Occupational Health and Safety
Experiments :: Educational Resources
Science Fairs :: Educational Resources
Hazardous Waste
Pollution Prevention and Recycling

Library of Congress: News for Teachers

Folklore in the Classroom
Interested in bringing folklore materials into your classroom? Visit the American Folklife Center where you can learn about their heritage projects where they work to encourage students to learn more about their communities, see lesson plans using folklore activities, link to American Memory collections that highlight folklore materials and learn how to send for a poster providing additional ideas to use in your classroom.
Cybercasts of Digital Natives Lectures Now Available
If you were unable to come to the Library to see the lecture series on digital natives three of the four lectures are now available to view as cybercasts. Lectures include Edith Ackermann speaking on The Anthropology of Digital Natives, Steven Berlin Johnson discussing the response to his argument that popular culture is growing more complex and cognitively challenging, and is not racing downward towards a lowest common denominator, Michael Wesch discussing the impact of You Tube on our world and Douglas Rushkoff speaking about the profound impact of interactive technologies, from the remote control to the joystick to the computer keyboard.
Book Festival Authors Announced
The Library of Congress and First Lady Laura Bush are once again sponsoring the National Book Festival to be held on the National Mall on September 27, 2008. Among some 70 authors and illustrators participating this year are Tiki Barber, Marc Brown, R. L. Stein, Judith Viorst, Sharon Draper, Neil Gaiman, Andrea Davis Pinkney, Robert Sabuda, Dorren Cronin and Steven Kellogg. Jon Scieszka, who was recently named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Librarian of Congress, will also attend the event. You can learn more about the various authors who will be in attendance on the Book Festival website and view this year’s poster, created by noted illustrator Jan Brett.
New Poet Laureate Announced
Visit the Library’s Poetry website to learn more about the new Poet Laureate Pat Ryan. Ryan, a resident of Marin County, California, has written six books of poetry and has won numerous award including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 2004 Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Award, the 2000 Union League Poetry Prize and the Maurice English Poetry Award and four Pushcart prizes. On the poetry website you can read Ryan’s poem “Turtle”, access a list of online resources about Ryan and learn more about the position of Poet Laureate and the people who have held this position.
New Educational Activities on MyLOC.gov
Have you visited the MyLOC.gov site yet? In addition to seeing the new online exhibits and the virtual tour of the Jefferson Building, make sure to look at our collection of new educational activities. These include teacher tested lesson plans on drafting the constitution, the decision to purchase Jefferson’s library and the details found on the Waldseemüller map. Also included are word searches, a game using actual books from Jefferson’s Library and an opportunity for students to craft an alternative version of the Declaration of Independence.
Journeys and Crossings
Take the opportunity to see our curators bring our collections to life. Journeys and Crossings cybercasts feature Library staff focusing on a specific issue while also highlighting the Library’s collections. Also included are links to online resources of interest and bibliographies for those wishing to learn more about the subject of interest.

 

Subscribe to K_through_12 RSS feed

Environmental Health and Safety Index - A very large, comprehensive set of links to lab safety resources. Topics include government and nongovernment agencies, ergonomics, radiation issues, and biohazards.

MSDS Quiz - A seven part on-line tutorial and quiz that introduces the reader to Material Safety Data Sheets.
Meta Description: [ A seven part on-line tutorial and quiz that introduces the reader to Material Safety Data Sheets ]

Allaboutcircuits.com - Electrical Safety Guide - Offers users information regarding electrical safety.
Meta Description: [ a complete guide to electronic circuits ]

Animals in the Classroom - Guidelines for responsible use of animals for educational purposes.

Bioethics Resources on the Web - This website provides a comprehensive catalogue of bioethics resources within the National Institutes of Health and on the web.

Biosafety Resources - Biosafety resources on the internet, from the American Biological Safety Association.
Meta Description: [ The American Biological Safety Association is dedicated to expanding biological safety awareness to prevent adverse occupational and environmental impact from biohazards ]

Chemistry Safety Quiz - A short quiz that may prove surprising to you.

Flinn Scientific - Overcrowding in the Science Laboratory - This article is intended to provide guidelines on how to help solve the problem of overcrowding in the science laboratory.

Flinn Scientific Safety - Fifteen articles ranging from 'goggle safety' to 'where and why science accidents occur.'

