Finally, there’s an easier and more effective way to teach visible light spectra to your physics, chemistry, and astronomy students — for only $395.
Watch the short video below to see why RSpec Explorer is so popular with educators.
RSpec Explorer is the only classroom spectrometer that displays live video, making it the best tool you can use for teaching and student labs.
Teaching light and color with RSpec Explorer
- Easily demonstrate gas-tube spectra on your overhead projector so everyone sees the same thing at the same time.
- No more struggling to glimpse a spectrum in handheld devices.
- Have your students do exciting and engaging hands-on labs.
- Identify the contents of mystery gas tubes.
Easy to learn
From an NSTA review: “Minimal setup is required to begin displaying and analyzing spectra” — Edwin P. Christmann, Ph.D., Slippery Rock. (Read the full review: PDF link)
All of your students see the same thing
Above: RSpec Explorer being used in a high school chemistry class. A live video of a gas tube spectrum and its profile graph are projected on the screen at the front of the classroom.
Everyone sees the same thing at the same time, eliminating the frustration of hand-held foil, rainbow glasses, and plastic spectrometers.
RSpec Explorer Case Study: Classroom demos and Student Labs
Ron Diiulio at the University of North Texas uses RSpec Explorer to introduce liberal arts students to light and color.
“Our lab with RSpec Explorer is the most popular lab we’ve done in 15 years! We think that’s because of what we call the “CSI Effect.” Ten years ago, high-tech was only for nerds. But, thanks to TV programs like CSI, these days most students love high tech. And RSpec Explorer is a perfect fit.
Over the years, we tried all sorts of things: hand-held plastic spectrometers, rainbow glasses, and everything else you can imagine. Nothing ever really worked. We wasted a lot of classroom time as students struggled to find the spectrum. They didn’t understand what they were seeing. They couldn’t really work in teams because they each had their own private view of the data. And, they had no way to capture and record their data. The labs just weren’t worth the frustration and hassle because the kids weren’t learning.
RSpec Explorer changed everything. Over 6,000 liberal arts majors have now successfully completed our RSpec Explorer lab. It’s our students’, TAs’, and instructors’ favorite lab. I think the lab is so popular because it’s hands-on and easy to understand. The live video spectra produced by RSpec Explorer engages the students in a way we’ve never seen before.
We introduce our students to the lab by using live gas tube spectra, projecting the RSpec Explorer view onto the overhead screen. By familiarizing the students with spectra and the science they’re seeing, we prepare them to do it themselves.
Next, the students break into teams [as shown in the photo above] and capture the spectra of several gas tubes. These teams observe the emission lines of different elements, and identify them using the RSpec Explorer reference library. This is a complete lab at this point. Students come away with a far, far better understanding than they got in the past using other instruments.
But, because we have small telescopes available, we go a step further. Outside, the students capture the spectra of several bright stars using the Star Analyser grating, a thumb drive, and a video camera. Then, back in the classroom, they compare the star spectra to the gas tube spectra they captured earlier. In this step, students “discover” Hydrogen on the star by noting the match between the Hydrogen gas tube spectra and the star spectra. Wow! This is totally a blockbuster lab!
You can be teaching with RSpec Explorer next week
You can purchase RSpec Explorer for just $395 in our online store: link or send us a PO. Order today and you’ll have your system in three days. Use it in class next week!
Using RSpec Explorer for gas tube demonstrations
Above: This is a wonderful example of RSpec Explorer being used to introduce students to spectroscopy. On the table in the front of the room, the instructor has set up a gas tube and RSpec Explorer. Students can clearly see the spectrum on the planetarium dome’s screen.
It takes just a few minutes to start using
The RSpec Explorer spectrometer requires no calibration or adjustment. Just plug it into your PC or Mac USB port, point it at a gas tube, and you’re ready to go.
Periodic Table of Spectra Poster for your classroom
This gorgeous poster makes it clear to your students that each element has its own finger print. For more information: link.
What teachers like you are saying about RSpec Explorer
This system allows my middle and high school students to take inquiry science to the next level. RSpec Explorer opens up a new world of possibilities for students and teachers alike to study light and color.
Tesla STEM High School
We *love* using RSpec Explorer in classroom demos with our students. It's one thing to just talk about a spectrum, or to show a powerpoint slide. It's completely different to actually show students how to produce one and then display it to the whole class simultaneously. RSpec is an incredible and indispensable teaching aid!
Morehead State University
This fantastic system is perfect for teaching light and spectra. It works wonderfully in middle school light and color classes, or high school/college classroom demonstrations and hands-on projects.
I was using it ten minutes after I took it out of the box.
I give it five stars – a "must have!"
STEM innovator, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Physicist
I’m using the system in a third semester lab course that I teach for physics majors. It works great.
I had the students set up the system on their own and use the videos to familiarize themselves with the system. I then gave them a known (H) and an unknown (He) discharge tube and had them generate an annotated plot of each spectrum, identifying the lines.
It worked great — it was easy to set up and learn to use.
South Carolina State University
I use this camera for my high school Physics and Astronomy classes. The ease of set up and use make transitioning to demonstrations with the camera and software very quick.
