Australia's Science Forum

I just found out that I cleaned up a yr 11 prac before the class had finished with it.....
Its is both mine and the teachers fault...he / she didn't put a 'please keep' or 'finished' tag on it, so i emptied it and put the beakers thru the dishwasher.....yeah a big oops..but if that is the biggest mistake i make this term i think iw ill be fine (somehow i don't think so )


Lesson learnt on both sides.....

I feel sure we have all been their and done that. We really do learn by our mistakes. Welcome to the real world of Science and chemtalk.

Those signs are great when used I hate it when teachers put a 'please leave' sign on something and then don't remove it or replace it with a 'finished' sign when they have finished with it! Stuff sits around for ages taking up space, equipment and sometimes ends up 'growing'!! Not fun when you do eventually get to cleaning it up...

I got jack of the "ongoing" , "finsihed" signs as the teachers never bothered so i have one side of my prep room is for prac pick up and the other side for ihave finished with - if a prac sits on the pick up side for longer than 2 weeks it goes all the same (with consultation)
WE dont have enough glassware and equipment for them to sit around constantly and if the teachers want to continue to do pracs they need to help me keep things clear.

It is a problem i think all labbies face and i guess it depends on the teachers each year to what will work and what wont.

Eh? Narelle, why's it partly your fault? Your only going on the info your given by your teaching staff - if they can't be bothered to let you know, don't bother to apologise! Your too busy to faff about chasing them up - they should be in the routine of letting you know.

I've done exactly what you have done a couple of times - it becomes an "SEP" - someone elses problem! It doesn't reflect on your knowledge or ability in a bad way, quite the opposite in fact.

If they give you nonsense - send the buggers to me, I'll sort 'em out.

Richard! You are a bad ***
I wont mess with you LOL.

but i just got back from his lab and there are signs on EVERYTHING....Please keep here and there..its working..

My natural tendency is to leave things as they are unless instructed to do otherwise. As you can imagine, this occasionally results in a huge mess!! My HOD has instructed me now that the STANDING ORDER is that ANYTHING that has NO NOTE is to be packed away, so I am covered! It is a good little rule to have up your sleeve.
Of course, the HOD is always the main offender, so I have been able to pack his experiments away mid prac a couple of times! (eventually they will learn to use the "FINISHED" and "PLEASE KEEP" signs

Ian

I don't reckon you are true Labbie until you have at least cleared up one experiment before it's done! Just put a notch in your belt Narelle don't worry, there will be more!

My best effort so far has been throwing out a bundle of year 7 posters, before the staff member had marked them........

Quite some time ago, one of the teachers here got a tote tray full of stuff out for a prac (a common occurrence here) and I put it all away again before he got a chance to use it! Oops... Then I got it all out again.

Thats the frustrating thing. We may be doing the right thing packing things away mid prac and the teacher MAY?? learn but what a pain it is to have to get it all out again !!

On the other side of the coin..........one of my lot had booked a surface area to volume prac over 2 lessons, one Friday & the second part this morning.
I made a big fresh tub of agar Friday afternoon ready for today, got the prac trays etc out on the bench for her class (just after setting up microscope pracs in the other 2 labs), only to have her walk in, look at the equipment & say to me "Oh, didn't I tell you? I don't need it again today, we decided to do a short version of the prac & we finished it on Friday."

So......anyone want a nice big tub of hot pink agar? Going cheap

keep it in the fridge - it lasts for a while (in an air tight container).

Probably won't need it till next year - but see how long it lasts.

Oh yeah, add some extra phenolphthalein to it as well (on the surface to help prevent it drying out and to help it hold its purple colour). Was it a junior class? Year 11 or 12 Biology should need some sometime... but I guess it depends on what order your topics are covered - check with the Bio teachers to see if they can incorporate it into what they are doing now? It is also used in Chemistry so check with 11 and 12 Chem teachers as well - don't let your hard work go to waste!!

Packed up an experiment from yesterday this morning (I don't work mondays) only to have the teacer that ordered it come looking for it. He had ordered it for the wrong day soooooo not my fault, he even wanted to see the request form for the evidence it was him not me HAHA He actually wants it tomorrow