Bristol ChemLabS Schools' Laboratory Programme

Post 16 or KS4 G&T Caffeine Plus Workshop

Introduction

Bristol ChemLabS is making available its recently refurbished undergraduate teaching laboratories to groups of school students to support regional Chemistry teachers. The laboratories are the best of their type in the UK and amongst the very best teaching laboratories in the world.

This means opportunities for your students to study at a world-class university with world class facilities outside of undergraduate term time as well as on Wednesdays throughout the year.

The Post 16 or KS4 G&T Caffeine Plus Workshop is one of several workshop days involving practical work designed by the Bristol ChemLabS School Teacher Fellow to meet current GCSE level specifications and with practical scripts written in appropriate language.

Target Students

A maximum of 50 chemists. The group may be made up of more than one school.

Teachers

The number of teaching staff accompanying the student groups from each school should be what is considered appropriate by the local school rules, but there should be at least one teacher per group of up to 20 students.

Teachers may also carry out the experiment if they so wish. This may be of most interest to newly qualified teachers or teachers of chemistry who are not graduate chemists.

Expected Timings

NOTE: The afternoons on which this activity is offered are schools' conferences sponsored by Bristol ChemLabS and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Please see our CHeMneT Upcoming page.

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Health and Safety

Extremely Important! Students and accompanying staff will be expected to follow the School of Chemistry's rules for visiting school scientists on health and safety in the laboratories as well as the specific health and safety requirements of the experiments.

This information MUST be made available to all pupils and accompanying adults.

This information MUST be made available to all pupils and accompanying adults.
Failure to observe these rules will result in no admittance to the laboratories for students or accompanying staff.

Click for full Bristol ChemLabS Health and Safety Rules

photo by riot_jane

The general rules include

• No eating, drinking or chewing gum in the laboratory.
• Safety glasses MUST be worn correctly at all times even if you wear glasses.
• Laboratory coats MUST be worn done up [we will provide the laboratory coats]
• NO open-toed shoes/sandals or flipflops or BALLET PUMPS (See picture) or any kind of shoes that expose the top of the foot. ONLY substantial enclosed shoes may be worn in the laboratories. Trainers are fine.
• No shorts, skirts or 3/4 trousers, long trousers or jeans MUST be worn.Tights are not acceptable alternatives.
• All long hair MUST be tied back, and long necklaces tucked away.
• No mobile phones/personal stereos are to be used in the laboratory.
• Keep your work area tidy and clean up any spills.
• Report all accidents/injuries and dangerous incidents to a member of staff.
• Wash your hands before and after you leave the laboratory.

Failure to observe safety rules including inappropriate clothing will result in no admission to the laboratories either for students or accompanying teachers.

Bristol ChemLabS has a more than sufficient supply of lab coats and safety glasses available for students and accompanying staff.  However, if students or staff wish to bring their own that is fine. Lab coats and safety glasses must be worn at all times in the laboratory. Failure to do so will result in no admittance to the laboratory or removal from it.

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Outline of visit

Experiment: The Extraction of Caffeine from Tea Leaves

This is a tried and tested practical and has been successfully run with Y10 school students on several occasions.

Groups of 10 to 14 students will each have a postgraduate chemist as a demonstrator. It is not often that school students will have the opportunity to work with young professional scientists at such close quarters. All postgraduates (and technicians) are CRB checked through the Science and Engineering Ambassadors (SEAs) Programme.

The experiment uses solvents and equipment not normally used in schools. The equipment includes Buchner funnels/vacuum filtration, heating mantles, separation funnels and rotary evaporation apparatus.
The beauty of the experiment is that it uses a natural product from which a common compound is extracted and that the resultant material may then be analysed by melting point determination and infra red spectroscopy by the students themselves.

Refreshments

Drinks and biscuits are provided.
Students must provide their own lunch (to avoid complications due to dietary requirements).

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Cost

Please contact chem-net@bristol.ac.uk for current charges

Careers Advice

• We will endeavour to make chemistry careers literature available to every student who would like some. We obtain literature about careers in the chemical sciences from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) .
• University of Bristol and School of Chemistry prospectuses will be available.

Students with Special Needs

The teacher in charge of the visit is expected to notify the School of Chemistry in sufficient time if there are students with special needs so that appropriate risk assessments can be carried out.

Photography

Photography of the day's activities is welcomed. Teaching staff have found that images taken in the laboratory make good copy for school websites and newsletters. Images may be taken by School of Chemistry staff for our own websites, articles and other publications. Each school is requested to complete the consent form found at: http://www.chemlabs.bris.ac.uk/Documents/PhotoConsentForm.pdf and return it to Steve Croker by post or fax.

Arriving by Coach or Minibus.

There is no coach parking and very limited minibus parking (by prior booking chem_net@bristol.ac.uk). Coaches can drop off and collect students at a safe point opposite the entrance to Cantock's Close on Woodland Road.

A Map for the School of Chemistry, BS81TS. can be found by clicking here

Contact

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