One of the reasons that I love science education is because I get to do science with kids. In my classroom, labs are sometimes messy, loud and can be a little disorganized just because students are working in groups and are exploring their experiments.
Since I have not worked in a lab setting in a long time, I forget about the precision needed in the lab techniques. Working in lab this week, I have watched, and practiced myself, pipetting tiny amounts of DNA and creating exact solutions. This afternoon we were setting up an experiment to look at some of the irregularities with a gel we ran the week before last, using some of the DNA from the head-on and headless weevils we had already extracted.
In order to make sure that we put the right solutions in the right tubes, we had to add the correct amount of DNA and place the solution in the right tubes. Since being precise and keeping good records is essential to scientific research. I helped fill in the map of all the DNA that we added to the plate for processing.
Working with this kind of precision in the science classroom seems absurd, but it is important for students to learn good documentation skills and note-taking. Even documentation through pictures can be extremely helpful for students that need to think through the experiment the following day.
Even if I am not keeping the same level of precision in classroom experimentation, the skills still apply!
Sounds like you are learning a lot! Nice job thinking about how you can bring your experience back to your students.