The CLEAPSS Science Resources web site and CD-ROM
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The purpose of this guidance
This guidance is intended for Science Consultants, Advisers and Inspectors or Health & Safety Advisers who
may have meetings, eg, for a local technicians’ group or with science subject leaders or newly-qualified
teachers as well as subject leaders, ie, heads of science, senior technicians and others who might lead schoolbased training. It presents some ideas for making the CLEAPSS Secondary Resource (on the CLEAPSS web
site) and the CLEAPSS Science Publications CD-ROM better known and more effectively used. You will
probably find it helpful to give the training a theme. Health and safety is used here as an example but you could
develop other themes targeted at identified needs within the science department or local authority.
When running courses, typically we find that fewer than half the teachers and technicians have made significant
use of Secondary Resource, either on-line or on the CD, and many, teachers, especially, have never looked at
it. On courses, when participants have had the opportunity to dip into it for 5 minutes on about 5 or 6 occasions
during the day, there is great enthusiasm – and some frustration that they hadn’t encountered it earlier. The
ideas presented here are some we have found effective but we would welcome further ideas so that we can
improve this guidance.
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Distribution and dissemination
All the information that has, for several years, been on the CLEAPSS Science Publications CD-ROM is also
available on our web site under the title Secondary Resource. The URL is
www.cleapss.org.uk/secure/secondary/ or, alternatively, go to www.cleapss.org.uk then click the ‘Secondary
schools & colleges’ button and then click the ‘Secondary Resource’ button. The password required for the
online version is given in the spring term Bulletin and is also given on the CD-ROM - click on the ‘Password’
button. The online version has the advantage that we can update it when existing publications are amended or
new publications are produced.
Even though our resources for science are on our web site, for some time yet we will continue to update and
distribute the CD every year. We send out bulk supplies to local authorities in late November or early December
and ask for them to be distributed to every secondary school and college, and relevant special schools, PRUs,
etc. Associate members (ie, most independent schools and post-16 colleges) receive theirs in the first week of
January, in the same envelope as the Spring Term Bulletin. The previous year’s CD stops working on 31st
January. (Finding a way round this would be a breach of CLEAPSS copyright and those concerned would be
using out-of-date health & safety information.)
Every teacher and technician in the science department needs easy access to the Internet and the CD-ROM.
We also strongly encourage schools to copy the CD-ROM onto stand-alone computers and teachers’ laptops,
so they can have access to it at home1. It can also be put onto internal networks. Occasionally, there are
complications in running it on some systems. If so, look at the FAQs on our web site and, if that does not help,
e-mail cdrom@cleapss.org.uk.
You might want to discuss with participants how distribution works in your school or local authority. Does the
CD arrive at the school in plenty of time? Does it go unlabelled into the school bag? Is it put in an addressed
envelope? Where does it go to when it reaches the school? Is it copied quickly onto stand-alone computers and
laptops? Is it copied onto the school network without delay? In one local authority, the science adviser has
written to all head teachers and IT managers informing them that they will be personally responsible if an
accident occurs as a result of science staff not having easy access to the CD.
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Getting started
It’s best if all participants can have a computer in front of them – one between two works quite well so they can
help each other. We recommend that the most up-to-date version of Adobe Reader is installed on the
computer. This can be downloaded from http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/. Remove older versions of Adobe
Reader before installing the new version. Ideally the presenter should have a data projector so that s/he can
show on a screen what the participants should be looking at. Start the web version of Science Resource or CD-
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To do this, create a folder on the desktop and call it CLEAPSS. Copy all the files and folders from the CD-ROM into this - it will take
about 5 minutes. Open the desktop CLEAPSS folder. Right click the index.htm file and select Create Shortcut. This will create Shortcut
to index.htm. Drag this shortcut from the CLEAPSS folder to the desktop. Rename it ‘CLEAPSS Science 2009’ (or whatever year is
relevant). Double clicking ‘CLEAPSS Science 2009’ will start the CD on your desktop.
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®
© CLEAPSS , The Gardiner Building, Brunel Science Park, Uxbridge UB8 3PQ
Tel: 01895 251496; Fax: 01895 814372; E-mail: science@cleapss.org.uk; Web site: www.cleapss.org.uk
ROM so that the search page is showing. When first run you may be asked if you want to allow active content
to run from CD or in files on my computer. You must answer ‘yes’ in order for the search function to work.
