Why a checklist before every lab
A geology bench is calmer than most, but it is not hazard-free — a hammered rock throws sharp chips, a dropper of dilute acid can sting an eye, and a heavy specimen dropped on a hand still hurts. A pre-lab checklist is not bureaucracy — it is the routine that makes safe, prepared work automatic, so that on a Field & Lab Day the student's hands already know where the eye protection, the hand lens, and the specimens are before the work begins.
It also does something quieter: it forces the student to arrive ready. The least useful lab partner is the one who skimmed the procedure in the hallway. This checklist closes that gap. Print one for every Field & Lab Day, work top to bottom, and do not pick up the rock hammer or the first specimen until the last box is checked.
The goal is not to follow rules. It is to walk to the bench already knowing the hazards, the steps, and the observations you expect.
1 — Safety
Nothing below this section happens until everything in it is done. No exceptions, every Field & Lab Day, every time.
- Safety glasses on whenever a specimen is being hammered, split, or scratched — over the eyes, not pushed up on the forehead.
- Long hair tied back and sleeves clear of the bench when swinging a rock hammer.
- Closed-toe shoes and a stable striking surface; a heavy specimen dropped on a bare foot is a common field injury.
- The dilute-acid dropper handled with care — a drop of dilute HCl or vinegar for the carbonate fizz test only, kept away from the eyes and capped between tests.
- A cloth or tray set under the specimen when hammering, so chips are contained rather than flying across the room.
- Running water and a first-aid kit located — you know where each one is before you start, in case of a scratch or an acid splash.
- A spot set aside for returning specimens — you know exactly where each rock and mineral goes back so the set stays complete.
2 — Setup
With safety confirmed, build the bench so the work flows without scrambling mid-test.
- The full procedure read end to end — not skimmed — so you know what step comes next.
- All specimens gathered, numbered, and laid out in the order the procedure calls for — igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, and the common minerals kept apart so labels don't get mixed.
- Hand lens, streak plate, and Mohs hardness kit (or the individual testers — steel nail, glass plate, copper penny) selected to match the properties the step asks you to test.
- Geologic map and any cross-sections unrolled and oriented; you know which features you need to read and record.
- Dilute-acid dropper bottle located and its label double-checked — dilute HCl or white vinegar for the carbonate test only.
- Rock hammer and a hard, stable striking surface set up safely — loose items and bystanders cleared away from the swing.
- Field notebook open to a fresh, dated page with the title and question already written.
3 — Readiness: the pre-lab questions
This is the section that separates a technician from a geologist. Before the first observation, the student should be able to answer these in writing — in the field notebook, in their own words.
- What is the question? State, in one sentence, what this Field & Lab Day is trying to find out or identify.
- What is the geology? Write the key principle the day depends on — superposition, the rock cycle, Mohs relative hardness, or the carbonate acid test.
- What is my prediction? A specific expectation — the likely mineral from its luster, whether the sample will fizz in dilute acid, roughly where it should fall on the hardness scale.
- What am I observing, and how will I record it? Name every property you will test — streak, hardness, luster, cleavage — and how you will note it.
- What could go wrong? Identify the one or two steps most likely to introduce error, and how you will minimize them.
- What does success look like? Know, before you begin, what a reasonable identification would be — so an impossible result raises a flag at the bench, not a week later.
A student who answers all six is not guessing their way through a recipe — they are running a Field & Lab Day they understand, with results they can already roughly anticipate. That is exactly the readiness the lab-notebook entry is built to capture, and the kind of preparation a lab defense is designed to reward.