In the Classroom edited by
Safety Tips
Timothy D. Champion Johnson C. Smith University Charlotte, NC 28216
A Lab Safety “Scavenger Hunt” Terry L. Helser Chemistry Department, S.U.N.Y. College at Oneonta, Oneonta, NY 13820-4015
The obligatory lecture on safety equipment and procedures during the first lab period (1) is among the most boring and least retained parts of a student’s experience. It is equivalent to the mandatory preflight talk given by attendants on airplanes. After the first or second time students or travelers hear it, the vast majority completely tune out. With the obvious importance to life and limb in both cases, how does the instructor (attendant) make his or her charges pay attention? While posting laboratory rules (2), requiring a written proposal that includes all safety concerns before allowing students in the lab (3), and giving a skit and video (4) to train selected groups of students and TAs are all valuable suggestions, I wanted a cooperative, active project (5, 6 ) that engaged all students in the same amount of time. The result is described below. The Scavenger Hunt At the point in the first lab when I would usually begin the description of safety procedures and point out equipment locations, I instead give each pair or team of students a diagram of the lab room. The diagram can be prepared in any computer “draw” program, such as SuperPaint or FreeHand. It contains a stylized overhead view of the room and its major furniture and equipment. At the bottom I list the things the students are to find, and I usually repeat this list on the board (see equipment list). I then instruct them to put the first letters of each name on the diagram at the location they find it in the room. For example, the “Fire Extinguishers” would be noted on the diagram as FE at the room exits. When the first one or two teams complete their diagram correctly, they are rewarded with their choice of a hard candy. Of course they are instructed not to eat it in lab. It is truly amazing how hard students will work for such an insignificant prize! This exercise takes only a few minutes before most teams are done, and still leaves time for my favorite horror stories about bunsen burners and NaOH in unprotected eyes. Anecdotal evidence indicates that students do remember equipment locations for at least the first month or two, since I was aware of a drop in “Where is the …?” questions after beginning these hunts. Whether they would know what to do in a real emergency remains an unanswered question, fortunately. Even if they don’t remember the location of the pencil sharpener halfway through the semester, they do remember the hunt for it. When I remain silent in response
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Laborator y Equipment List 2 Fire Extinguishers
Emergency Shower
Usable for Eye Wash
Latex Gloves
Emergency Exits
Emergency Phone
Broken Glass Trash
Pencil Sharpener
Paper Recycling
Hot Water Taps
Reagent Table
Gas Taps
Extra Glassware
Paper Towel Dispensers
Fire Blanket
Eye Washer
First Aid Kit
Fume Hoods
Fire Alarm Pulls
Goggles Cabinet
Normal Trash
Tap Water
Balances
Ice Chest
Bucket and Mop
5 Sinks
Teams are instructed to write the first letter(s) of each piece of equipment or site at the proper location on the diagram and return it to the instructor when done.
to their question, they usually say, “Oh that’s right, I should know that shouldn’t I, because of the scavenger hunt?” I nod the affirmative, and they usually relearn the location quickly—probably slightly faster than the rat in a maze, but that also has not been measured reliably. I might also speculate that the exercise of mentally orienting the abstract representation (model?) of the room with the real room they occupy may have an additional benefit. It begins the mental processes necessary to understand the macroscopic models we employ to describe microscopic “reality” in chemistry. Any exercise in such abstract thinking skills must help students. Literature Cited 1. Richardson, M. D.; Gentry, L. R.; Lane, K. E.; Vanberkum, D. W. J. Chem. Educ. 1994, 71, 689–690. 2. Corley, T. R. J. Chem. Educ. 1994, 71, 577. 3. Luckenbaugh, R. W. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 1083. 4. Hill, P. S.; Greco, T. G. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72, 1126–1127. 5. Helser, T. L. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 843–844. 6. Johnson, D. W.; Johnson, R. T.; Smith, K. A. Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom; Interaction Book Co.: Edina, MN, 1991.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 1 January 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
