Unit 07 · Lab Safety & Technique
Good science starts before the first measurement — with goggles on, hair tied back, and a clear bench. This unit is watched from setup to cleanup: reading the warnings, knowing where the sink and the exits are, handling a hot plate or a fizz tablet or a melting ice cube the right way, and leaving the space safe and tidy for the next person. When something spills or breaks, the student knows the simple right thing to do. Mastery means you work safely without being reminded — and you can explain why each habit matters.
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPE & setup | Starts working with no goggles, loose hair, or a cluttered bench. | Puts on some gear but forgets a piece, or clears only part of the workspace. | Sets up right every time — goggles on, hair tied back, bench clear and dry before the first step. |
| Procedure & hazard awareness | Dives in without reading the steps or noticing any warnings. | Reads the procedure but skims the warnings, or can’t say where help is. | Reads the steps and the warnings first, and can point to the exits, the sink, and where an adult is. |
| Careful handling | Handles tools or materials roughly or the wrong way — a risk to the work and to people. | Uses tools correctly most of the time but gets careless when rushing. | Uses every tool and material — a hot plate, a graduated cylinder, the fizz tablet, the melting ice — safely and the right way, without prompting. |
| Cleanup & disposal | Walks away leaving spills, trash, or tools out for someone else. | Cleans up part way — wipes the bench but leaves materials out, or disposes of things carelessly. | Leaves the bench safe and tidy — materials put away, waste disposed of correctly, surfaces wiped for the next person. |
| Emergency response | Freezes or panics when something spills, breaks, or goes wrong. | Knows something should be done but hesitates or reaches for the wrong response. | Does the simple right thing at once — tells an adult, steps back from a break, wipes a small spill safely — calmly and quickly. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats safety as isolated rules; makes no connection to the year’s anchor. | Mentions Semmelweis’s handwashing but can’t tie it to safety or to the data behind it. | Connects careful practice to Semmelweis — whose handwashing was a safety habit proven by falling death rates — across History · Reading · Ethics, and defends why data-backed safety matters. |
“Goggles on, hair back, bench clear before I touch anything — then I read the steps and the warnings and checked where the sink and the adult were. When a bit of water spilled I wiped it up right away and told my guide. At the end the bench was cleaner than I found it.”
“I just started. My hair was down but it was fine. Something spilled and I wasn’t sure what to do, so I left it. I’ll clean up later.”
You demonstrate this unit through watched safety and technique — setting up your gear and workspace, working through a procedure, handling tools and materials, then cleaning up — plus short oral checks where you point out the hazards and say what you’d do in an emergency. Not a multiple-choice test. A criterion counts as mastered only when a guide can watch you work safely from setup to cleanup without prompting. Mastery is demonstrated, not awarded.
A 5-page clipboard packet — unit overview, key terms, the mastery rubric, anchor examples, and a score sheet you can print and grade against.