Science Laboratory Safety

Students begin the class with a warm-up that compares everyday life to the science classroom. Students are asked to compare road/highway signs, and write what they mean to them. The lesson begins on a PowerPoint Presentation. A few students are chosen to share what their signs mean to them, and how they can compare to being safe in the Science classroom.

Students are then given a chance to answer curriculum-based questions that are in multiple choice format. Students are asked to Think/Share/Pair with a partner to come up with a correct answer. The answers are then discussed as a class.

Each table group has been given a set of matching safety symbols and definitions. Students are asked to take about five minutes, and do their best to match the correct symbol to the definitions. There is a timer on the PowerPoint presentation that will buzz when five minutes is up. As a class, we then go through a PowerPoint presentation that shows students the correct answers. We discuss any concerns students have with any of the ones they got incorrect.

Students are then placed into groups again, and are given a Science Laboratory Safety Scenerio. Each group is given a scenerio to act out in front of the classroom that is an incorrect way to participate in a Science Lab. If budget allowed, students could take pictures of themselves acting out the incorrect way and the correct way that these scenerios could be completed. After each scenerio is acted out, the class discusses what could have been done to make this scenerio more safe.

As a class, students and teacher then discuss the actual safety rules of the Science Laboratory. For closure of the class, students are asked to write a "Thought of the Day". This particular lesson asks students to write a poem describing why Safety in the Science Lab is so important.