School life in China

The 德智体群美 aspect in Chinese education as observed from the school exchange in Shanghai.

Biology practical- Reflection

On 7 July 2017, we had our first hands-on practical. It is also the first time in a very long time that I had to turn on a Bunsen burner by myself. I actually had no idea the proper way to turn on a Bunsen burner and was very afraid of burning my finger if I as much as touched the sieve after the burner was lighted. This practice taught me the proper procedure; light the fire after the gas is turned on, then make sure the air hole is open. It would no longer burn if the burner was properly prepared. 

One other thing I found out when I was doing the experiment was that I became very flustered when I had to observe and write down the experiment, keep track of which test tube was which and at the same time, still follow the instructions about timing etc. However, I learnt a method that helped me track test tubes: to get test tubes with chemicals ready first, then place them in the test tube rack in the order of which the original bottle of chemicals were placed (on the table from left to right: Glucose solution, Egg Albumin solution, Starch suspension, Oil) so that at least I had a reference if I get confused. 

I actually did not expect the practical to be 'timed' with countdowns . As much as I found it stressful at first, it helped me complete my task timely because I’m someone who is slow and takes time to process and do work. A timed experiment helped me keep track of time and figure out if I was too slow or unsure at certain parts, as well as forced me to do the experiment in a way that made the most of my time (read practical while waiting for water to boil). 

The last takeaway was that teamwork is very important in practicals like this. Even though we have always been taking goggles together as a whole class, only this practical did we find out that it would be more efficient for us to take, not only goggles, but everything needed for practical for the whole bench or the pair, work together to help prepare and collect/keep things so that we save time and energy. This is important as our practicals are sometimes very time-tight. Through increased teamwork, we can increase efficiency, get the experiment done and have time to learn the materials.