STEAM Safety Advice for New Teachers

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As a new teacher in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics), you have the exciting opportunity to shape the minds of the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators. Your role is crucial in helping students discover their passion for STEAM subjects and encouraging them to pursue careers in these fields. Here is some STEAM Safety Advice for New Teachers.

There are ‘new’ teachers who are truly starting their careers in education, and there are non-science educators who now find themselves teaching science or STEAM subjects, as well as some uncertified teachers found in schools due to the current teacher shortage.

Let’s discuss some key strategies for teaching STEAM subjects effectively and engaging students in the learning process since you, as the educator, curate their innate curiosity and help them along their trajectory towards post-secondary—the workplace and being responsible, contributing citizens in our communities nationwide.

STEAM Safety Advice for New Teachers

First and foremost, creating an instructional space (e.g., classroom, laboratory, field) conducive to learning is a fundamental aspect of being in the business of intelligence, otherwise known as ‘education.’ This includes providing students with ample resources, such as textbooks, laboratory equipment and apparatus, and access to digital technologies. An added layer is ensuring that your instructional space is well-organized and safer for all occupants.

Additionally, it is best if you establish clear and consistent safety rules/protocols and expectations for acceptable safety behaviors based on legal safety standards and better professional safety practices. Develop and use a student safety acknowledgment form and archive these for liability purposes. Before students enter your instructional space to engage in hands-on STEAM activities, this must be in place.

Foster Your Students’ STEAM Curiosity

Fostering a sense of curiosity and inquiry in your students is another important aspect of teaching STEAM subjects. From our combined experiences, being able to cause a ‘spark’ that interests your students will cause authentic student engagement and foster independent study about a specific topic or concept, regardless of whether the student is in elementary, middle, or high school.

Encourage students to ask questions, conduct hands-on experiments under adult supervision, and document accurate observations. This requires additional efforts to ensure that these activities are safer by performing a potential hazard safety analysis and resulting health and safety risk assessment to gauge the educational impact of your planned investigations.

Provide Opportunities to Engage

Indeed as the STEAM educator, you want to provide opportunities for students to engage in hands-on activities and projects, such as building robots or conducting experiments in an instructional space – in a safer way. These opportunities will help them understand the content more deeply and develop the skills necessary for success in STEAM fields as they progress through the school ecosystem.

Recognizing your students’ diverse backgrounds and learning styles is also essential. STEAM education often requires a lot of abstract thinking and problem-solving, which can be challenging for some students. Be sure to use various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities, to help students understand the material presented in your instructional space.

Address Your Students’ Unique Needs in the STEAM Classroom

Additionally, please try to understand your student’s unique needs and challenges and provide support and reasonable accommodations as needed, typically found on IEPs and other anecdotal notes or diagnostic testing in their student records. Appreciating that there are multiple learning styles and needs in your students can make you a more prosperous and influential educator!

Another important aspect of teaching STEAM is to integrate real-world applications into your lessons. Students connect to content when they see practical applications of the concepts covered in your program. This will help students to understand how the concepts they learn (and you teach) are relevant to their everyday lives and future careers.

Effective Engagement Strategies

Provide examples and case studies of how to use the material you teach in the real world and make connections between the instructional space and the world outside. A great example of this is the NGSS or 3D models of instruction that focus on phenomena found in our world and develop a deeper understanding of how our decisions impact these.

Ensure that your program uses age- and stage-appropriate phenomena or outcome-based (design-inquiry / problem-solving) strategies for your students. Always perform the potential hazard safety analysis, resulting in health and safety risk assessment, and plan/implement the appropriate safety actions before these activities occur.  

Know Your STEAM Chemical Hygiene Plan

From a safety perspective, as a new STEAM educator, there are some critically important things to know before opening the door to your instructional space. Your employer must provide you with a copy of and access to a Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP) that outlines multiple aspects of responsible chemical management and safer operating procedures.

Numerous federal, state, and local regulations, standards, and laws impact you and particular requirements from a safety perspective, including Federal and State, Approved OSHA plans, NFPA, EPA, State Department of Labor, and others.

Know What’s Required in the STEAM Department

After an employer hires you, mandates and laws require your employer (school district) to provide you with access to safety training that is appropriate for your subject area and grade level and provides you with information about exposures to potentially hazardous substances and the safer operation of the equipment and apparatus found in your instructional space.

According to a recent study, some key findings applicable to new teachers include 35% of STEAM teachers who have never had formal safety training!

The study also attributes formalized safety training to a reduction in the potential for accidents by 51%! These are essential benchmarks to understand and to ensure that you have been provided with safety training on an annual basis.   

New ‘Non-Science’ Teachers

According to Dr. Ken Roy from the NSTA (National Science Teaching Association) in his blog’ Safety Training for Non-Science Instructors.‘ Unlike science teachers, non-science educators have little to no training in potential safety hazard analysis, resulting in health and safety risk assessment or safety-related issues.

