Lab Out Loud®

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In this episode, Maryann Suero and Ken Roy warn us of safety dangers lurking in schools - both in the science lab and beyond.  Dr. Suero is the Children’s Health Program Manager for the EPA Region 5 (Midwest Region), and Ken Roy is the Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Glastonbury Public Schools in CT, the Safety Compliance Consultant for NSTA, and a safety columnist for the Science Teacher and for Science Scope.

SC3: Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign
The Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3) aims to ensure that all schools are free from hazards associated with mismanaged chemicals. SC3 gives K-12 schools information and tools to responsibly manage chemicals.

• Fact Sheet (pdf)
  
• Green Cleaning (pdf)
• Partnerships with Industry (pdf)
• No More Methyl Something (ppt)

OSHA Lab Standard and HazCom Standards websites:

• Laboratories
• Reactive Chemicals
• Hazard Communications

Safety Links

• King County, WA (Seattle) “Rehab the Lab” Program
• Council of State Science Supervisors Safety Website
• Connecticut High School Science Safety Prudent Practices and Regulations (pdf)
• Conneticut Middle School Safety Prudent Practices and Regulations (pdf)
  
• National Science Education Leadership Association “Safe Science” safety articles for science teachers
• YouTube Video Warning of Consequences Playing with Thermite Grenades

For safety Issues in Schools - email NSTA’s Science Safety Compliance Consultant/Safety Columnist/Author: Dr. Ken Roy at Royk@glastonburyus.org

Direct download: LOL22.mp3

I only have a half day of school the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. With only twenty minute classes, some might wonder if there is enough time to do anything.

Well, I make my class all about turkeys on this day. Turkey wishbones to be more precise.

First, we examine the age old tradition of breaking the wishbone to see who pulls harder. Using two Vernier force probes, we split this tradition in half. I give my students a quick handout (that I modified from Vernier’s Thanksgiving Experiments page) to get the students on their way.

For the rest of the class period, we try to perform a wishbone balancing act. See what it’s all about in the video below.

What I like about these two activities, is that there is a good chance the students will be talking about them with their family the next day. I have had several students make wishbones so they can try the wishbone balancing act out with their family.

When students take science home, everyone wins. And I’m thankful for that.

Share your Thanksgiving related activities in the comments below.

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Dr. Kiki Sanford

Our guest this week is Dr. Kirsten Sanford, Ph.D. (Neurophysiology).  Dr. Sanford (Dr. Kiki) is making her way in independent science media and journalism.

Recently, Dr. Kiki shared a comment on her blog in a post entitled The Reason Why.  Here’s a snippet:

After showing her your podcasts, [my daughter] has discovered that it is not only possible but very rad to be both smart and interested in science but to like fashion and lip gloss at the same time.

We talked with Dr. Kiki about this post and women in science.

Links

• The Bird’s Brain - Dr Kiki’s Blog
• The Reason Why
• Food Science Videos
• World Science Festival with Dr. Kiki
• This Week in Science Podcast
• Kristen Sanford’s bio on TWIS
• Pop Siren

Direct download: LOL21.mp3

Flinn Safety Training Notes

Each month, Flinn Scientific provides “Science Department Safety Training Notes”.  This month’s notes are “Safety Guidelines for Chemical Demonstrations.”

From Flinn:

Chemical demonstrations can produce attention-grabbing results that dramatically illustrate chemistry in action–from making fountains of foam to creating kaleidoscopic colors, and generating flashes of fire. This month’s safety training reminds you that safety must always come first by providing important guidelines to consider before doing any chemical demonstration.

To receive Flinn’s Safety Training Notes, simply subscribe at www.flinnsci.com/contact_safety.asp.

Flinn also maintains an extensive MSDS database, with 2-page, printable Material Data Safety Sheets.

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Ed Begley, Jr.

In this episode, we talked with Ed Begley Jr.  Ed talks to us about science, the environment and his show Living with Ed.

Preview from the Show:

I think when people are armed with good knowledge about science, I think we’ve really got a shot.  It’s amazing to me when I talk to people – adults, people my age – about simple things – the boiling point of water, how many planets are in the solar system and in what order they are aligned – people don’t have a lot of knowledge about the basics of electricity and things that really affect their lives.  Let me just remove it even from planetary movements and more arcane things like that in people’s lives (that are very meaningful to me) and a lot of people can’t talk about nuts and bolts things like where water comes from and where it goes to, how electricity works, Ohm’s law – things that would really be helpful if they knew it, and precious few people that I know, know much about it.

If you hear claims about something – let’s say an issue like loss of coral reefs, or ozone depletion, or global warming – go online.  And I say to you and to the students, stay away from fringe information from anybody.  I’m not saying go to environmental sites or some AM talk radio site.  Go to good people like National Geographic, Science Magazine, Nature Magazine, Princeton University, Columbia University.  Go to people like that – people with Ph.D. after their name.  And I’ll roll the dice on that.  You need someone good with peer reviewed studies.  If it says something other than what I believe, I’m going to listen, because I believe in peer reviewed studies.

In response to: “What do you want our kids of the future to know?”
I want them to develop an interest in science if they don’t have one, to cultivate an interest in science if they do have one, and something that they should continue to pursue the rest of their days.  I think it’s a wonderful thing in our pursuit of knowledge to know things about science.  I’m all for learning about art and literature…  In addition to that, we also need to be grounded in some sense to scientific knowledge, have some modicum of scientific knowledge, and the more the better.  I would urge everybody, no matter what your passion is…, to have a bit of your life grounded in science, and you’ll be all the better for it.

Links:

• Ed Begley, Jr
• Living with Ed
• Living with Ed from Planet Green
• Planet Green
• Episode 14 - Bill Nye Talks About Energy and More

Direct download: LOL20.mp3