Chemical Safety and Scientific Ethics in a Sophomore Chemistry Seminar

Abstract

A description of a course on chemical safety and scientific ethics is presented. The goals of this course are to impress upon the students the importance of safety in their professional lives; to empower the students to take charge of their own personal safety when working with chemicals; to illustrate and emphasize the vital importance of honesty and integrity within the scientific enterprise; and to explore issues of honesty and integrity through case studies that allow ethical decisions to be critically examined. The recent approaches and activities used to accomplish these goals are detailed. These include readings from chemical safety textbooks, chemical safety reports from news sources, and group discussions springing from problems in scientific ethics.

Integration of Laboratory Safety and Green Chemistry: Implementation in a Sophomore Seminar and an Advanced Organic Laboratory

“…1 Safe chemical practices can be introduced, reviewed, discussed, and assessed in a variety of ways in laboratory courses. 2−6 Chemical safety can also be incorporated in the curriculum outside of laboratory courses; it is often discussed as part of seminar 7,8 or a in a semester-long safety course. 9−11 Discussions of laboratory and chemical safety can be used to introduce and explore the field of green chemistry: the design and practice of sustainable chemistry and processes which minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.…”

“…Safety in the laboratory is obviously an important component of an undergraduate chemical education . Safe chemical practices can be introduced, reviewed, discussed, and assessed in a variety of ways in laboratory courses. − Chemical safety can also be incorporated in the curriculum outside of laboratory courses; it is often discussed as part of seminar , or a in a semester-long safety course. − …”

Chemical Hygiene and Safety Badge for an Upper-Level Laboratory Course

“…Teaching chemical hygiene and safety has long been widely acknowledged as an important component of the laboratory curriculum, and many articles addressing teaching safety in undergraduate instructional laboratories are available. − The first article regarding laboratory safety published in this Journal appeared in 1925 . A “Safety in the Chemical Laboratory” column was a regular feature for many years .…”

Development of an Undergraduate Course in Chemical Laboratory Safety through an Academic/Industrial Collaboration

“…Although various chemical laboratory safety lectures and web-based activities have been reported in this Journal and elsewhere, reports on the development of semester-long safety courses are rare and typically do not incorporate perspectives from outside of academia . However, innovative methods of incorporating laboratory safety topics into the existing undergraduate curriculum through activities or modules within courses have been described. Hill and Finster have written a useful textbook that can be used for undergraduate safety education .…”