Winning High School Safety Tips
The following are the winning high school safety tips. All winners will receive a $10 gift certificate to the NSTA Science Store. Thank you to everyone who submitted entries.
Karen Delgado, Union Township School, Hampton, N.J.:
A well ordered science lab encourages lab safety. In my lab
of six stations, I use a color coding system based on the visible light spectrum—each
table is assigned a color (ROY G BV). I keep a general supply box at each
station—scissors, rulers, stapler, etc. All of these items are the color—red
stapler; red rulers; red tape dispenser; red tape measure. Also included in
this box are laminated job cards, for easy reference. Each lab seat has a
specific job (e.g., supplies, clean-up). (I have 4 seats at each lab table).
The only people "out of their seat" or "away from their station"
is Person A—the supplies person. (That's 6 kids rather than 26!). When
using sinks, only Person B is permitted at the sink. Person B is the person
sitting closest to the sink. Again only 6 people at their individual sink
stations. When students arrive at the lab tables, they know their job. While
the supplies person is getting what they need, one person checks the supply
box to ensure that they have everything they need.
Although the color-coding system may sound childish, I've been amazed at how
positively my students react to it. (My administrators have also seemed to
see value in the system). It not only makes it easy to figure out who left
out the scissors, but it makes setting up labs easy as well. I set colored
baskets in a row and fill them with necessary supplies. If I'm interupted,
it's easy to see where I left off! I use colored dots for larger pieces of
equipment, or colored labels, colored Sharpie pens, color-coded stopwatches,
etc. My electricity tool boxes have all of the tools marked with colored tape—even
if they are borrowed for another purpose—it's easy to remember where
they need to go. I also have color-coded clean-up buckets with colored sponges,
scrub brushes, etc. When we make things like "slime", I use tempera
paint as a colorant. Then I don't need to label every batch with group names.
When it came time to ordering goggles, I allowed the students to vote on their
choice. Believe it or not, they chose the colored ones! Now when they are
at lab tables, and someone "wanders" to "see how their friend's
group is doing", it is quick and easy to spot the infraction. Why is
a person wearing green goggles at the blue table!
All of this is to say that safety is enhanced by an organized environment
and consistency in enforcing the lab rules. (Don't worry—I do have projects
stored around the room in various stages of construction—an organized
mess—but the students like being able to find things easily, which allows
them more time to work!)
Pam Dooling, Jones High School, Jones, Okla.:
I use the safety contract from Flinn Scientific. Each year, I assign the various safety rules to the students and they design, make and present a poster from their rule(s). We then hang them around the room for constant reminders. This year I am going to have them put the rules on the front of the plastic aprons that they wear during the lab for an even more up-close and personal exposure to the rules during the lab.
Norma Holowach, Lakeview High School, Cortland, Ohio:
My students must do a "prelab." On the day before the activity is to be done, I hand out the lab papers and go over the objectives, procedures, and precautions. Students must then do a prelaboratory report, the "prelab." It consists of the title, objectives, precautions, summary of the procedure, and a prepared data table. I tell them that this is their "ticket" into the lab (along with goggles, etc., of course). Students are not allowed into the lab without this ticket. The prelab accomplishes several things. The student must read the handout to summarize the procedure. Students who know what they are to do are safer than those fumbling around. Next the student must write down this activity's precautions (e.g., goggles, apron, and tie back hair). This adds protection to the teacher with proof "written in the student's own hand" that the student was aware of the safety precautions. It works very well for me. My students often mention that the prelab day is extremely helpful to them.
Sharon Jeffery, Plymouth Public Schools, Plymouth, Mass.:
My safety tips is to consider the number of students in your classroom before
you do any lab experience. How many students is your classroom set up for?
Have you squeezed in additional students due to increasing school enrollments?
You may want to consider whether you personally want to be responsible for
28 or 30 burners or knives. Two eyes can only see so much. You also need to
consider each individual student in the room. Can you trust each student or
are there wild cards you can't always depend on? After reviewing all these
thoughts, I decide to either go ahead as planned, alter the lab and its required
equipment, or not do it at all. No learning experience is worth the risk to
life, limb, or your pocket book.
Rhonda White Jett, J.B. Pennington High School, Blountsville, Ala.:
I make safety a part of a student's overall evaluation in lab exercises and
integrate it directly into the
lab report. I created a safety checklist and attached it to each lab report.
If a student is observed
without goggles, I check the appropriate space and deduct points from his/her
overall score on that
exercise. By making safety "count" in a more tangible/concrete method,
my students are actively
concerned with their safety in lab on more than one level.
Cindy Johnson, Williamstown High School, Williamstown, N.J.:
Safety begins with the teacher. Safety rules only work if the teacher has created a safe environment.
