Summary

In this activity, students will match clues to the glassware, tool, or equipment that is best designed to be used in the described manner. They will also identify the selected items by name.

Grade Level

Middle School and High School

NGSS Alignment

This activity will help prepare your students to meet the following SEPs:

• Scientific and Engineering Practices:
  • Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Objectives

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

• Identify lab equipment by name and by function.

Chemistry Topics

This activity supports students’ understanding of:

• Lab Safety
• Lab Equipment
• Experimental Design

Time

Teacher Preparation: 5 – 50 minutes (see Teacher Notes for variations)

Lesson: 20-50 minutes (depending on how much previous lab experience your students have)

Materials

For each group, you will need to compile a set that includes 1 of each item listed below. Be sure to adjust the list to match what is available in your own lab.

• Squeeze bottle
• Test Tube Brush
• Ring Stand
• Watch Glass
• Lab Burner
• Funnel
• Iron Ring
• Beaker Tongs
• Evaporating Dish
• Flask
• Beaker
• Clay Triangle
• Graduated Cylinder
• Test Tube Rack
• Wire Gauze with
• Ceramic Center
• Test Tube Clamp
• Crucible Tongs
• Test Tube Tongs
• Apron
• Balance
• Goggles
• Hot Plate

Safety

• There are no particular safety hazards in this activity. Although, it is a great time to talk with students about safe use of the various equipment, glassware, and tools.

Teacher Notes

• This activity was created as part of the Chemistry Fun section of the September 2025 issue of Chemistry Solutions.

Activity Overview:

• In this activity the term “laboratory equipment” will be used to describe any glassware, tools, and other items or devices that are used in a chemistry lab.
• Before beginning, you’ll need to consider the assumed prior lab experience of your students.
• For example, a second year chemistry class would likely be able to complete the entire activity within 10-15 minutes. However, if this is the first class where students are exposed to the lab, this activity will take longer and will likely require you to talk a bit with them about how lab glassware and tools are designed for specific functions.
• Minimal introduction is needed for this activity, as it is meant to prompt students to think about and discuss the possible designs/shapes/materials needed for different functions. However, you should begin by introducing students to your specific lab space and to how/where/with whom they should be working.
• Distribute any appropriate hand-outs to students and orient them to the version of the activity that you will use.
• This activity was designed with two format options. Teachers can choose from:
  • Option A: Requires use of actual lab equipment items
    • Teacher preparation of 5 minutes is needed for making photocopies if your room is already set up as lab stations.
    • Teacher preparation of 30 minutes is needed for set-up if you need to gather equipment to create lab stations.
    • This format is also helpful to acquaint students to the lab room as a whole. For example, there may be items that are not at a lab station (ex: lab aprons, goggles, etc. may have a dedicated location in the room.)
• Option B: Requires use of the lab images as part of a card sort
  • 20 minutes for photocopying sets of cards and cutting them out.
  • It is not recommended to ask the students to cut out the cards, as this could cause the students to see the “answers” before they begin.
• Alternative: Scavenger Hunt
  • If you do not have stations but want students to interact with the physical lab equipment, you can direct students to look in lab cabinets and drawers around the room to find the laboratory equipment items. Students can bring one example back to their table and label it with a clue card and a name card.
  • If using this option, you will use the card sort set (Option B) included in this activity, but you should remove column 2 (the images), since the students will be using actual equipment.

Activity Completion and Review:

• It can be helpful to use this activity in conjunction with orienting students to the lab space while also building their independence in the lab.
• When students have completed the activity, you can summarize in any of a variety of ways.
• The teacher can read each clue and ask students to either name or describe the equipment that matched that clue. Teachers can hold up the correct item and give a quick description of why it matched that clue, rather than another that may have been similar. This is done largely as a whole-class review with informal discussion. This portion can be quick or can be strategically placed to lead into a simple first lab activity for students. (More ideas in “Teacher Tips” below.)
  • Example: Display the rubber coated beaker tongs and ask students why would these not be great for picking up a test tube, or a smaller object like a crucible, or anything being used with a lab burner? Example answer: Beaker tongs are not made to close at the ends, so they do not have good grip and are only built to hold something by wrapping around it. Rubber should never go near a flame.
  • Example: Display both a beaker and flask together and ask students which would be better for different tasks such as stirring to dissolve salt into water using a stir rod or spoon (beaker), swirling to mix some food coloring all the way into the water (flask). It may be helpful to note that sometimes it is fine to use a beaker OR a flask for certain simple things, like holding samples or pouring together liquids, as they are not mutually exclusive.
• There are many ways to close out this lesson, depending on your needs. Some ideas are listed below:
  • A simple “ticket to leave”, such as “write down 2 things you already knew the name of and 2 things you never heard of before today”.
  • Short quiz using descriptions that are similar to the clues from the activity or using the format of “which of these should I use for… and why?”
  • With students gathered at their lab stations, call out a series of simple lab tasks and see which group can set it up first by pulling the correct equipment, and setting it up like they are about to do the task. Follow up by asking them or another group to identify all equipment using the correct names.
    • Example: Slowly boil off the water from an ocean water sample to collect the salt. Students should collect an evaporating dish and hotplate.
    • Example: Collect exactly 35 mL of a liquid from a bottle. Students should collect a graduated cylinder (of large enough size) and funnel.
  • Give students a written or oral description of their first lab and challenge them, for homework, to sketch what they think will be the appropriate set-up, annotated with the names of all equipment used. This can lead to a nice pre-lab discussion for that lab.

Teacher Tips

• For answers to the worksheet in Option A, use the card set document from Option B.
• If you use a laboratory notebook, you could use this activity to generate a reference section in the front or back of the lab notebook. In that case, you could either allow them to tape/glue their papers into the notebook or you could have them create their own equipment list, with name, sketch, and uses, along with other notes you may choose to give.
• This can be a great activity to weave in some “icebreaker” segments and to start creating your class culture. Some ideas:
  • Establish a routine that everyone, whether they know the people at their table or not, must introduce themselves to each other and say hello (or ask a question, or do a fun-fact or a boring-fact or anything else you choose) whenever they first get into a group. You could then periodically call for different types of rotations, so the students get mixed up requiring them to introduce themselves to several groups throughout the activity.
  • You could hand out the card set, such that each student gets a single card, and then set them free to find the correct grouping of three cards. Once they find their “group” they could do any number of ice-breaker or culture-building tasks. This could be the way you create their first lab group before letting them start the rest of the activity.

• Image References: Lab equipment diagrams on the card set were made by author or downloaded from Chemix: Squeeze bottle, ring stand, lab burner, funnel, flask, beaker, clay triangle, graduated cylinder, wire gauze, test tube tongs/holder, electronic balance, goggles, hot plate. Other images created by author using Microsoft Paint.