Point out that all CLEAPSS favourites are there - Hazcards, the Laboratory Handbook, the termly Bulletin (back
to 1990), Recipe Cards, about 50 guides, about 70 guidance leaflets and address lists as well as the Student
Safety Sheets. But, at this stage, don’t go through every button - some arise more naturally later on.
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Using the Search facility
Participants may be a bit daunted by the amount of information on the Science Resource; how can they find
what they want? Secondary Resource starts with the search page, otherwise click the ‘Search’ button at the top
left. Type into the window an item that you are searching for. For example, staff sometimes wonder if they can
wedge open a heavy fire door to avoid risk of injury when carrying trays through it. Type in ‘wedge’, click on
SEARCH and about 7 references appear. The top one is PS49 Fire Risk Assessments for School Laboratories.
Click the link and the document opens into a new window. View this one and you can find the answer to the
question. The search term, in this case ‘wedge’ should be highlighted within PS49. If not then type wedge into
the ‘find’ text box in Adobe reader then hit the return key. To perform another search, return to the search page.
Do not click the ‘New search’ button in Adobe Reader. Participants might then want a little time to explore
briefly what the other references show up.
Searching has to be done quite carefully. In order to find information about Van de Graaff generators, you have
to be able to spell ‘Van de Graaff’ correctly! or you could just type in ‘van’. You can use the wildcard characters
* and ? in your search terms to search for multiple words and return a larger set of results. An asterisk
character in a search term represents any number of characters, while a question mark character represents
any single character. This allows you to perform advanced searches such as therm*; which would return all
pages containing words beginning with therm - such as thermit, thermite, thermometer, etc. *chlor* would
search for any words containing the word chlor - for example, chlorine, chloroform, dichloromethane, etc.
Similarly, ethan?l would return all pages containing seven letter words beginning with ‘ethan’ and ending with ‘l’
- ie, ethanal and ethanol. Searching for ‘locust?’ or ‘locust*’ should return results that contain the word ‘locust’
or ‘locusts’. Tips and a tutorial are also provided - click the ‘Tutorial’ button toward the bottom of the page.
To return to the search page, close any open documents (or tabs) until you can see the search page again or
reselect it from the taskbar (or tab list) or click the ‘search’ button again.
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The e-documents
Go back to the search page. Click the button labelled ‘Electronic documents’. These are files that only exist
electronically; there are no paper versions and hence teachers and technicians may be unaware of them. Click
on E232 Common safety signs and hazard symbols and click, say, on the Word file (E232.doc). Scroll through
this document and virtually all the safety signs a school could want are shown there. In effect, this document is
a catalogue. For printing purposes you should click the ‘All graphics’ link in the document. This will open a
folder that contains separate black & white and colour graphic files. (Obviously you can print in black and white
from a colour file, but you end up with shades of grey and white.) The folder also contains separate files for
poster-size printing and small symbols suitable for including in worksheets. Some schools print off a poster-size
version of the WEAR EYE PROTECTION symbol, laminate it and use Blu-Tack to put it on the wall on those
occasions when the class is meant to be wearing eye protection.
Ask if there are any further ideas for using the safety symbols.
Close E232 and click instead on E229 Illustrations of Basic Laboratory Equipment. Again,
click on the Word version (E229.doc). Scrolling through this document will reveal many
useful diagrams in colour and black & white, as 3-dimensional pictures and as traditional
line diagrams. Some schools have printed these off to provide attractive labels for cupboard
doors; teachers can adjust their size and insert them into worksheets. In some schools for
children with special needs, they have been used as flash cards.
Ask the audience if they have any further ideas for using these equipment illustrations.