As a result, non-science employees, such as teachers of other subjects or special education and paraprofessionals, need to learn about their legal duty or standard of care responsibility before entering the instructional space. Otherwise, science teachers could be liable should the non-science professionals or students become injured in the instructional area.

This also applies to many school principals or building administrators who must understand the inherent potential safety hazards and resulting health and safety risks found in STEAM instructional spaces.

Standards and Laws

Remember that several legal safety standards and better professional safety practices apply to students and any school employee working in their instructional space. First, many OSHA safety standards apply to employees working in science instructional rooms or other areas with potentially hazardous chemicals.

This is known as the “Occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories Standard” or ‘Laboratory Standard’ under CFR 29 1910.1945 regulations specifically for laboratory environments and possible exposures.

According to OSHA, the purpose of the Hazard Communication Standard 29 CFR 1910.1200 (HCS) is “to ensure that the hazards of all chemicals produced or imported are evaluated, and details regarding their hazards are transmitted to employers and employees.”

Where Administrators Fail

Few school administrators or supervisors follow the HazCom Standard’s basic principles (OSHA 1910.1200). They fail to transmit the chemical hazard details via formal staff training and access to the information. In other words, non-science teachers assigned to science instructional spaces lack the necessary awareness and understanding of potential chemical hazards and resulting risks present in the science instructional spaces (e.g., lab, prep room, and chemical storeroom).

Potential safety hazards can arise in the instructional area even if the non-science teacher does not directly work with the chemicals. A non-science professional might be unprepared if a bottle of alcohol or acid inadvertently smashed and splashed a laboratory occupant.

Examples of the Importance of STEAM Safety

Another example is a gas leak. A science educator would know where to locate the master gas shutoff. However, a math teacher might need assistance due to a lack of training and awareness of engineering controls and appropriate safety measures.

Many OSHA standards also provide rules that protect workers in laboratory instructional spaces from chemical, biological, physical, and safety hazards. For example, potential exposures to electrical hazards can result from faulty electrical equipment/instrumentation or wiring, damaged receptacles and connectors, or unsafe work practices.

Students off-task playing with electrical sources could potentially receive an electrical shock or, even worse – electrocution! Be vigilant about your instructional space management and tolerate no behavior infractions.

Non-science professionals should also learn about the OSHA general duty clause. Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to provide employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

Know the Risks

With the known potential risks in science instructional spaces and no other standard applied to the particular risk, the general duty clause can use when the employer’s employees are exposed to the alleged potential danger. All the following elements are necessary for OSHA to prove a widespread duty clause violation:

• The employer fails to keep the workplace free of a hazard
• Hazards were recognized.
• The hazard was likely to cause death or serious physical harm.
• There was a feasible and practical method to correct the hazard.

In the End

A non-science person working in a science instructional space is a recognized potential hazard with resulting risks that could cause serious physical harm to occupants.

Without appropriate safety training, there is shared liability for the science teacher responsible for the science instructional space, the non-science teacher instructing a non-science class in the instructional area, and the administrators if that non-science employee or their students get hurt in the science instructional space.

The same applies to ‘new’ science teachers or ‘new-to-teaching-science-teachers’ teaching a subject outside their specialty. Ensure you have a current Chemical Hygiene Plan and perform a potential safety hazard analysis and resulting health and safety risk assessment before any activity in the instructional space. Teachers need to share this information in writing with their administrators/supervisors under the Duty of Supervision and Instruction obligations as well as for establishing documentation for safety and risk management purposes. 

What it Takes to be a STEAM Educator

Teaching STEAM subjects requires a combination of sound pedagogy, creativity, and the ability to connect with students, all built on a platform of safety and awareness. By fostering a sense of curiosity and inquiry, providing hands-on experiences, differentiating instruction to meet the diverse needs of students, integrating real-world applications, and building positive relationships with your students, you can help to create a conducive instructional space environment that engages students in the material.

Remember, as a STEAM teacher, you can inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators. You have one of the essential jobs in the world – since you will help establish future innovations and shape our communities long after your students have left your room.

Using a foundation of safer practices and procedures will assist your existing students in your instructional space and along their trajectory towards post-secondary and the workplace, where they will be successful citizens and active members of our society.  

References:

• EdCircuit journal article November 2022 ‘The Importance of a Chemical Hygiene Plan 
• Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001). From preparation to practice: Designing a continuum to strengthen and sustain teaching. Teachers College Record, 103(6), 1013-1055.
• Hmelo-Silver, C. E. (2004). Problem-based learning: What and how do students learn? Educational Psychology Review, 16(3), 235-266.
• NSTA Student Safety Acknowledgement Form 
• NSTA Safety Training for Non-Science Instructors (2019) 
• Safer Engineering and CTE Instruction: A National STEM Education Imperative: What the Data Tells Us  2021) Dr. Tyler S. Love (Penn State University, Harrisburg) and Dr. Kenneth Russell Roy (NSTA Chief Science Safety Advisor).
• Triple AAA Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment
• New Science Teacher Safety Protocols
• Science Education Safety