm filter with a syringe. Anything bigger than a red blood cell stays on the filter.
See it glow
Under the included digital microscope, microplastic particles light up bright pink. Students count them, record the data, and compare across samples.
Five plastics, sealed and labeled
Tap water is honest — some sources show a lot of plastic, some show very little. That variability is great science and a terrible demo. So the education kit includes five sealed reference samples of known plastics: polyester fibers, nylon fragments, PET flakes, polyethylene specks, and polystyrene beads. Every group gets a guaranteed, unmistakable result — and learns that “plastic” is a family of very different materials that look different under the microscope.
Your class contributes to real science
Every result your students record can be published — geo-anonymized — to thewatermap.com, the public national microplastics map. Your students' measurements become pins on the map of their own neighborhood, alongside data from homes and researchers across the country.
That's the same model as NASA's GLOBE program and the EarthEcho Water Challenge: students don't simulate data collection — they do it, and the dataset is public. “Our class put our school on the national map” is an outcome you can put in a grant report.
Standards, by grade band
The curriculum ships with lesson plans at three levels, each written against the NGSS performance expectations it supports — plus Science & Engineering Practices 3, 4, and 8 (planning investigations, analyzing data, communicating information). Ask for the full alignment matrix to check it against your scope and sequence.
Grades 3–5
Materials & observationStudents observe and classify the five reference plastics by their properties, then see that the same particles hide in everyday water. Runs as a teacher-led station.
Grades 6–8
Human impact & monitoringThe core fit. Students design a monitoring investigation, compare water sources, argue from their own evidence, and connect synthetic materials to their impact on society.
Grades 9–12
Solutions & engineering trade-offsStudents test tap vs. filtered vs. bottled water, evaluate filtration as a technological solution, and analyze their class dataset against the national map.
What's in the $100 kit
The same hardware as our standard kit — the microscope and reference samples last for years. Only vials and filters are consumables ($28 refills, 4 tests).
- Digital microscope with built-in illumination + phone stand — students see and count particles live on a phone or tablet screen
- Pre-measured Nile Red staining vials — pre-diluted, no powder handling, one per test
- 25mm syringe filters + Luer-lock syringes
- 5 sealed plastic reference samples — polyester, nylon, PET, polyethylene, polystyrene — so every group gets a guaranteed positive result and learns to tell polymers apart
- Printed curriculum: lesson plans by grade band, student worksheets, teacher answer key, and a data-recording protocol
- Access to the national database — your class's results become pins on the public water map
Built on the Nile Red fluorescence protocol described in Leonard et al., 2022. We didn't invent the science — we packaged it for a classroom. See the methodology →
Built for how schools actually buy
POs, quotes, W-9s, tax exemption, grant language — we know the drill.
Purchase orders accepted
Email us a PO from your school or district and we ship against it. W-9 and formal quotes available same-day — just ask.
Tax-exempt friendly
Public schools and most programs are sales-tax exempt. Send your exemption certificate with the order and we handle the rest.
DonorsChoose & grants
Teachers fund kits like this through DonorsChoose and STEM enrichment grants. Ask us for the grant-justification paragraph — pre-written outcome language you can paste into an application.
After-school & 21st CCLC
Hands-on watershed STEM enrichment that reinforces the regular academic program — the language 21st Century Community Learning Centers program plans are written in. Kits are an allowable supply cost.
“Students will use a hands-on microplastics water-testing kit to collect, analyze, and publish real water-quality data from their own community. The activity supports NGSS performance expectations including MS-ESS3-3 (designing a method for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment) and MS-PS1-3 (synthetic materials and their impact on society), engages Science & Engineering Practices 3, 4, and 8, and contributes student measurements to a national public water-quality dataset — a measurable, publishable student outcome.”
Safety, plainly
- The stain ships pre-diluted in pre-measured vials — students never handle powder.
- Working volumes are small and pre-measured. Standard lab rules apply: no open flames, ventilated room.
- Nitrile gloves and safety glasses recommended (standard classroom lab stock — not included).
- Adult supervision required for grade 5 and below.
- Safety data sheets available on request before you order — send them straight to your district science coordinator.
Questions teachers actually ask
Will students actually see microplastics?
Yes — that's what the five reference samples are for. Real tap water varies (that's the science), so every kit includes known plastic samples that guarantee a bright, unmistakable result for every group. The comparison between the reference samples and their own tap water IS the lesson.
How many students does one kit support?
One kit runs as a whole-class investigation: groups rotate through the microscope station while other groups prep samples, record data, or work the curriculum. For parallel stations in large classes or multi-section days, order multiple kits — ask us about classroom-pack pricing.
Is it reusable next year?
The microscope, phone stand, and reference samples last for years. Only the staining vials and filters are consumables — refill packs are $28 for 4 tests.
How long does the lab take?
One class period. About 10 minutes of teacher prep, a 15-minute stain, and the filter-and-look step takes each group about 5 minutes at the station. The curriculum includes extensions if you want a multi-day unit.
Is this NGSS certified?
No curriculum is 'NGSS certified' unless it passes formal EQuIP review — anyone claiming certification is overselling. This kit supports the performance expectations listed above, and we'll send you the full alignment matrix so you can check it against your scope and sequence.
What does it NOT do?
It detects microplastic particles roughly 10 µm and larger — it doesn't see nanoplastics, and it doesn't chemically identify which polymer an unknown particle is (that's an $800 lab test). It's a teaching instrument and a real screening method, not a regulatory water test.
$100. That's the whole price.
The only other classroom microplastics kit with an imaging device costs $900. Multi-parameter chemistry class kits run $500+ and never show students a single particle. This kit is $100 — microscope, curriculum, reference samples, and the national database, in one box, reusable year after year with $28 refills.