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WELCOME TO
LEARNING
EQUIPMENT
SUPPLY
SERVICE

Learn more with us: Learn more with LESS

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THE LESS MISSION

The mission of this business is to strategically and efficiently assist underfunded and overburdened schools by equipping teachers and students with appropriate STEM learning tools and technical support. Founded in the midst of very tough times for Los Angeles school budgets, LESS serves active teacher-learners who are limited by budget and time but not by imagination.

The mission of this business is to strategically and efficiently assist underfunded and overburdened schools by equipping teachers and students with appropriate STEM learning tools and technical support. Founded in the midst of very tough times for Los Angeles school budgets, LESS serves active teacher-learners who are limited by budget and time but not by imagination.LESS intends the equipment loans seen in this website to be temporary solutions for such teachers. The ideal outcome in the mission of LESS is this: by having whole classes test-drive sophisticated equipment several times over the course of the school year, reflective and observant teachers will form concrete, creative ideas on the best uses of such equipment in their classes; these ideas will quickly lead to award-winning grant applications and proposals. Alternatively, these ideas will flower into comprehensively justified purchases of similar equipment in future years when school funding improves.

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OUR PROJECTS

EVEREST VALUE SCHOOL AND DOWNTOWN VALUE SCHOOL LOVE OUR MICROSCOPES

DVS has a science coordinator on staff to help with the set up of the class set of microscopes. EVS used the on-site technical support services of our lab technician Ilse, who set up and cleaned up the microscopes and specimens for Ms. Aguilar's sixth-gradersmeasurements.

WE ASSISTED MS. ESCOBAR'S 8TH GRADERS AT DOWNTOWN VALUE SCHOOL WITH THE MEASUREMENT OF KINETIC FRICTION.

LESS staff and some helpful students from Los Angeles Trade Technical College helped eighth graders to measure the friction coefficients of their shoes. We used spring scales and rocks, and then graphed the results to find the friction coefficients on Microsoft Excel (the laptops belong to Downtown Value School, not to LESS).

WE PRESENTED A CHEMICAL CRAFT BOOTH AT THE LAPL MINI MAKER FAIRE.

Using materials and technical support from LESS, Chem-101 students from Los Angeles Trade Technical College guided makers young and old in the chemical reduction of silver ions in aqueous silver nitrate. Makers did the chemical reaction inside a clean, 10-mL glass vial, resulting in a mirrored inner surface. The result was a DIY holiday ornament!

WE LENT VERNIER PROBEWARE TO TORRANCE HIGH'S NEW AWARD-WINNING PHYSICS TEACHER.

Last year, we made our first Vernier equipment loan to South Torrance High School! It was to their new physics/engineering teacher, who had been to a Vernier presentation in Pasadena previously. About the Vernier presentation, this teacher said, "I just felt so powerless there because I knew I could not have such equipment for my own class." She has applied for grants since then, and of course the wait is long. Now, with our help, the wait is gone!

WE FOUND, FIXED, AND RE-ORGANIZED SVAH PHYSICS TOOLS!

Ms. Le at the LAUSD School for Visual Arts and Humanities (one of the R.F. Kennedy Community Schools) had us re-organize her physics supply closet this summer. We removed many of her old cardboard boxes and brought in clear plastic boxes to replace them, hoping to make it easier on the teacher when looking for equipment; we labeled these boxes clearly and re-organized the shelves the way Ms. Le wanted them.We also cobbled together an air pump and an air track for Ms. Le to use (previously they were incompatible because the pump and track are from different brands). We showed Ms. Le how to use a cheap shop-vac and some PVC plumbing hardware to power her other air tracks, using an idea by Frank Lee of the Roybal Learning Center. There was a new vacuum pump there too, which needed pump oil: we brought Ms. Le the proper pump oil, and we identified the tubing that she should use, which had been hiding in a mislabeled grocery bag elsewhere in the closet.

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SERVICE

Learn more with us: Learn more with LESS.

We lend to public school teachers who support hands-on learning styles, who value our services, who are willing to pickup and return the equipment at our south Los Angeles location (2606 W. 54th St. Los Angeles 90043), and who can sign a hold-harmless agreement attesting to their own expertise and ability to lead students in the safe usage of the equipment.
Teachers also need to treat us very nicely, please.
For each one-month loan of equipment, we would like to charge the school 15% of the retail price of the equipment. Schools who cannot afford this rental price should still talk to us; maybe we can work something out.

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MANY THANKS TO THE SOUTH DAKOTA DISCOVER CENTER FOR A GENEROUS DONATION OF VERNIER DATA COLLECTION DEVICES!

CONTACT LEARNING EQUIPMENT SUPPLY SERVICE

2606 W 54th St, Los Angeles, CA 90043, USA

(323) 905-4667

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