Summary
In this lesson, students will analyze real Safety Data Sheets for common household chemicals and discuss the sheets' most important features. Then, working with groups, students create their own lab safety posters, integrating the safety guidelines they discussed with their peers. This lesson is intended to help students understand lab safety in the science classroom. It also functions as a great stepping point for moving into the standard tagged below, which addresses the properties of matter related to chemicals used in the science lab.
Essential Question(s)
How do scientists determine the safest way to handle lab chemicals and materials? How do they communicate this?
Snapshot
Engage
Students watch a video about the “Rules of the Mogwai” (from “Gremlins”) and brainstorm common safety rules to discuss with their peers.
Explore
Students evaluate their prior knowledge of chemical safety with a Card Sort activity. Then, students analyze real Safety Data Sheets (SDS) to determine proper handling, storage, and safety information for various household chemicals.
Explain
Students participate in a class discussion to highlight the key features found in SDS sheets.
Extend
Working in groups, students create safety posters for specific chemicals, detailing important information that might be needed in the event of an emergency.
Evaluate
Using the Gallery Walk strategy, students utilize a rubric to evaluate three of their peers' safety posters.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Lab Safety Poster Rubric (attached; three per group of students)
Safety Symbol Card Matching handout (attached; one per group of students)
Safety Data Sheet Resources handout (attached; print 1–2 of each resource linked within the handout)
Stop and Jot handout (attached; one per group of students)
Student devices with Internet access (optional)
Poster paper
Art supplies (markers, paper, etc.)
Preparation
Card Sort Preparation
Before beginning this lesson, print and cut out the attached Safety Symbol Card Matching handout. You'll need one set for each group of 2–3 students. Consider storing these cards in individual plastic bags or envelopes.
SDS Sheet Prep
Students will be examining real SDS sheets. If students have access to devices with Internet connection, you can share the Safety Data Sheet Resources handout with students electronically. Otherwise, you will need to print out the SDS sheets linked in the document prior to beginning the lesson.
Engage
20 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the instruction, beginning with slide 3. Share the lesson's essential questions: “How do scientists determine the safest way to handle lab chemicals and materials? How do they communicate this?” Ask students to consider these questions as they explore the main ideas presented in the lesson.
Display slide 4 and play the Gremlins | Rules | Warner Bros. Entertainment video, and ask students to focus on the safety rules.
Display slide 5 and introduce the learning objectives to the class.
Display slide 6. Inform students that they and an Elbow Partner will brainstorm to come up with common safety rules, which they heard growing up.
Display slide 7 and have students brainstorm with an elbow partner about what safety rules they have heard in science class.
Move to slide 8 and share the photo of the flammable liquid gasoline truck. Ask students if they can name the item in the photo.
Display slide 9 and show the students the photo of the pool/patio cleaner. Ask the class if they can name the item in the photo.
Display slide 10 and show the students the photo of the car battery. Ask the class if they can name the item in the photo. Then, ask students if they noticed anything the three items had in common.
Explore
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 11 and introduce the students to the Card Matching instructional strategy. Explain to students that they will match the safety symbols to the category and the description of the hazard. They will be creating sets of three. Share the example on the slide with the class. Place students in 13 different groups, and give each group a prepared set of the Safety Symbol Card Matching cards. When students feel they have matched the three groups correctly, inform them to keep their groupings together. The cards will be revisited later but can be put aside for now.
Display slide 12. Explain to students what Safety Data Sheets are and their purpose. Inform students that they will be analyzing one of the materials on the slide. Have students stay in their current groups.
Display slide 13 and pass out a different Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to each group along with a Stop and Jot handout for each group. Explain the Stop and Jot instructional strategy to the class. Inform students they will analyze their SDS document using guiding questions on the Stop and Jot handout and then switch with another group. They will continue to swap until they have analyzed three different materials.
Explain
20 Minute(s)
Display slide 14 and ask students the following question: "What were some of the key features you found on all the documents?"
Display slide 15. Tell students that all the sheets they viewed should have the same 16 categories that inform the user of safety information about the material.
Display slides 16-18 to point out some of the categories on the vinegar safety data sheet.
Display slide 19. Ask students, "What is the point of these safety symbols? How are they beneficial?"
Display slide 20-22. Ask students to revisit their Card Matching activity. Using the answers on the slide have students look over their sets to check their answers. Have students rearrange their cards to match the slide.
Display slide 23. Ask students, “If we were to create and display safety posters for hazardous materials we commonly use, what information would we include?” Have them consider the sheets they viewed earlier as they think about their answers. List the students’ responses on chart paper. Help them come up with further ideas as needed. What students note here will function as the requirements for students’ final safety posters.
Extend
45 Minute(s)
Display slide 24. Inform students they will work with their groups to create a lab safety poster for the last material for which they saw the SDS in the Stop and Jot activity. Their poster should include all of the important information from the list created during the Explain phase. Encourage students to exercise their own creativity in making their posters creative, colorful, and informative.
Move to slide 25 and hand each group a copy of the Lab Safety SDS Poster Rubric to guide their poster creation. Pass out paper and markers to each group. Allow groups enough time to construct their posters.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Place groups' posters around the room. Display slide 26. Make sure each group has three copies of the Lab Safety SDS Poster Rubric. Using the Gallery Walk strategy with their groups, have students view a classmate's poster together for three minutes and provide feedback on the rubric. Each group should stand at a different poster. Explain that once the timer goes off, each group will leave the filled out rubric at the base of the poster and rotate to a different poster. Repeat this process until all groups have visited three posters. Start the 3 minute timer on the slide.
Once the Gallery Walk is complete, have students review the feedback from the rubrics and make adjustments to their posters as needed. Pass out a clean copy of the Lab Safety SDS Poster Rubric to each group. When each group has made their updates, have them use the rubric to give a summative assessment of their own final product.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Canva. Tech Tool. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/612
K20 Center. (n.d.). Card matching. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/1837
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/116
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery walk / carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.). Stop and jot. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/168
Warner Bros. Entertainment. (2012, April 27). Gremlins | Rules | Warner Bros. Entertainment [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrHdo-v9mRA
K20 Center. (2021, September 21). K20 Center 3 minute timer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISP02KPau0