PRESENTATION ON LABORATORY DEMONSTRATING
Professor Martin Wills
Background,
You have to do the (one-day) course as it is mimimum requirement of the
University for anyone who is going to teach.
It's not a requirement of your PG skills course or a PG requirement but it will be
useful to you anyway.
The University and Departmental policy is that you have to have done the course
in order to do paid demonstrating in laboratories.
Previous experience of demonstrator training or practice will be taken into
account.
Extended courses exist for anyone who wishes to develop their teaching further.
Some basic advice:
Know what is going on and where things are – it’s a professional job so prepare
beforehand!
– know which floor you are on/which room you are in, study lab layout, instrument
locations and operation, computers, safety equipment, exits!
Guide and encourage the undergraduates – learn names, go to them, don’t be
sitting on the benches waiting.
Be careful about conflicting advice, explain things in detail and the reasons behind
any advice you give.
Know and understand the experiments in detail – read the manual beforehand,
attend prelabs, do it yourself? Suggest improvements and use feedback to make
improvements.
Some basic advice:
Cope with problems – be consistent if changes are to be made.
Mark the write-ups – ensure you understand the marking scheme.
Keep records of attendance, marks and results – don’t loose anything.
Ensure safety and good order – see later.
Ask your supervisor if it is OK before you agree to demonstrate at a particular time.
HOW THE LABS ARE ORGANISED
The laboratory course tutor (academic in charge)
plans the course
writes the course
is ultimately responsible.
‘moderates’ your marking
fixes the local rota and checks your timekeeping – see form at end.
The departmental teaching administrator/director of undergraduate
studies:
distributes the total Departmental demonstrating work
(note that the demonstrating is NOT allocated by the director of graduate
studies)
The senior undergraduate technician
ensures that the equipment is working
directs the other technicians
The technicians
provide technical support; equipment and chemicals
(but not necessarily scientific)
SAFETY
Make sure that you are familiar with the Departmental safety handbook, and know
what Risk and Safety phrases mean (R18/S24?).
Who/where are the nearest first aiders?
Where is the health centre, what is the emergency no./where is the ‘phone book?
Make sure COSHH assessments are completed before the experiments start.
consider what will you do if:
1. someone spills a litre of water on the floor
2. someone gets a splash of dilute acid in their eye
3. someone cuts their hand badly on some broken glass
4. someone collapses?
all accidents MUST be reported
YOU SHOULD GAIN:
teaching experience (useful for c.v.)
motivation skills
wider practical knowledge and safety awareness
assessment skills
payment!
Undergraduate demonstrating – year 1/2 carousel.
Information taken from web pages:
Information for undergraduate students:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/chemistry/chemintra/ugstudy/uglabs/
Information for demonstrators:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/chemistry/chemintra/ugstudy/uglabs/demonstrators/
(presentation by Prof Martin Wills)
General Guidelines For Demonstrators (detailed instructions are online)
NB All marks must be submitted on the new mark form found online Check the demonstrator allocation page to find which experiment(s) you are
demonstrating in each term.
Use the Year 1 and Year 2 timetable links to find which days those experiments are
running.
Familiarise yourself with the Safety and Undergraduate Laboratory Regulations .
Please be prepared to enforce the rules from Day 1 to ensure they are seen as
serious. Please note that mark deductions for not observing safety and lab rules are
20% of the student's mark for that experiment, so if a student has 15/20 marks, a
20% penalty is a 3 mark deduction.
Familiarise yourself with all aspects of the on-line materials for each experiment
(including the demonstrator handbooks). Please do the theory test, and report any
problems you note to the member of staff responsible.
The morning of each lab day that you demonstrate, you should check that your
students have all successfully completed both the theory test and the safety
acknowledgement before 11pm the night before.
You can do this by clicking the 'view recent submissions' links at the bottom of the
safety confirmation and theory test pages(MORE THAN 10 SUBMISSIONS WILL
BE MARKED AS A FAIL).
Additionally the student must have completed the risk assessment in their lab book
before they come into the lab. Report any failures to the lab staff.
Check the sign in sheet at 11.30am and that all students present have signed in.
Students who have not signed in by 11.30am will not normally be allowed in the lab.
FOUR out of TWENTY marks are normally given for "Good Lab Practice". (Please
note this is separate from marks to be deducted for bad lab practice according to the
Undergraduate Laboratory Regulations.) Please consult with your allocated staff
member about awarding these marks, but as a guideline I would suggest:
1 mark for showing understanding of the theory behind the experiment when
questioned
1 mark for showing understanding of the experimental techniques being used
when questioned
1 mark for awareness of health and safety issues when questioned
1 mark for completing the experiment on time and clearing up appropriately
.
Example: Year 1 O3 Bromination of an Alkene
Theory: Which of the isomers are mirror images? OR Why have you not
suggested bromination of the arene?
Practice: Which solvent did you select for recrystallisation? Why?
Safety: Which is the most hazardous compound you are using? What precautions
are you taking?
At the end of the day, check that each student's kit is clean and complete before
signing them out of the lab.
Information about submission of reports should be on the Submission page for each
experiment. Students have one week to submit (one week from 4pm on the day of
the experiment), then standard late submission rules will apply. Reports will be
submitted electronically on the submission page of the experiment (which are then
emailed directly to you and can also be accessed from the submission webpage of the
experiment - which you have editing rights to). Numerical marks (out of 20) should be
given to Jane Emmerson in the 3rd floor Labs using the pro forma here. You may wish
to use this Feedback Form once you've marked an experiment, and you should give a
letter grade only to the students, as described here. Please use the boxes to identify
things the students did well and areas for improvement. Please mark and return the
reports back to the students' pigeon holes within a week.
Chemistry Finance Office
Getting paid for demonstrating!
STEP 1: Do this the first time only
Get set up on the Payroll – “new starter form”
And need to show ID (e.g. passport) & relevant visas
to Chemistry Finance staff
Receive letter from HR appointing you as a Demonstrator
Chemistry Finance Office
STEP 2: Do this every time you want to claim
Provide timesheets signed by the organiser
There are individual and group timesheet templates – so
check if the organiser is completing timesheets for every
Timesheets must be handed into to the Chemistry Finan
Office by 5th of the month for payment on 18th of the mo
Demonstrator hourly rate includes preparation & markin
Payroll number
Leave blankorganiser to
complete this
If the payment exceeds the tax threshold – tick
here to split it over one or more months
Chemistry Finance Office
Allow at least 2 weeks (before 5th )to get set up on the P
Please be aware that some visas require re-checking every 12
Months- we will email you if we need to see your ID again
Let us know if you are already on Unitemps payroll or have an
other university jobs.
Current pay rate £12.03 per hour
All forms available from the Chemistry Finance Office or intra
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/chemistry/chemintra/hods_office/finance/forms/
HOW WILL YOU COPE WITH:
1. A student who obviously hasn’t bothered to read the
introductory parts of the manual
2. a student who is consistently skiving and sponging on
his/her partner’s results?
3. A student who is reasonable but lacks self-confidence
4. A student who is experimentally able but arithmetically
erratic?
These are a few situations – others will be in exercise which
follows.