In Dr. Ballesteros's Chemistry and Chemistry Honors classes this past week, students focused on lab safety and hands-on learning through a few engaging activities. To begin, classes started with a scavenger hunt where the students were given safety scenarios to read and identify what went wrong and how to fix it. This was a fun and interactive way to reinforce their understanding of lab safety protocols.
In our lab session, the students worked on a foil boat experiment, wherein they were tasked with building a boat out of foil and hypothesizing the number of pennies it would take to sink it. Once they formulated their hypothesis, they systematically added pennies individually, counting each penny out loud until the boat sunk. These exercises helped the students to apply the scientific method and deepen their understanding of critical scientific concepts. Overall, it was a great week of active learning and reinforcing safety skills for all involved.