Summary

In this activity, students will learn about safety, a core value of chemistry, through watching related videos produced by the American Chemical Society. Students will complete guided notes and questions during the activity. This chemical safety video series includes five videos: Safety Mindset, Safety Data Sheets, How to Dress for the Lab, and PPE, Preparing for Emergencies, and RAMP (Recognize hazards, Assess risks, Minimize risks, Prepare for emergencies).

Grade Level

Middle and High School

Objectives

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• Explain that safety is essential to everything they do in the lab.
• Properly read a Safety Data Sheet and understand what information can be found on it.
• Dress properly for the lab, demonstrating awareness of what clothing is unacceptable in the lab.
• Understand the purpose of PPE.
• Respond appropriately in the event of an emergency, including a chemical spill, or a splash and a fire.
• Differentiate between a hazard and a risk.
• Recognize potential hazards in a laboratory.
• Apply the RAMP tool to a given scenario.

Chemistry Topics

This activity supports students’ understanding of:

• Lab Safety
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Risk/Hazard Assessment
• Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
• Chemical Properties
• Physical Properties

Time

Teacher Preparation: 15-20 minutes
Lesson: ~45 minutes

• Video 1 (4:14 running time)
• Video 2 (6:51 running time)
• Video 3 (6:42 running time)
• Video 4 (7:14 running time)
• Video 5 (7:30 running time)

Materials

• Student Video Questions
• Device with Internet access
• Access to the ACS Chemical Safety Video Collection
  • Video 1: Safety Mindset
  • Video 2: Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
  • Video 3: How to Dress for the Lab? And what about Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?
  • Video 4: Preparing for Emergencies
  • Video 5: RAMP for Students

Safety

• No specific safety precautions need to be observed for these activities.

Teacher Notes

• This activity provides teachers with student video questions for the five videos in the ACS Chemical Safety Video Collection.
• The videos can be watched in order, or teachers could use the video questions separately, for only the videos that their students will watch.
• The videos are each fairly short and move quickly through the content, so teachers may want to show the video twice, or instruct students to pause the video as needed on their own devices to ensure that they can record answers to all of the questions.
• The student questions/answers are presented in sequential order in each of the videos.
• An answer key for each video questions has also been provided for teacher reference.
• There are additional AACT Teaching resources may that help complement these videos on chemical safety:
  • Activity: Analyzing and Creating Safety Labels
  • Activity: Dangerous Goods Specialist
  • Activity: Hazard Symbols
  • Activity: Lab Safety, You’re Fired!
  • Activity: Race to Safe
  • Activity: What Not to Do in the Chemistry Lab
  • Demonstration: Why Do We Have to Wear Goggles?
  • Lesson Plan: Lab Safety and Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
  • Project: Chemical Disasters: Good Chemical Gone Bad