Laboratory studies are very important for science education but also involve various risks. It is possible to minimize these risks by providing a safe working environment. This study aims to determine the knowledge and views of secondary school students on laboratory safety and to identify their deficiencies in this regard. The survey method was…

Learning analytics, referring to the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts in order to optimize learning and the environments in which it occurs, is proving to be a powerful approach for understanding and improving science learning. However, few studies focused on leveraging learning analytics…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in healthcare and related science majors at the undergraduate level. This presents an opportunity to introduce health science training in middle school science classes to familiarize students to various healthcare-related fields. The pharmaceutical science-based hands-on activities for middle…

This study explores the effect of video-based instruction on the safety rules in the chemistry laboratory on student achievement. The sample for the study comprised 61 ninth grade students enrolled in two different classes at a public high school. The students in the class designated as the experimental group (N = 32) were given video-based…

This column provides best safety practices for the science classroom and laboratory. In this month's issue, pregnancy policy in the laboratory is discussed. One can't ignore the fact that student and faculty pregnancies--and the resulting potential hazards in the science laboratory--exist at the high school level. Science teachers need to be…

Many students do not have the manual dexterity to keep up with a fast-moving paramecium on a microscope slide. The lowly termite, however, provides an easily observable microscopic endo-ecosystem in an environment not usually considered by middle school teachers. In the activity described here, students examine the gut fauna of a termite in what…

As heat sources go, the old standby for elementary and middle school science laboratories has been the centuries old alcohol lamp. Unfortunately, this inexpensive heat producer has been a continuous source of accidents--many of which are relatively serious. Hot plates are emerging as the most popular source of heat for science experiments. The…

Mercury tends to vaporize when exposed to air. The warmer the air, the more quickly it vaporizes. Although swallowing mercury can be a problem, the greater risk results from inhalation and skin absorption. Symptoms and health-related problems can result within hours of exposure. Spilled mercury settles in cracks and absorbent material such as…

Lab safety is a critical component of any science class, but it is certainly not the most popular. This is especially true for younger students who are new to lab-based science classes. Educators must teach them about the dangers of unsafe lab behavior without scaring them away from the lab entirely or boring them to the point that they don't…

One easy way to reduce the number of accidents in the lab is to go "green." Green chemistry, or sustainable chemistry, emerged about a decade ago, but the concept has been practiced for centuries by indigenous people of many continents. The basic principles of green chemistry are that you should use only what you need and recycle what you can.…

This article discusses the rules science teachers need and how to implement these rules in the class. What should my science classroom rules be? Ideally, this question is asked prior to the teacher's entry to the classroom during their teacher training and revisited throughout their coursework preparation and student teaching. A science teacher…