Australia's Science Forum

Hi all,
We have been getting a bit lazy around here. For our Junior Science, we use the Pearson "Science Focus" texts which give you on line access to all the RA's that are necessary for the experiments in their books. All very good, but......

....now my Chem teacher is after an on-line source for RA's for all her Senior Chem pracs. Does anybody have any ideas??

thanks
Ian

If they are Y11 and Y12 pracs then the Chem teacher (in theory) is smart/capable enough to do his/her own RA's. Just provide a blank form using the same format as the junior science forms and duck for cover so you don't get roped in to doing it for the teacher. I haven't found any RA's provided for the SAABSA science pracs yet. With any luck the people who write up the senior level pracs will also one day write the RA's that go with the pracs.
On a similar note don't we lab techs have to have RA's for all the preparatory work we do for any pracs?
Lyn.

Hi All,

Have all RA's on computer and therefore any adjustments can be saved as a new file and you can continue from there. Online RA's are few and far between. I don't really trust them because I have not tried expts that they are binded to and RA's will differ from person to another as there could be different concentrations or powders instead of granular forms etc. (Hang on!! I think I may have stumbled onto something here)!! I will keep you posted..

Cheers,

Robb.....

Hi,

I have made up quite a simple form, that works both as a order request and Risk assessment, the teachers fill one in for each prac they are doing and if they are smart (which most of them aren't) they save a copy so that next time they need to do the prac all they have to do is change the date. I also keep one copy electronically and one papre copy as well. The teachers seem to be able to cope with it and I get less to do. If we however do a completely new prac I do a proper more thourough RA. I will attach a copy for you to look at!

Sassi

Thanks Sassi for the form. It looks very simple to use and welcome back to work you obviously decided to stay and see what happens. I hope you have a better year than last year. At least with new teachers you can train them the way you want.

Rosemary

Hi Rosemary,

Yes I can only hope it will be a better year than last year, I dont know how I got through that, if it wasn't for you lot I wouldn't have for sure! But we now have 10 teachers and 5 of those are new. They seem nice enough and like you said I can train them the way want, or at least try to! It is going to be a good year!

Do you think the form is ok, have I missed something that just should be there???

Sassi, thinking positively

Only 10 teachers to please! I have 11 in Science, and because I look after the staff photocopiers I have to keep the entire staff sweet....
as all of us who work with teachers know ...it is an impossible task

Dear Sassi
We have a form very similar to that one. It seems to work well.
I am also now filing these in my folders (one for each year), along with tips on which setups worked/didn't work and any ideas (often from this site) on what we could try differently next year. I include photos or diagrams of setups if particularly complicated. Then I attach a separate sheet to the front that has room for teachers to sign off that they have read out the safety information to the class. That way, we will eventually end up with one copy of each of the order sheets/risk assessments and a sheet on the front that will hold teacher signatures for about 30 uses of the prac. It is a slow process but will make things easier in the long term and if I leave, the new labbie will hopefully find this useful.
I have photocopied the programs for each subject and I have the pracs filed in order according to the program for that subject. This way I can see what pracs are likely to be coming up next and can reduce the number of last minute requests (hopefully). Occasionally we get new pracs but generally the same ones come up every year. I have also collated myself a copy of everyones timetable and printed it out so that each day of the term has its own A4 sheet with the 5 periods listed and a a square below that for each teacher showing what they are teaching and where. In the morning I can flip to the day's page and see exactly who is doing what that day and where, and see where potential clashes may occur and who is likely to ask me for last minute requests. How organised is that?!!!!!! Will have to see if it works. Give me a few more years in this job and I would probably become a total organisational nazi. Oh, and I have also upgraded myself to lab manager rather than lab assistant. It makes no difference to anything or anyone else but I feel better when I write that on my time sheet!
Cheers, Tina

And I thought I was organized, you put me to shame I am in awe Oh no, I can feel the competetive Sanscha coming out again, I must go and organize myself even better now (is there a smiley for determined???)

Sanscha

OMG I'm in awe!!!Can you come and organise me!! Well done and when do you find the time!!
Lorrae

How come DET schools are doing RA's they are NOT required. Or have I missed out on some thing. TIna your work sounds just great, you sure do put me to shame. Must have a great staff, mine would loss it as soon as its in their hands.

Tina, I am also in awe!!! I thought I was quite organised but you really put me to shame. I would just be happy to get term plans from the four science staff that I have to try and keep organised at this point in time. There is only so many times you should have to ask for these, and you would think that unless they were new to the job, (only one of the teachers), it would be a forgone conclusion that I will be expecting them every term and shouldn't have to chase them up. This has been going on for the last couple of years since we haven't been able to fill the science HOLA position and had it joined with the maths HOLA position. These are both being done by our VET coordinator who was on a full load prior to being given these jobs, so it's not like he really has the time to do the jobs justice. Prior to that I pretty much had the same Hola and main teacher for about ten years and had them beautifully trained. Ahhh, them were the days.

Leanne

Hi I have a risk assessment on file for all prac's 7-10 for our text it took 12 months of reading every6 prac. and alot of cutting and pasting. When a teacher books a prac. (24hrs in advance) they have to read and sign off on a separate sheet stating Date, Year level, Prac. Special Circumstances, Print name and sign. Or they don't get the prac. At the beginning of each year, they are all given a standard classroom r/a where they have to list any children with illness, problems etc., then hand back the the HT who is fantastic and backs everything all the way. If they want to do something else they have to write up. So far have had little problems getting them to follow procedures. They can do all that but argue about closed in shoes in science block. Don't figure. I am a lab nazi, been here to long. 1995.

Is this the thread you were after???