What I had expected was for adults to behave like adults and not like children. But that appears to not be possible for some people. I thought that’s why this site was supposed to have moderators @CCadmin_Jon?
I’m concerned how masks (fire hazard) and social distancing will work in my chemistry lab. I feel confident I could police whatever rules there are (after all, I’m on top of goggles for the whole gaggle 
) but I’m not sure that labs that require more than one set of hands will be possible.
I was feeling better about physics labs until I realized there’s so much shared equipment even if kids are at far ends of a slinky. Are they Purelling constantly? Just washing hands after class?
What about if I’m helping someone go over a problem and showing errors and rewriting things. How to do that from a distance or with plexiglass? I’m picturing Miss Piggy being visited by Kermit in jail. (The pratfalls, not the kiss!!)
Correct. It appears Florida students will know by 6/23. 3 weeks earlier than the earlier approximate date. 7/15. You’re going to have to search wide and far to find a hard promise to open anything and anywhere. Let’s put the headline in the press release in the ‘hopeful’ column…
https://www.wtxl.com/news/local-news/florida-universities-preparing-for-campuses-to-reopen-in-fall
YES, this is exactly what this thread is for. Thanks for posting!
Looks like they are not starting online - but starting late - Oct 5th - so fall semester must go into January (although they don’t say that):
I want to be very clear that our 2020-21 academic year will be a full academic year, which begins on Monday, Oct. 5. I know you will have specific questions about the academic calendar and the student experience, which will be answered as we continue to hone and finalize our plans to return to campus. I also know many of you will have questions about our athletics programs this fall. Please be assured that our athletics department staff, sports medicine staff, and the director of medicine for IC are working collaboratively to determine a plan and process to re-engage in intercollegiate athletics and recreational sports, and that IC will continue to follow NCAA, NATA, and Liberty League guidelines.
Would face shields work in a chem lab?
Yes, that could work. I wonder if the school would order them for us. If I have to buy them myself for everyone, that sounds expensive. And are they safe enough for students to use with an open flame? I know that some of the thinner ones are made of acetate which is flammable so I wouldn’t want that kind, of course.
p.s. Flinn Scientific just sent teachers an email with a survey on what they should be selling us for this fall (!!) so I included the idea of face shields - thank you @lkg4answers
There are a lot of optical companies and safety eyewear companies who are now making face shields. They are better quality and I’m sure they will be more readily available by fall. One example: https://www.visionmonday.com/launchpad/also-new/article/safilo-launches-ppe-eyewear-solutions-program
You’d need goggles that fit under the shields, but the main thing is that a chem lab involves a lot of actual hands, also staff doing setup. Students should already be trained in glove use, but expecting them to remember pathogen-safety protocols while they’re trying to learn lab equipment protocols and they’re new to learning such protocols and science – that’s a lot to expect, especially when supervision is one TA or faculty member to every several students. It also takes time to clean everything in the lab (there’s a lot to clean) between sets of students. You’d also have to revise the labs so that there was time available for the extra safety work.
You can do a fair bit remotely with videos and canned data. It may be that actual lab practice with instruments has to wait a bit. You can do the course progressions without the labs themselves. My guess is that priority will be majors (rather than students who’re there for gen ed requirements or who want to go to med school) and upperclassmen.
They’re being made of whatever people have on hand. Materials for making shields are backordered all over.
I’m not a teacher but, from my personal experience, safety eye-wear fits under most shields.
@fretfulmother what kind of protection do you use when using toxic chemicals in chem labs?
As for physics labs DS19’s told me that the students taking first year Intro to Physics in the spring/summer sessions have take home lab kits. Must be very basic because otherwise it would be very expensive. In the fall he’s supposed to have 2 semesters of Electricity & Magnetism which are lab courses. I imagine individual lab kits could work there and his computer lab could easily work online. The bigger question is how they are going to manage the Intermediate Lab course as it covers a range of topics. It’s not until 2nd semester and Physics is not a large program so maybe it will be a non-issue.
I’m in the Manchester area and see almost no one wearing masks outside.
^Wicked.
Of course, lower income people are more vulnerable to both the virus and the economic problems, and are less likely to have personal discretion in making any choice in the matter (choices are effectively made for them by others).
Overnight summer camps may open in Texas as of 5/31.
I went to Home Depot to pick up some plants yesterday bc the weather was so nice. I needed someone to help me load up my truck. The helper came out, with a mask hanging below his chin. He was old (guessing 70-75), all tired and sweaty. I looked at him and all I felt was a sense of sadness. He proceeded to tell me “too hot, cant breathe”. At that point I just wanted to cry.
It is remarkably easy for humans to dismiss the pain felt by others that they are unlikely to experience it themselves. It’s not always about economic vs. science, there is also heart. If we could try somehow to balance economic, science, and heart, we would all be a little bit better off. Of course it’s easier said than done, but I try.
I live in Denver. Almost everyone here wears masks, including almost all young people and many, many children. Part of it is obeying the rules, part is simply pragmatic: Most stores require masks, and I’ve seen customers turned away if they didn’t have them.
@gwnorth -
I have one hood in my classroom, and kids usually take turns using the hood in groups of 3-4 (that would not fit social distancing protocol). Aside from two labs in the hood, and some demos there, we don’t use anything that requires precautions more than goggles, hand-washing, and fire safety. Lots of bunsen burner labs, hence my concern about flammability. Another issue if we have to have gloves.
In physics we have some labs that lend themselves to kits, perhaps (mirrors - though they’d need a laser pointer, slinky, pendulum, prisms, little masses if they have a postal scale) but some that don’t (low-friction track, multiple-runner scenario labs, partner reaction-time measurements).
In my case, the staff/TA/faculty is just me 
and I doubt there will be any extra time for cleaning before passing period. I’ll have to have kids do it as part of their station clean-up. I doubt there will be any changes to state frameworks or AP required labs but I could be wrong. We did successfully virtualize some E&M labs this year.
I’m lucky that as a science teacher, there is a sink in my room, and goggles with a UV cabinet for sanitizing. That is not the case for most of my colleagues in other departments!
Does your school have a 3D printer? Rogue Fitness in Ohio was making face shields and other PPE equipment for Ohio healthcare workers using the 3D printers in their manufacturing facility.