[neact] Re: How do you handle Large class sizes in chemistry?

Hi Richard,
 
Jack's advice is spot on.  Write a letter to the administrator in charge
of Building & Grounds and 'cc it to the District Personnel Office.  Cite
evidence from Flynn Scientific on lab size
(http://www.flinnsci.com/Sections/Safety/generalSafety/overcrouwding.asp
) or another safety resource; and include the NSTA Position statement on
lab safety (http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/safety.aspx) and ACS
Safety Guidelines
(http://portal.acs.org/portal/fileFetch/C/CTP_005951/pdf/CTP_005951.pdf)
websites.  You might check to see if your state has K-12 science safety
guidelines as well.  Good luck. 
 
Sally

Sally Rigeman, Ph.D.
Secondary Math/Science Consultant
Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency 


________________________________

        From: neact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:neact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jack Duranceau
        Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2008 06:25 PM
        To: neact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        Subject: [neact] Re: How do you handle Large class sizes in
chemistry?
        
        

        Hi, I teach at Arlington High School.  When I had colleagues
with professional status (hasn't been the case for about 5 years), we
would write a letter to the Superintendent and Principal that we cannot
be held responsible for the safety of students in the chemistry
laboratories if the numbers exceeded the numbers for which the room was
designed (20 really, 24 in a pinch).  Administrators do not like to have
these on file with the liability issues involved.  Our Superintendent
just didn't care, but our protest was registered and they rarely go
above 24 (perhaps as a result).  Denying labs to students and
communicating directly with parents is a good way to alienate all
administrators - if I were an administrator, I'd tell you to do the lab
and fire you when you didn't - you would not win the battle.  Another
approach is to have practice problems/lab activity that can be done in
either order and only have ½ the class doing labs at a time.  Good luck!

         

        Jack Duranceau

         

         

        -----Original Message-----
        From: neact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:neact-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Boucher
        Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 9:03 PM
        To: neact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        Subject: [neact] How do you handle Large class sizes in
chemistry?

         

        Hello

        This being the beginning of a new school year, brings up a
question that is happening at our school, and I suspect other  schools.
Due to increasing enrollments and budget constraints, the class sizes
are increasing. This year I will have 3 sections of chemistry with 28
students.   

        Chemistry teachers are aware that 24 students represent the
class size that should be set as the maximum that allows teachers to
safely supervise the laboratory experience.  So does anyone have
suggestions on how to handle the larger class size and still include the
extremely valuable laboratory experience?

        Some questions that I would like to raises are 

        1)      How do you educate administration to the importance of
the laboratory experience as well as safety in the laboratory (including
the liability to teachers and the school is something goes wrong) They
are concerned about class size in general, but do not have any training
in the sciences. 

        2)      What do you do, as a teacher, with a large class size.
For example, some demo's and write up lab reports?  If so which ones?

        3)      I know of some teachers who have sent letters to parents
stating that larger class sizes make it impossible to perform lab
experiments safety, so the class will not include lab experiments.  What
do you think about the best way to communicate with the parents?  I
would assume there may be administration fall out from this type of
communication. What is the best way to handle this (and still keep your
position)  Thank you, for taking the time to read this. If you have any
past experiences, or suggestions , could you please respond?

        Richard Boucher.

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