May-June 2013 – Teacher Plus

Safety tips and first aid

Vijayalakshmi Nandakumar The chemistry laboratory is a place where children can have lots of fun. It is also a place where the children and the teacher have to be extremely careful. The following safety tips to be observed in the laboratory will give you the pleasure of experimenting and also help the children to be safe. There are 3Cs to follow: Care, Caution and Concentration. Ensure that the children understand the instructions and follow them correctly. The workplace needs to be kept clean and uncluttered. Do not mix up the stoppers of the reagent bottles. Keep a wet cloth by your side. Read the following safety tips before you proceed. Note down all that you observe and that will help you to come to a logical conclusion. Always wear cotton clothes. Wear an apron or overcoat over your clothing. Check the gas tubing and gas taps for leaks and proper working of the gas burner before the experiment. Direct the test tube away from yourself when you are heating it. Do not add water or acid to a hot test tube. The chances of the contents spurting out of the test tube are high. Do not add acid to the contents of the test tube. Always use a dropper for the acid. Always add concentrated acid to water. Never add water to acid. In case of acid or alkali falling on your skin, keep the area under running water until the itching sensation stops. Apply cold cream or Burnol over the area. If the itching or burning sensation persists, prepare a dilute solution of sodium bicarbonate and rinse the area thoroughly. Wash it in plenty of water. Do not inhale any gas. In case of excess chlorine inhalation deep breathe/inhale steam. It will dilute the effect of the chlorine. In case of acidic fumes, inhale vapours of ammonium carbonate solution. Do not taste any substance in the laboratory. Keep the stoppers on after using the reagent bottles especially in the case of acid bottles and keep them in place in the shelves. The student is encouraged to do the experiments without any fear and observe the discipline of working methodically. The children must not try anything new on their own. Always encourage the children to clean the place after they have finished to give them a sense of ownership and also help them to be aware about how things are kept in the lab. Children love to wash their test tubes and other glassware. Encourage

Resources

Compiled by Yasmin Jayathirtha Books Classic Chemistry Demonstrations Compiled by Ted Lister and published by Royal Society of Chemistry 1998 A collection of 100 demonstrations, categorised into entertainment, pre-16, post-16 and subject headings. Will be available at The British Library Chemistry Experiments for Children Virginia L. Mullin;Dover Publications 1968 A classic with do-able experiments I picked my copy at a second hand book store Experiments Without Explosions O.M. Olgin; Mir Publishers, Moscow, 1988 Available wherever Russian books are sold. Has very detailed interesting experiments 100 Science Puzzles Jane Young and Colin McCarty; Unwin Hyman Ltd London 1989 Will be available at The British Library. Has interesting puzzles which are good for topic revision Microscale Chemistry Compiled by John Skinner and published by The Royal Society of Chemistry 1997. Available at The British Library. Makes a good introduction to microscale chemistry. Teaching Secondary Chemistry Edited by Bob McDuell; John Murray 2000 This book gives ideas of experiments and teaching plans and resources. There are companion books for physics and biology. There are many more books that have experiments to do at home. Many American and British text books have colourful illustrations and will provide a good introduction to various topics. I gather and write down interesting experiments and problems to use in the class room. Old books have a lot of detail not available in the newer ones. On-line resources Taking Science to Schools: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8 Richard A. Duochl, Heidi A. Schweingruber and Andrew W. Shouse Editors National Academies Press 2007 Available at http://www.nap.edu This is an interesting read on the pedagogy of science. It gathers together the latest ideas on how children learn and what science is. The website also has other books downloadable for free. The Periodic Table of Videos; University of Nottingham www.periodicvideos.com Has short (1-3 minutes) videos on elements with rather spectacular demonstrations. Arvind Gupta’s website www.arvindguptatoys.com Has interesting and easy to make demonstration instruments. While not specifically chemistry oriented, I have found material for demonstrating Boyle’s Law and how to make a spectroscope.

Why those molecules matter

Chemistry is all about matter and the changes it undergoes. In actuality, the field of chemistry is so vast that there are numerous sub-divisions. But now because there are tremendous overlaps across branches of this discipline, students need to understand the breadth and the depth of the subject and its relationship to other areas of knowledge. A look at how chemistry not only governs science but also life in several minute ways.

My journey (and detours) through chemistry

When it comes to making a choice regarding the subjects one is interested in, it usually is a daunting task. Should one opt for the sciences or engineering? This question often crops up when it is decision time. A senior professor and vice-chancellor narrates his journey through the world of chemistry.

Subject of choice

Whether it is your intuition, your sense of smell, or mastering the colours, chemistry has a way of sharpening all your senses at one go. The author shares in this article her love for chemistry — from the coloured solutions in reagent bottles in a school laboratory to the current research in nano science —- the mystery continues to unfold.

Filling life with colour and taste

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Ice cream: the inside story

A former student pays a small tribute to her chemistry teacher for inculcating in her a passion for the subject which ultimately helped her in making wise choices in her educational journey.

Tasting, touching, smelling and discovering

This article makes an impassioned plea to make use of the five senses and enjoy the subject instead of being bogged down by habit.

Colours, smells and sounds

Chemistry is a central science and connects several peripheral disciplines. In fact, it can be described as a giant banyan tree spreading its branches all around. A look at how chemistry touches everything from ‘salt to camphor’.

The chemical complexity of life

Is everything that has the tag of ‘chemical’ bad? Are there no good chemicals? The fact is nobody really knows — not the doctors, not the scientists. The problem is that the human body is very complex and its interaction with the environment impossible to clarify. People are exposed to a vast array of compounds and how they interact with each other and with the naturally present compounds in the body defies analysis. This article highlights the fact that the numbers are important and everything chemical is not necessarily bad.

Category: May-June 2013

Safety tips and first aid

Resources

Why those molecules matter

My journey (and detours) through chemistry

Subject of choice

Filling life with colour and taste

Ice cream: the inside story

Tasting, touching, smelling and discovering

Colours, smells and sounds

The chemical complexity of life

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