The supplementation of lecture-based anatomy teaching with laboratory sessions, involving dissection or anatomical specimens, is commonly used. Hands-on dissection allows students to handle instruments correctly while actively exploring three-dimensional anatomy. However, dissection carries a potential risk of sharps and splash injuries. The aim…

This bulletin of Scottish Schools Science Equipment Research Centre provides information about new scientific equipment for use in classrooms and laboratories. The sciences covered are biology, chemistry, and physics. The pieces of equipment can either be purchased from manufacturers or constructed in schools. All descriptions include advantages…

Detailed instructions for the construction of apparatus to detect qualitatively the production of carbon dioxide by respiring organisms are given, with notes on its use and comments on its advantages compared with traditional equipment. The chemistry section of the bulletin contains the results of tests of the efficiency of several laboratory…

Bioscience staff and students at Glasgow University in session 2005-06 were questioned on their attitudes to animal uses in higher education, as follow-up to a similar survey 20 years before. Disapproval by students of animal use was generally reduced compared to 20 years ago, but students remained in a "moral bind", recognising the…

Examines the psychology of learning and its application to work in the laboratory. States that the working memory capacity of students is limited; therefore the amount of information they can process needs to be controlled and "recipe following" in the laboratory is perfectly reasonable. (RT)

The changes that have taken place in laboratory safety in the past two decades are examined. The way in which the United Kingdom's Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 is just now starting to have effect is described. The responsibility of teachers for the health and safety of their students is discussed. (KR)