America's Lab Report Investigations in High School Science (2006) / Chapter Skim
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6 Facilities, Equipment, and Safety
6 Facilities, Equipment, and Safety
Pages 168-192
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From page 168... ...
· Adequate facilities, equipment, and supplies for laboratory experiences are inequitably distributed. · Maintaining student safety during laboratory experiences is a critical concern, but little systematic information is available about safety problems and solutions.
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From page 169... ...
PROVIDING FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, AND SUPPLIES In response to growing enrollments and the deterioration of an older generation of buildings, school districts across the nation are involved in a wave of construction and renovation. A comprehensive survey conducted by the General Accounting Office in 1996 revealed that many existing school buildings were in need of reconstruction or renovation.
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From page 170... ...
The first step in designing laboratory space is to develop such a long-term vision for the school science curriculum. The school science supervisor, along with curriculum coordinators, other science teachers, administrators, and state and local experts, often play important roles in developing this vision (Biehle, Motz, and West, 1999)
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From page 171... ...
The committee was unable to locate any systematic national data on the extent to which current high school science laboratory spaces incorporate any of the aspects of flexibility described above. No systematic information was available on the extent to which high school science classrooms may be 2For example, in California, among the 74,000 high school science classes offered during the 2002-2003 school year, the largest group (37 percent)
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From page 172... ...
. Among the 900 National Science Teachers Association mem bers who responded, over three-fourths indicated they taught in combined laboratory-classrooms.
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One recent guide to school science facilities indicates that "laboratory space is approximately twice as expensive to build
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In New York City, 16 of the 18 schools surveyed increased the number of science classes requiring laboratory experiments between 1993-1994 and 1996-1997. In nine of the schools, the laboratory load at least doubled.
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. In Tel Aviv, Israel, a centralized science facility performs a similar role, serving students from several schools with laboratory facilities and expert science laboratory teachers (Arzi, 1998)
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From page 176... ...
Colorado: Colorado State University Mobile Investigations Available at: http://www.hhmi.org/news/csugia.html. Delaware: Science Van Project -- Science In Motion Illinois: Chicago State University Chemistry Van Available at: http://members.tripod.com/~tyff/Outreach/chemvan.html.
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From page 177... ...
DISPARITIES IN FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, AND SUPPLIES Disparities in Laboratory Facilities Although well-designed flexible laboratory spaces can support effective laboratory experiences, access to such space is not available to all schools and students. Among science department heads surveyed in 2000, 21 percent indicated that facilities posed a serious problem for science instruction in their school (Smith, Banilower, McMahon, and Weiss, 2002)
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From page 178... ...
-- very well, moder ately well, somewhat well, not well at all." The list of activities included laboratory science. A total of 15 percent of respondents who were asked about high schools indicated that their laboratory facilities met functional requirements "not well at all." Specifically, they indicated that their facilities did not meet the following functional requirements for laboratory science: demonstration stations, student laboratory stations, safety equipment, and appropriate storage for chemicals and other supplies.
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From page 179... ...
. In response to phone and mail surveys conducted in 2002, almost 60 percent of science teachers in Chicago and Washington, DC, reported either that their science laboratory facilities were somewhat inadequate or very inadequate to meet curriculum standards or that they had no science laboratory facilities at all (Schneider, 2002)
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From page 180... ...
Nationally, the median of yearly expenditures per pupil for consumable science supplies was $3 in 2000, or $3,444 for a typical high school of about 1,100 students. However, the national average masks disparities in spending between rural schools, which have median science supply expenditures of only $994, and urban and rural schools, which have annual supply expendi tures of $2,957 and $2,905, respectively (Banilower et al., 2004)
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From page 181... ...
Lack of available, accessible laboratory equipment and supplies forces some teachers to purchase these items out of their own pockets. In response to a 2000 survey, high school teachers indicated they spent an average of $55 per year of their own money for science classes (Smith et al., 2002, p.
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From page 182... ...
This section provides a brief review of safety issues. Science teachers and schools have clear legal liability for the safety of students engaged in labora tory activities, and local, state, and federal regulations, codes, and policies provide clear specifications for ensuring student safety.
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. This standard requires school science teachers to create and maintain a chemical hygiene plan (CHP)
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From page 184... ...
In implementing the Toxic Sub stances Control Act, EPA issues regulations and guidelines to protect indoor air quality. EPA provides a checklist for teachers to assess and improve indoor air quality, including items related specifically to school science laboratories (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/tfs/teacher.html)
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From page 185... ...
National Science Teachers Association (http://www.nsta.org/positionstatementandpsid=32) National Science Education Leadership Association (http://www.nsela.org/safesci17.htm)
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From page 186... ...
10. Provide a set of "introduction to laboratory safety" lesson $10,000 $8,000 plans to be used by science teachers.
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From page 187... ...
About 37 percent of the teachers reported never receiving science safety training, and over 17 percent said they had received safety training more than 10 years earlier. Nearly 60 percent required students to sign safety contracts indicating they understood and agreed to follow safety procedures, and nearly 70 percent stored chemicals safely, based
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From page 188... ...
Researchers in Texas distributed a safety survey to science teachers attending a conference in October 2000 and to teachers participating in 12 laboratory safety professional development sessions across the state (Fuller et al., 2001, p.
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From page 189... ...
Although ad hoc workshops on laboratory safety can provide information that helps teachers and administrators enforce legal requirements for maintaining student safety, more sustained professional development may be required to create lasting changes in school safety, just as sustained professional development supports changes in teaching practices. SUMMARY Integrated laboratory-classrooms with flexible equipment and furnishing are ideal for supporting teaching and learning with laboratory experiences that are integrated into the flow of instruction.
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From page 190... ...
Arling ton, VA: National Science Teachers Association. California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
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From page 191... ...
Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.
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From page 192... ...
. Australian Science Teachers Journal, 20(3)
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