Ask anybody on the street and they probably know what a Bunsen burner is and where to find them. But do you know how to use one? Every single chemistry teacher does! We know how to get that perfect double blue cone, and I’m sure there are some of us out there that could do it blindfolded (though, please don’t try this).
There’s a first time for everything
But for every person, there was a first time you lit the Bunsen burner. Perhaps you were excited. Maybe you were scared. As a chemistry teacher, I can tell you I’m pretty nervous when all of my students needed to light the Bunsen burners for the first time. So I created a lab activity.
It’s the first “real” lab I do in the school year. And it may just be my most stressful day of the whole school year. I’m honestly super scared when it comes to trusting my brand new chemistry students with the Bunsen burners. We all know that when used incorrectly or unsafely, Bunsen burners can cause MAJOR safety problems.
Ensuring Safety with the Bunsen Burners
In order to keep my students safe (and give myself a shred of sanity) I spend an entire lab period teaching EVERYTHING about Bunsen burners. We address all the safety concerns. I instruct them on what to do in nearly every hazard situation I can think of. I even let them imagine hazard situations and ask their crazy “what if” questions. My goal is to make them to feel like, if something goes wrong, we can make it right, really quickly. I make sure not to tell my students that I’m scared. I think that this would just make the kids more scared than they need to be. A scared kid isn’t the same as a cautious kid. I try to make them as cautious as I can by teaching them everything.
Then I go through an entire lesson about the specifics of the Bunsen burner itself. We learn all of the parts and what they are used for. I even give them a little quiz on the parts before they ever even use one! Next I go through a slow motion demonstration of how to light a Bunsen burner. And then they watch me do it. I are quiet and listen to the sound. I’ll sometimes even pretend I’m struggling to light the burner so they can smell the gas building up. I want them to know the signs of danger!
Lighting the Bunsen Burner
Finally it gets to the point where the kids are going to light the burner. The line up, and one by one, take turns inspecting and lighting the burner with a striker. I always make sure to reposition them if they are holding the striker too close or too far from the burner. When some kid inevitably can’t light the burner, we talk about cutting the gas and fanning it out so the flame doesn’t puff up in their face.
While my students are taking turns lighting the burner, the other 20 or so kids are usually working on some review work that they really don’t need me for. I’m busy obsessing over every tiny intricacy of kids lighting this Bunsen burner for the very first time. I’ve even had a few kids have their classmates record them lighting the burner so they can show off the video later. The kids are SO PROUD of themselves when they do this lab. And they should! They are coming into the chemist-selves, and I’m so happy to be part of that moment! So many of the kids are impressed with themselves and they leave feeling a little bit older, a bit more mature and definitely like a chemist. And in the end I reward them with a sticker, because, what 15 year old isn’t working for stickers these days?
You can learn more about how I build trust with my students in the lab in this podcast episode.
You can check out my lab Bunsen burner lab activity here! But first, grab a small sample of this activity. I’m giving away the post lab quiz for free. Sign up for an email delivery here.
In addition, if you need a rubric for how you are going to have kids write their lab reports, you can grab that lab rubric right here.