Finally, close E229 and click on E252 CLEAPSS font. This time, if you click on CLEAPSS
font.pdf you will find a whole range of symbols that can be typed providing you install the font into your font
folder (instructions are provided.) So, rather than typing the characters QWERTYUIOP{ } or qwertyuiop[ ],
instead you can type:
WERTIOP{} or wertuio[]
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Guides
A common problem in many schools is teachers or technicians whose qualifications and/or experience do not
match what the department really requires. A school needs to assess their capabilities in order to identify where
training has to be provided. On the search page, click on the ‘Guides’ button. If your audience is technicians, go
to L234 Induction and Training of Science Technicians; if it is teachers go instead to L238 Health and Safety
Induction and Training of Science Teachers. Both guides have a similar layout with the bulk of each guide
comprising quite long checklists of the activities technicians (sections 4 and 5 of L234) or teachers (section 3 of
L238) might carry out. In some schools, these lists have been printed out and given to new staff who have then
been asked to carry out a self-assessment. Of course, the accuracy of that self-assessment needs to be at
least partially checked by a more-experienced member of staff. However, the gaps in knowledge that are
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®
© CLEAPSS , The Gardiner Building, Brunel Science Park, Uxbridge UB8 3PQ
Tel: 01895 251496; Fax: 01895 814372; E-mail: science@cleapss.org.uk; Web site: www.cleapss.org.uk
identified then define the training needed - and the checklists give references to where guidance can be found,
mostly on the CD-ROM or web site. The problem is, these are fairly general lists, covering work in all three
sciences up to A-level. No one teacher or technician would be expected to know all of the items listed. Also,
some of the items will be irrelevant to some schools, perhaps because they don’t have a sixth form or don’t do
some of the listed activities. Hence the lists need to be customised to the requirements of particular schools
and/or individuals. The file you are looking at is a PDF (Portable Document Format) file and these are
notoriously difficult to modify. We use PDF files deliberately - after all, we don’t want somebody to be able to
delete the word “not” too easily. Go back to the search page and click on the ‘Customisable Documents’ button.
There you will find a whole series of documents as Word files, including L234 and L238, so they can be easily
modified to suit a school’s needs.
Ask the audience which of the other customisable documents could be useful in the department.
Also ask the audience to look at the titles of all the guides. Which ones are they familiar with? Which might be
useful in the department?
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Guidance leaflets and address lists
Quite often schools phone CLEAPSS to ask for the contact details of Registered Waste Contractors or where
they can find repair companies for electrical equipment. In fact, they already have the information on the
Science Resource. Click on the ‘Guidance Leaflets’ button. Click on either PS5 Waste disposal contractors or
PS41 Repair and service agents for electrical laboratory equipment. These are both address lists. The problem
is that such lists rapidly become out of date. CLEAPSS updates such lists several times over a year so schools
should check the on-line version of the Secondary Resource rather than that on the CD.
Ask participants if they have ever used the CLEAPSS web site. Did they know that all the CD-ROM resources
are now online?
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The CLEAPSS Laboratory Handbook
Technicians usually know quite a lot about the Laboratory Handbook but most teachers have rarely opened it.
Yet there is a huge range of material of direct relevance to them. Go back to the search page, click on the
‘Laboratory Handbook’ button. This takes you to a list of the contents. (Each section is a separate file, so that
sections can be printed one at a time). Ask the biologists to have a look at microorganisms (click on “15 Mainly
Biology, K-Z”, then 15.2), the chemists to look at accepted practice when handling chemicals (click on “13
Mainly Chenistry”, then 13.1) and the physicists to look at high voltage (click on “12 Mainly Physics”, then 12.9).
Technicians might want to look at manual handling (click on “3 Personal Safety”, then 3.7).
Ask your audience if they knew all this information was there. Also ask them if they still use the paper version of
the Laboratory Handbook . Is there a paper copy in the Prep Room? Fetch it and see when it was last updated
by checking the Contents page of the Handbook. It will probably say “Updated Autumn 2001”, which was the
last paper update we issued for free. However, the Handbook has been updated several times since then and
the process will continue. Generally, we expect to issue a Handbook update on the CD every year.
