Technology in the Classroom

Welcome to technology in the classroom where once again, we try to see what can be manufactured forced upon us and hopefully it will help students learn.  Observations on what I saw that people would consider technology: There is a single computer, an Apple laptop that is the teachers hooked to a pair of speakers and an Epson projector.  There is a cart full of iPads in the school that can be reserved for specific days.  By chance I did see that there are Vernier probes but I'm guessing that is limited to just the teacher and a select few other computers in the school.  While this school has a state policy of no cell phones out during class, there is soft enforcement of this rule and one student did look up the term "sublimation" to see that it was real.  The enforcement comes when a student is using the phone more for a distraction than as a tool to find information.  

Other tech that is tech but is not so obvious.  There are white boards and magnets holding up papers.  Each student has a calculator, pencil, paper.  There is the lab equipment from fish tanks, beakers, laser pointer, light boxes, DC current boxes, etc that I have observed.  Technology exists, it just isn't always Star Trek but it isn't necessarily Grog the Caveman bashing a stone down on something either.  There's a spectrum and it runs pretty wide in this classroom.  

Safety First

"And remember, safety first!" Miss Jenny Sodor Construction Co.  Thomas and Friends

Welcome to the obligatory science class topic on safety or how not to lose your eye, or in this case a student's eye get sued and have to test your liability shield of your union and district.  I joke, but to me, safety has been there hand in hand since I started back in the mid-90s whether being the goggle-guy, helping with waste disposal, or serving professionally as the contact person for EHS to do audits on things like fume hoods (*cough cough Neal*), chemical inventory, biohazardous wastes, or even radioactive material pick up and disposal.  At any one point in my career I probably was responsible for more EPA, DOT, and DOE regulations than anyone possibly realized.  But today it is about the school and what is done.

First let's talk about general safety.  The school is locked.  You can't get in except through a buzzer at the front door.  You must sign in at the office (well you don't, but they'll run after you if you skip that step).  Backpacks are banned given the reason of being a fire hazards.  Student traffic in the halls is kept to a minimum.  Attendance is taken so the location of students is known.  

Room Safety Features

The room is divided in half.  The cabinets are all locked.  The prep room is where the actual chemicals are stored long term. There really isn't anything beyond some hydrochloric acid in there, and that is diluted (~3M?) and that is taken from the upstairs 11th grade chemistry class.  Most everything is household or kitchen items.  Inventory is informal.  Orders/MSDS are received as needed.  There is a master gas control in the prep room and another emergency gas shut off iin the front "teacher"s bench.  Goggles are required when chemicals are in use in the back half of the room (law).  Most everything is flushed down the drain due to very dilute.  

There are three doors (2 to the hallway, 1 to the preproom) if needed for escape.  There is a fume hood (about where the camera is located for the picture above).  There is also a safety shower and 2 eye wash stations on the first bench on the left and right sides.