Upward Bound-Lab Challenge

One challenge I had in the area of laboratory management this week was working through a handwashing activtiy with 24 students. We were reviewing our lesson on infection control and I tried out what I considered a simple activtiy to reinforce the concept of good handwashing.They watched a video on how germs are transmitted and proper handwashing before the activity. For the activity, I invited the students to place a small amount of special handwashing lotion over their hands and then wash them as they thought appropriate. After they had completed washing their hands, I had each student to come over to where I was standing (in a darkened area) to view their hands under an ultraviolet hand held light. Any residue of the lotion would glow on their hands under the light. Needless to say, it was a chaotic event. Because of the small amount of lotion I had to work with, and not trusting the students to work with the one light I had correctly, I thought it was best that I looked over these items personally. During the activity there were students not participating, talking, not following directions, texting etc. I did not put a time limit on the activity initially and finally told the students that we had to move on to our next activity and discontinued the event after about 10 minutes of time. It was interesting to see the number of students who suddenly wanted to go ahead and complete the task once they saw that time was running out!