Laboratory Safety and Tools
The parameters you set at the beginning of the school year will be important and determine the structure your class will take for the reminder of the school year. Start the year with an engaging hands-on experience where students can collaborate and rotate around the room. Below you will find links to different sites I have used throughout the years.
Bitmoji Lab Safety Gone Wrong
Lab Safety Posters are a huge part of any Science Lab. Students will follow task cards to complete their very own Bitmoji Lab Safety room to incorporate lab safety practices! Additionally, students will explain what is going wrong in their Bitmoji Lab Safety Classroom using Vocaroo. They can Copy and share their link with their teacher.
You may also use my Bitmoji Lab Safety Gone Wrong Assignment which is available on my TPT store.
Exploring the Microscope
Using a microscope takes practice and patience. Sometimes it takes a minute or two to get the image to focus. Start slow and introduce the microscope with a demonstration activity.
You will need at least 2 microscopes per station or group which is approx. 12-15 total microscopes if you have 6 groups. Feel free to adjust this activity using the resources you have.
Begin by showing your students how to properly hold a microscope and how sensitive the equipment can be. Go over the eye piece and the different objective lenses. Have students calculate different magnifications using both the eye and objective lenses. Give students time to practice as they place a glass slide on the stage and adjust the light, coarse and fine focus knobs.
You can either have pre-made slides for them to view or you can have them make their own slides using a piece of hair, drop of water and a cover slip.
If you do not have enough microscopes, you can also have students work on this virtual microscope activity I found online. The online activity even comes with instructor handouts to use with the online virtual lab.
Students will identify 12 different laboratory tools and write down their proper names in the blanks provided. You can simply print out the worksheet and assign to students or you can also cut them and create a card sort activity where students have to match them.
Science Tools
Here is an interactive lab room I created where students can click on the different tools and learn more about each one. This activity is an engaging and independent activity that can be assigned to students as a review or explore activity before you explain the purpose of each one.