1. Replace worn equipment.
2. Organize materials to avoid clutter on lab benches.
3. Arrange classroom to provide a view of all lab stations.
4. Be certain that students have a clear picture of the activity before they begin.
5. Whenever possible, limit the number of students working together to 2
or 3.
If you were to ask me what I think is the most important safety rule in my
science classroom, I would have to say, " If you don't obey safety rules,
you will be asked to sit out the lab and complete it after school." My
first concern is the safety of all students. One student can jeopardize the
safety of everyone. My goal is for students to learn by experience in a safe
environment.
Erica Johnson, Barbara Jordan High School, Houston, Tex.:
After using and unplugging a hotplate, there is still the uncertainty of it being hot and not being able to put it back in the cabinet. I tell my students not to touch the surface, but to take an eyedropper with water and drop one drop on top of the hotplate. If it sizzles, don't attempt to put it up; if the drop just sits there, the hot plate is cool enough to be handled.
Birgit Musheno, Phoenix, Ariz.:
I have found one of the safety challenges in the science lab is simply managing the equipment that students use, and getting them to treat it respectfully. After struggling during my first year of teaching with students leaving behind stacks of disorganized, dirty glassware and dissection equipment when the bell rang, I devised a method that encourages them to take pride in caring for the equipment.
I designated a lab drawer stocked with items used regularly for each lab group (eight drawers in my classroom). Each was labeled with a number, 1–8. When students came in for a lab, they were assigned a group and a lab drawer number. Each item in the drawer was carefully cleaned and polished at the start, and I explained to them that they must return every item that way at the end of the period, or the group assigned the drawer the following period would let me know about it! I told them that if any violations (i.e., wet, dirty or missing equipment) were reported, their group would end up on the "Lab Tool Wall of Shame" (a piece of paper posted on the back wall of the classroom) and they would lose points on the lab assignment (a minimal punishment at 1–5 points).
My sophomore honors students laughed at the Wall of Shame idea, but what a difference having assigned equipment, and some responsibility to the particular students who followed them with the same equipment, made! The simple combination of peer pressure, humor, and pride of ownership took over where hours of nagging failed. From the first day, the students cleaned and polished every item and lined them up in the drawer like surgeons' tools. Everyone in the group checked each other to make sure all items were clean and put away. No longer did I have problems with missing scalpels (a real safety issue!), rusting pins and blades, gory/dripping dissection trays and haphazardly cleaned glassware. If even a hint of contamination was found on "their" equipment at the start of a lab, students rushed to let me know about it. No longer did I find stray equipment left out on tables or counters. In four years of using this system, only a handful of groups ever ended up on the Wall of Shame, and those that did never landed there twice!
Jean Schmit, Warren Township High School, Gurnee, Ill.:
I have found that students will do anything to not draw attention to themselves. Based on that observation, and a recommendation from fellow teachers, I have a system of Safety Violations in my classroom. When students pass their science lab safety test with over 90% accuracy, they earn a Lab License. Each time they break a lab rule and are caught, they earn a "violation." After three violations, the license is suspended, and the student must take and pass the Lab Safety Test with 100% to be allowed to participate in lab again.
There is one additional consequence for a Goggles safety ticket that I call, "Talk the Talk, OR Walk the Walk." If a student earns a Goggles violation, the next nonlab period of class they have a choice to either wear their goggles the entire period without removing them or complaining, OR they can sing the goggles song at the beginning of the period to the class.
The goggles song I use was written by a former student, Kerri Donahue, in 2000. The words of her tune are sung to the melody of the Flintstones cartoon theme music.
Goggles,
Wear Your Goggles,
Don't you worry they are sanitized
If you,
Don't wear goggles
You'll get a vio-la-tion
Then you'll,
Have to get it signed that night
By your,
Mom or Dad or Guardian
So now,
Wear your Goggles
It's a very, very good thought
So don't you get caught
Without your Goggles on!
It's a fun way to reinforce the importance of wearing goggles in lab, and
some of the students sing on their own just for fun—really they do!
Barb Schnurr, Royall High School, Elroy, Wisc.:
Have the students write out the directions for the lab themselves, instead of using preprinted ones.
A prelab is required of the students before they make any attempt at going through the lab. Even though we will frequently use the labs that correspond with the book, we do not use the preprinted lab book. Instead, the day before we perform, the lab students fill in their own prelab, as it is read to them.
This does require some class time, but I feel that this is an excellent way to avoid what I refer to as the "cookbook" approach. I never want them to be reading the directions, for the first time, while they are performing the lab. By having the students fill out their own prelab, they have taken the first step, and should be aware of what is to follow.
Once this has been done, I will often have a "mock" set-up, especially involving equipment and glassware that they do not often see. This also allows me to demonstrate the proper (or improper) way to handle the equipment. This makes it easier for some students to actually "see" what they need to do.