Australia's Science Forum

We have recently become a K-12 school, this is our second year. Last year it was really only year 6 that came to the labs once a week to do science. This year we have an acting HOD and she has been taking years 3-5 for science and using some lab equipment.

My question is at what year level is it appropriate for students to be using glassware but particularly Bunsen burners. She wanted to use them today for yr3-4 extension kids to heat water in a conical flask with a rubber bung and glass tube to simulate a thermometer. I had grave concerns about this. She is now doing it with candles instead!

Any thoughts? Is it written anywhere? what do other schools do?


Thanks Lorrae

We have visiting year 4 kids from the feeder primary schools once a year and I would not be happy with this set up either. There are plenty of other science things to do at that year level that dont involve heating liquids on a bunsen. Would the kids be tall enough to reach the conical flask above a tripod??? Leave the bunsens for later years, gotta have something to excite them in high school

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me too. I can just see their faces about the same height as the bunsen on the bench, with the tripod above and the conical flask on top. Agree with Jen2, plenty of other stuff to do without iviting disaster.

While I can't recall any specific guidelines to bunsen burner age restrictions off the top of my head, I would definitely be against classes of primary students taking part in their use, especially as low as years 3-4. They haven't got the presence of mind for the safety requirements involved (although to suggest our high school students do can sometimes seem a bit dubious), and there are plenty of other safer alternatives. Good on you for bringing it up I say.

There is a simpler version of this where you place the conical flask with coloured liquid, rubber bung and glass tubing into another container which has hot water in it. you then watch the expansion of the coloured water up the glass tubing. Still probably best done as a teacher demonstration as I don't think it is appropriate to trust students of this age not to be silly.

Lyn.

Lyn wrote:There is a simpler version of this where you place the conical flask with coloured liquid, rubber bung and glass tubing into another container which has hot water in it. you then watch the expansion of the coloured water up the glass tubing. Still probably best done as a teacher demonstration as I don't think it is appropriate to trust students of this age not to be silly.

Lyn.

this works just as well with cupping your hands around the bottom of the flask coloured liquid use eosin warms quickly, looks good.

What happen to following the Australian Curriculum, I make sure that pracs don't over lap other year groups otherwise what is there to keep the students involved in science. Plus some Teachers go off the beaten track and need to be pulled in. I would not give 9/10 yr olds bunsens or too much glassware, Year 7's have trouble enough

Mardi, I totally agree. This particular prac is one we do with year 7. The group of kids she did it with was a "gifted" group but this is still 2 stages ahead. We are not introducing the Australian curriculum until next year. As to teachers going off the beaten track she is the HOD (acting).
All that said they did the prac with candles to heat the water. There was only 10 of them. They worked in pairs and managed well.
But I still hate the idea of them using bunsens and if it comes up again I would object again!!

Good for you Rae, we are already following the Australian curriculum here and it makes things so much easier to say yes or no to the teachers

I agree with Mardi,
kids come here from yr4, and it is the same. We have to make sure, that they dont overlap too much. I heard a dvd for yr5 today with fractional distillation!! All about long chain hydrocarbons etc. Really, what will they do in yr 10-12?
Lada

I let our year 5 and 6's use glass wear, thermometers etc. If they need to heat then I get them to use the hotplates.

I dont think there is anything wrong with introducing topics across the grades. A 10 year old is going to understand something at a different level to a 17 year old. I think it gets the younger kids engaged to want to find out more. I do lots of year 7 stuff with my girls who are only 4, 7 and 9! I took some light boxes into my year 1 daughters class (light is in the year 1 curriculum) and by the end I would say at least half understood that light can bend and that white light is made up of all the colours of the rainbow! Even the ones who didn't get it still had lots of fun.

I'm with linotas - hotplates