Regional Polymer and
Marine Science Summer Institutes

These three, annual Polymer and Marine Science 18-day Institutes will confer four-semester hours of graduate or undergraduate credit to participating pre- and inservice teachers and specialists; in all probability the research faculty and postdoctoral students will not need additional credit hours. Institutes will address polymers within oceanography and coastal processes through a combination of lectures, field trips, classroom demonstrations, hands-on activities, and interactive, multimedia tutorial programs. Participating educators will primarily use the Oceanography and Coastal Processes Resource Guide and complementary CD-ROM for the marine science content, as well as the Macrogalleria CD-ROM for polymer science content (note: hard copy of this CD-ROM is currently being compiled and will be field-tested in the fall of 2000). The Oceanography and Coastal Processes Resource Guide was previously developed and field-tested by the 1993-1997 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) /Office of Naval Research (ONR) /Department Of Interior sponsored Consortium of Oceanographic Activities for Students and Teachers (COAST): Operation Pathfinder participants. This Resource Guide was aligned with the National Science Education Standards in the fall and spring semester of 1998 and 1999 and a second edition was printed and may be found on-line at . The Resource Guide was pressed on CD-ROM and made interactive using NOAA and Navy (unclassified) data sets during spring of 1999. Each of the 81 lessons in the Resource Guide involves a minimum of two hours for implementation; these activities are currently being infused into the former 700 Operation Pathfinder participants' curricula. wrong? Could this hurt someone else? What should I be looking for?"

Habits

Bad habits are easy to make; it's the good ones you have to work hard at to get and keep. So how do you? Work hard at it! Think to yourself: "This is a good habit to make." And then, keep doing it over and over till it becomes a habit you don't have to think about.

Rules

Rules are our little way of telling you, "WAKE UP AND PAY ATTENTION!" We try not to make up stupid rules (but rarely succeed). Most of the rules make sense if you think about them; if not, ask us, and if they still don't make sense, quit and find another profession (or convince us we're wrong so we change the rule). Either way, follow the rules or pay the price (which may hurt your grade or cause injury, but not both: if you cut off your finger, we figure that's punishment enough).

So the rules are as simple as we can make them:

Safety (catch that word?) glasses/goggles MUST be worn at all times.
No open-toe shoes or sandals.
No long hair flying every which way (into motors, flames, chemicals...).
No food or drink at the bench: you might grab and drink the wrong stuff!
KNOW what your weighing, mixing, pouring into what....
Watch yourself and the other guy: ask questions of both of you.
Know where the fire extinguisher is, the fire blanket, the eye wash and the exits
Program yourself for the obvious. Stand in the lab the first few times and repeat after me: "In case of fire, I will go to the fire extinguisher THERE, grab it, pull the pin, aim the hose at the base of the fire, and blast the beejeebers out of it!" But maybe you should first ask what kind of fire and what's the best way to put it out. Sometimes, just putting a beaker or watch glass over a flask with fire coming out shuts it down. Don't do the dramatic if the simple will work (remember "common sense"??).

Safety Quiz

"Quiz over what?" you ask yourself. Well, that is the point, isn't it? Take the quiz and see how many you get right: you have to answer all questions correctly to do the first lab.

Now read the first lab (and every one after that), then:

Think of three things that could go wrong with the skills involved.
Think of three things that could involve safety problems: write these all down, bring them to class to discuss, and put them in your lab report in the right place.

Regional Polymer and Marine Science Summer Institutes

Return to USM Polymer Science Online Laboratory Directory

Regional Polymer and
Marine Science Summer Institutes