ABSTRACT
The Los Angeles Unified School District has undergone an evolutionary process in the design of science laboratory classrooms. This chapter provides a discussion of past, present, and future district high school facilities for teaching chemistry. Through the 1950s, many facilities for the teaching of high school chemistry were found with separate classrooms and laboratories. Around 1970, a new building at an existing school site incorporated an experimental centralized science stockroom. In 1988, committees were convened to meet with architects and re-examine secondary school facilities design. Schools should be encouraged to recycle usable surplus chemicals within their own department and by sharing with other nearby schools, perhaps through periodic "swap-meets." It is anticipated that they will better withstand the chemicals normally used in high school chemistry and even if scorched by hot objects, will be less to show the damage. Secondary school chemistry is in great need of guidelines regarding disposal of chemicals commonly used or produced in laboratory activities.
