Fall 2002 CONFCHEM
Teaching Safety in High Schools, Colleges, and Universities
An on-line conference: September 30 - November 21, 2002
Sept. / Oct. / Nov.
Fall 2002 CONFCHEM | Teaching Safety in High Schools, Colleges, and UniversitiesAn on-line conference: September 30 - November 21, 2002 |
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| Abstracts | Schedule and Papers | Brief Instructions | Discussion Archive: Sept. / Oct. / Nov. |
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Organized by: George H. Wahl, Jr.
Professor of Chemistry
NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8204
919-515-2941 - FAX 919-515-2545
george_wahl@ncsu.edu
Why a conference on Teaching Safety? Well, who among us has not had some safety related problem during her/his career? Have we always been able to satisfactorily resolve it? Probably not.
Have we wondered what to do about safety in our curriculum? Either there's a "safety fanatic" trying to dominate our program; how do we slow him down? Or, "Gee, we really are not preparing our students for the real world. We should be designing labs similar to what they might experience if they were to go to work in a chemistry lab."
But will students pay any attention to safety lectures? Surely no more attention than they pay to other poorly designed classes. However, perhaps with a well prepared instructor, and some 'real world' examples, they just might pay more attention. After all, the younger generation certainly is very environmental oriented. Once they see that their actions in the lab affect the environment, they can be expected to become active learners.
Should we be fighting for a full course in "Safety"? The jury is still out, but my impression is that we'd be much better served by paying careful attention to safety issues wherever and whenever they appear. Treat them with the same rigor as we do other scientific principles we teach. Show the reasons for safety rules. Engage the students with frequent use of the question "Now, what would a Prudent Person do in this situation?" Accept only well thought out responses. Guide the student to become critical in responding. Just as in Organic Chemistry where we look for a reason why a certain structure is favored, so also we need to be concerned about why we do these reactions in the hood. What protection does the hood provide. Is that protection independent of the position of the sash; of the number of articles stored in the hood; of where in the hood the emissions are likely to occur?
It's our hope that we will all be better equipped to face our students with better answers, but also with more challenging questions about safety after this conference.
Please participate frequently and thoughtfully. Let's hear your experience. But please "Know when to say when!" Some conversations start going nowhere. When that occurs, please just - let it go, and we'll move onto the next interesting idea. Pass the word to your colleagues that it's not too late to register and its FREE. Send them to this page - http://www.ched-ccce.org/confchem/2002/c/index.html.
Don't forget - we'd like to see you all in New Orleans March 23-27, 2003 for the live conference on this same topic. Send proposed Abstracts, or just thoughts, to me at - george_wahl@ncsu.edu before 25 October 2002.
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This on-line conference has ended. A record of the on-line discussion is available on the CONFCHEM Majordomo archive for Sept - Nov 2002.
The Committee on Computers in Chemical Education (CCCE) thanks George Wahl for organizing and chairing this CONFCHEM conference. We also thank the paper authors and everyone who participated in the discussion. The success of these conferences depends upon all of you.