Intro to Lab Skills (with experiment)

If you are keen to get your student completing labs, but they don’t have too much experience using lab equipment yet, start them off with this ‘intro to lab skills’ lab!

Using a simple method to mix and then separate salt and water, we can give our students a chance to practice lots of different lab skills, including:

• Working safely in the lab by wearing safety goggles
• Measuring volumes of liquids
• Measuring mass of solids
• Setting up a Bunsen burner correctly
• Using a Bunsen burner safely
• Making observations using keywords

Included in this resource are:

• Teacher notes
• Bell-ringers x2 & exit tickets x2 (for you to choose which is most appropriate)
• Optional booklet front page to print out if you want to present it to students as a booklet.
• Student friendly instructions and risk assessment
• Comprehension questions to secure student understanding of the method
• Drawings and explanation of the lab equipment required (designed to help students write the method themselves)
• Student written method and risk assessment worksheet (if you want the students to write their own methods).
• A page for observation writing, along with keywords and definitions that could be used.

The equipment you will need to be able to complete the lab include:

Beakers, measuring cylinders, stirring rods, balance, weight boats, Bunsen burners, tripods, gauze mat, heat proof mat, salt, water.
Printouts of the worksheets.