Science education in South Africa: how SmartLabs supports schools
SmartLabs supplies science and laboratory equipment to South African schools, from a single replacement thermometer to everything a new school laboratory needs. We're a family business, founded by Albert van Jaarsveld and his son Armand, and we work from our own warehouse and storefront in Bartlett, Boksburg.
Why practical science matters
Science teaches learners how the world works. It also teaches them how to test a claim: make a prediction, try it, measure what happens and decide whether the evidence backs it up. That habit is useful whether or not a learner goes on to study science after school.
It's a hard habit to pick up from a textbook. CAPS builds practical work into Natural Sciences, Physical Sciences and Life Sciences for that reason, and some of the Grade 10 to 12 practicals count towards school-based assessment. When a school can't run them properly, its learners lose marks as well as understanding.
What we supply
Our range comes in two grades. Educational grade equipment is made for classroom demonstrations and learner practicals, and is priced with school budgets in mind. Industry grade is built for universities, research and industrial labs, where precision and durability matter more than price. Schools can buy from either, and we're happy to help you decide which one a particular item needs.
That covers laboratory glassware, microscopes, balances and scales, anatomy models, educational wall charts and the apparatus for Physical Sciences and Life Sciences.
Free CAPS experiment guides
Equipment only helps if teachers have the time to plan lessons around it. So we publish free experiment guides for more than 70 CAPS practicals, organised by grade and term. Each one sets out the aim, apparatus, method and what learners should observe, so a teacher can see what's needed before the practical, not halfway through it.
When a school has no lab
Plenty of schools don't have a dedicated laboratory. On several projects, our answer has been a science cart: a mobile unit with a laptop, projector and microscope that moves between classrooms. We've delivered them with Vodacom in KwaZulu-Natal and with PPC in rural schools, with teacher training included each time. You can read about both in our Vodacom science cart story and our PPC rural schools story.
Getting it to your school
We deliver anywhere in South Africa by courier, with economy and express options at checkout, and you can collect for free from our Bartlett storefront if you're nearby. Schools in parts of the East Rand, including Boksburg and Benoni, can also get same-day delivery on orders placed before 10:00 on a working day.
Talk to us
Maybe you're stocking a lab for the first time, replacing broken apparatus before the practical exams, or planning a project across several schools. Whichever it is, contact our team for a quote. If you'd rather order online, our how to buy page explains accounts, payment options and delivery.
