Using common household substances, a highway spill of potentially dangerous chemicals is simulated to reinforce the idea that we need to know what something is before we can deal with it properly. The standard highway placarding system for identifying chemical shipments is introduced, and students learn the symbols and their meaning by playing a game. Hazardous Home Students use pictures of different rooms to identify potentially hazardous chemicals found in the home. They are encouraged to work with their families to set up a home hazardous substance inventory program. Students complete a survey and extend it to adults in their community to investigate the recommended disposal procedures for various hazardous substances.
Students collect, categorize, and measure the amount of trash they produce in a day at school.
They use their estimate of the amount generated as an indicator of our society s waste disposal problem. Source reduction, recycling, and reuse are introduced as ways of reducing the amount of waste an individual produces. Students use successive dilution of a sugar substitute to determine their threshold of taste. This experience is used to introduce the concept of a threshold. Health A smoking machine is used to model what actually happens when a person smokes a cigarette.