Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12

In this lesson plan, adaptable for grades 6-12, students watch the BrainPOP movie Lab Safety and explore the other features in this topic to fully understand why lab safety rules are important. Students then apply their understanding by creating posters illustrating the various rules. 

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Lesson Plan Next Generation Science Standards Alignments

Students will:

  1. Brainstorm lab safety rules.
  2. Watch a BrainPOP movie and explore resources about lab safety.
  3. Apply understanding by creating lab safety rule posters.

Materials:

  • Internet access for BrainPOP
  • Interactive whiteboard
  • Construction paper or poster boards and markers

Preparation:

 
  • Preview the movie  Lab Safety  to plan for adaptations. 
  • Determine which of the topic’s features you plan on having students explore (e.g. Challenge, Creative Coding, Primary Source, etc.) and use the Assignment Builder to Assign them to students.

 

Lesson Procedure:

  1. Project the BrainPOP topic  Lab Safety on the whiteboard. Read aloud, or have a volunteer read the summary that appears below the movie player.   
  2. Have students brainstorm lab safety rules they know about and the reason for those rules. Tell the class that today they will use BrainPOP to learn all about lab safety rules-- why they’re important, and what can happen if we don’t follow them. Explain that they will create posters about lab safety rules to display around the classroom.
  3. Show the movie Lab Safety to the whole class on the whiteboard. Turn on the closed caption option to aid in comprehension. Use the Discussion Prompts and Pause Point to discuss the movie before, during, and after watching.
  4. Next, have students open their Make-a-Map assignment or just have them open Make-a-Map within the Lab Safety topic. Have them construct a spider map to identify the various Lab Safety rules described in the movies. Tell them to use additional nodes connected to each rule describing the reason for that rule and/or the effects of not following the rule.
  5. As students are working, distribute construction paper and markers. After completing their Make-a-Map, have students explore other topic features as time allows, and add additional information to their maps.
  6. Next, have students select one safety rule from their map (alternatively, you can assign rules to students) and create a poster stating and illustrating that rule. Prompt them to use notes from their maps to create their posters, and encourage them to include any other details about the rule, such as the effects of following or not following it.
  7. Display finished posters around the classroom and invite students to walk around and read their classmates’ posters.
  8. Conclude the lesson by discussing any other rules students may know of that were not discussed in the movie. If time allows, have students create posters for these rules, too.