Go back to the search page and click on the ‘Updates’ button. There are various files here that allow schools to
print off just the pages changed this year, so they can keep the Handbook (and other CLEAPSS publications)
up to date. Of course, if you haven’t updated since 2001 it will probably be easier to start from scratch and print
off the whole of the Handbook by going to the ‘Laboratory Handbook’ button on the search page. The
‘Laboratory Handbook’ button takes you to separate files for each of the sections of the Handbook, so you don’t
have to print it all in one go. After clicking on the ‘Laboratory Handbook’ button it would also be worthwhile
clicking on the ‘Contents & Preface’ link. Scroll down to page (iii) which shows the correct date of issue of every
page, so that you can check just how out of date your paper copy of the Handbook actually is. Another option is
to contact CLEAPSS and ask us to send the complete paper Handbook - but that will incur a cost (currently £25
+ handling charge).
It is important to emphasise that if the school has not updated the Handbook, it will be using out-ofdate information. A department could scrap the paper Handbook altogether and just go electronic. But
if it decides to keep a paper version, it must keep it up to date – it could be dangerous not to do so.
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Hazcards and Recipe Cards
We intend to continue issuing Hazcards and Recipe Cards as A5-size cards. However, having them on-line or
on the CD does offer some advantages. Teachers, for example, can take a copy of the file home and
incorporate information onto worksheets. It is common practice for technicians to issue relevant Hazcards with
a set of apparatus. These could now be printed so that the original card is kept safely in the prep room set.
(Each Hazcard and each Recipe Card is a separate file, to make searching easy. However, if you want to print
the whole lot it could take some time. In that case, click on the ‘Print versions’ button - these files are gathered
together in single documents for easy printing – but note that these files are not covered by the search facility.)
Some people are put off because they cannot find a card for the chemical they are interested in. This is often
because individual cards can cover several chemicals. Therefore you need to use the (paper) index or the
search facility. Ask the participants to find health and safety information about naphthalene or pyrogallol or
perhaps technicians might be asked to find the recipe of solutions for the Belousov-Zhabotinski Reaction.
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®
© CLEAPSS , The Gardiner Building, Brunel Science Park, Uxbridge UB8 3PQ
Tel: 01895 251496; Fax: 01895 814372; E-mail: science@cleapss.org.uk; Web site: www.cleapss.org.uk
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What else is there on the CD-ROM?
Many teachers are unaware of our ‘pupil-speak’ version of Hazcards, ie, Student Safety Sheets, which are
intended to support the teaching of health and safety, especially at KS4 and post-16. They are likely to be
particularly useful for Applied Science and similar courses.
One of the problems when using the search facility is that you come up with too many references. Generally,
those from Student Safety Sheets are least useful, because they are intended for pupils and may not give the
detail teachers and technicians want. References to the Laboratory Handbook, Hazcards and Recipe Cards are
usually the most useful although, for specialist topics, guides guidance leaflets may be most useful. It is also
important to look at the date of a document that a search has found. For example, some of sections of the
Handbook have not been updated for some time. Guidance leaflets such as PS 76, Electron-beam tubes and
PS 80, How to use a model steam engine, are much more recent.
Ask the participants to look at one or two of these leaflets and see how the advice compares with that in the
Handbook. When the Handbook is updated, these leaflets may be withdrawn. Ask the audience to try typing a
few things into the search engine. For example, try looking for information about class size, or soldering or
locusts or dinitrophenylhydrazine.
Ask them also to look at the list of titles of all the ‘Guidance Leaflets’. Which ones are they familiar with? Which
might be useful in the department?
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At the end
Discuss with participants how the department should use the Secondary Resource on the CLEAPSS web site
or CD in future. How can every member of the department have easy access to it? How will newcomers be
informed about it? How will the next update be copied onto the network and individual computers?
Which parts of the Secondary Resources (web site or CD) will individuals definitely use, soon? How will the
confident encourage the less confident and increase the awareness and use of CLEAPSS information? How
could the safety symbols and the diagrams of laboratory equipment be used? Will the CLEAPSS font be
installed on all departmental computers? Are there other useful files in the ‘Electronic Documents’ list?
If participants have difficulties with the Secondary Resource on the web site or CD in future, they could always
try looking at the tutorial. In fact, that might be the last thing to try on the training session - and the first thing to
try back at school.
PS66 TPB 10/09
Page 4 of 4
®
© CLEAPSS , The Gardiner Building, Brunel Science Park, Uxbridge UB8 3PQ
Tel: 01895 251496; Fax: 01895 814372; E-mail: science@cleapss.org.uk; Web site: www.cleapss.org.uk