The results produced by this camera are excellent. My classes are able to move from viewing spectra to using the spectra quickly and accurately. The built-in library is a great asset, and I use it during lectures introducing modern physics and stellar classification.
Incredibly easy to use by me and also my students. Very economical. One of the best buys I've made for my classroom ever.
Eisenhower High School, New Berlin, WI
"Every high school in the country should have one of these!"
Author of “Conceptual Physics”
This is a wonderful addition to our classroom, a great hands-on way for my students to learn about spectra.
The support we've gotten from Field Tested Systems is absolutely first rate.
Physics & Chemistry Teacher, Benton HIgh School, LA
My students are really excited about seeing and understanding spectra in a fun, new way!
We also use the Star Analyser grating from Field Tested Systems on our small telescopes so students can capture spectra of stars.
Professor of Astronomy & Physics, College of San Mateo, CA
When we had only one we used it as a classroom demo. But now that we have a complete set for our lab sections, we have pairs of students use it to analyze gas discharge spectra, fluorescent lights, sunlight, etc. Usually they must identify and label the wavelengths, etc. It is a pretty spectacular device, got to admit!
Assistant Professor & Physics Section, Chair Keene State College
Engaging in decoding the hidden information in starlight is vital to building a strong conceptual foundation when learning astronomy.
My astronomy students instantly began to understand spectra at a deeper level when using RSpec, and my future high school science teachers now want setups of their own to take into their own classrooms.
Professor & Textbook Author, University of Wyoming
RSpec Explorer has totally revolutionized the way we teach Astro 101. It's part of our most popular lab in 15 years. No more frustrating hand-held spectrometers or foil for us!
(See a case study of the UNT spectrum lab further down the page.)
Astronomy Laboratory Director, University of North Texas
My students use your software to learn how to identify the main features of the star classifications OBAFGKM, and they took to it very naturally even though they've never had any astronomy experience before this semester. The tutorial videos are enormously helpful.
Observatory Manager, Physics Department Bridgewater State University
This system allows my middle and high school students to take inquiry science to the next level. RSpec Explorer opens up a new world of possibilities for students and teachers alike to study light and color.
Tesla STEM High School
We *love* using RSpec Explorer in classroom demos with our students. It's one thing to just talk about a spectrum, or to show a powerpoint slide. It's completely different to actually show students how to produce one and then display it to the whole class simultaneously. RSpec is an incredible and indispensable teaching aid!
Morehead State University
This fantastic system is perfect for teaching light and spectra. It works wonderfully in middle school light and color classes, or high school/college classroom demonstrations and hands-on projects.I was using it ten minutes after I took it out of the box.
I give it five stars – a "must have!"
STEM innovator, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Physicist
I’m using the system in a third semester lab course that I teach for physics majors. It works great.I had the students set up the system on their own and use the videos to familiarize themselves with the system. I then gave them a known (H) and an unknown (He) discharge tube and had them generate an annotated plot of each spectrum, identifying the lines.
It worked great — it was easy to set up and learn to use.
South Carolina State University
I use this camera for my high school Physics and Astronomy classes. The ease of set up and use make transitioning to demonstrations with the camera and software very quick. The results produced by this camera are excellent. My classes are able to move from viewing spectra to using the spectra quickly and accurately. The built-in library is a great asset, and I use it during lectures introducing modern physics and stellar classification.
Incredibly easy to use by me and also my students. Very economical. One of the best buys I've made for my classroom ever.
Eisenhower High School, New Berlin, WI
"Every high school in the country should have one of these!"
Author of “Conceptual Physics”
This is a wonderful addition to our classroom, a great hands-on way for my students to learn about spectra. The support we've gotten from Field Tested Systems is absolutely first rate.
Physics & Chemistry Teacher, Benton HIgh School, LA
My students are really excited about seeing and understanding spectra in a fun, new way!We also use the Star Analyser grating from Field Tested Systems on our small telescopes so students can capture spectra of stars.
Professor of Astronomy & Physics, College of San Mateo, CA
When we had only one we used it as a classroom demo. But now that we have a complete set for our lab sections, we have pairs of students use it to analyze gas discharge spectra, fluorescent lights, sunlight, etc. Usually they must identify and label the wavelengths, etc. It is a pretty spectacular device, got to admit!
Assistant Professor & Physics Section, Chair Keene State College
Engaging in decoding the hidden information in starlight is vital to building a strong conceptual foundation when learning astronomy. My astronomy students instantly began to understand spectra at a deeper level when using RSpec, and my future high school science teachers now want setups of their own to take into their own classrooms.
Professor & Textbook Author, University of Wyoming
RSpec Explorer has totally revolutionized the way we teach Astro 101. It's part of our most popular lab in 15 years. No more frustrating hand-held spectrometers or foil for us!(See a case study of the UNT spectrum lab further down the page.)
Astronomy Laboratory Director, University of North Texas
My students use your software to learn how to identify the main features of the star classifications OBAFGKM, and they took to it very naturally even though they've never had any astronomy experience before this semester. The tutorial videos are enormously helpful.
Observatory Manager, Physics Department Bridgewater State University