Hazardous Products and Compounds in the Home - Alphabetical listing of many household products and the hazardous compounds which make up these products. Many of these materials are used in labs, experiments and even art projects.

Incompatible Chemicals - A wide variety of chemicals react dangerously when mixed with certain other materials. Some of the more widely-used incompatible chemicals are listed here, but the absence of a chemical from this list should not be taken to indicate that it is safe to mix it with any other chemical.
Meta Description: [ Incompatible Chemicals ]

404 Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries - Concise, critical discussions of the toxicity, flammability, reactivity, and explosibility of 88 chemicals commonly used in scientific research laboratories. Directions for handling, storage, and disposal and special instructions for first aid and emergency response are given. Unlike most Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), the LCSSs are designed especially for laboratory workers.

Laboratory Fire Safety - From U of Oklahoma Dept. of Public Safety
Meta Description: [ The Police Notebook - Law Enforcement Internet site to promote safety and crime prevention information. ]

404 Laboratory Safety - Information is provided courtesy of the Department of Health, Safety Environment at the University of British Columbia.

Laboratory Safety Information - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's laboratory safety program.

Liquid Nitrogen Safety - Safety notes and concerns for liquid nitrogen demonstrations. Liquid nitrogen is a dangerous material.

Minimal Risk Levels for Hazardous Substances (MRLs) - Data for nearly 300 hazardous substances.
Meta Description: [ An MRL is an estimate of the daily human exposure to a hazardous substance that is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse noncancer health effects over a specified duration of exposure. These substance-specific estimates, which are intended to serve as screening levels, are used by ATSD... ]

New Chemistry Lab Guide - Dr. Cal's good laboratory practices and WWW chemistry information for students. Topics include lab safety, lab report writing, preparing for lab, and organic lab tips.

NIOSH Safety and Health Topic: Chemical Safety - NIOSH databases and other resources.
Meta Description: [ This NIOSH chemical safety topic page includes links to the NIOSH Pocket Guide, Manual of ANalytical Methods, Intermnational Chemical Safety Cards, MSDS, more... ]

Online Safety Manuals - Safety manuals of all types on the web.
Meta Description: [ Links to safety manuals on the web. ]

Risk Management Internet Services - Biosafety Programs - Offering paid subscribers texts of biosafety, chemical safety, respiratory protection and hazardous wastes programs from around the world.
Meta Description: [ Risk Management, Safety, Health, Regulations, Medicine and Insurance Resource Library ]

Risk Management Internet Services - Chemistry Safety - Providing paid subscribers with online access to chemical databases on hazaradous properties, carcinogenicity, toxicity and biomedical effects and chemical safety sheets.
Meta Description: [ Chemicals: Technical resources, databases related to chemical environmental/safety concerns ]

404 Safety in Organic Chemistry Laboratory - Explicit guidelines which are reasonable for all chemistry labs. Easily adaptable into a safety contract.

Safety in the Laboratory - General rules which apply to any laboratory situation.

Safety Info.Com - Over 1000 pages of free safety information.

ScienceAware - Downloadable safety checklists, quizzes, and other handouts, as well as access to other free lab-safety materials developed especially for high school science teachers and students.
Meta Description: [ Downloadable safety checklists, quizzes, and other handouts, as well as access to other free lab-safety materials developed especially for high school science teachers and students. ]

500 The High School Safety Web Pages - A simple set of pages covering all aspects of high school lab safety, including photos.

The Laboratory Safety Workshop - A non-profit national center for health, safety and environmental affairs. The workshop's mission is to make health and safety an integral and important part of science education, work, and life in general.
Meta Description: [ The Laboratory Safety Institute has the best collection of video tapes, movies, and slide programs on lab safety. Founded in 1978 to provide safety training for secondary school science teachers. We are A National Center for Health Labsafety. ]

UIUC Chemical Waste and Safety Fact Sheets - The complete collection of advice and warnings offered to those working at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all in HTML and pdf formats. Includes 101 Ways to Reduce Hazardous Waste in the Laboratory and Pollution Prevention in Laboratories: The How To Guide.

UVA/OEHS Laboratory Survival Manual - Covers safety practices, equipment use, first aid, properties of hazardous materials, MSDS, collection of waste products, and a glossary with additional references.

Yale University OEHS - Office of environmental health and safety. Has many downloadable (pdf format) safety newsletters, manuals, and regulations.