Topic 5: Key people in a practical activity

There are three key roles in the prac lab:

• The demonstrators who do the actual teaching in the lab
• The unit chair who has written the unit including the practical program and associated manual or practical notes.
• The laboratory technician who is responsible for making sure that the lab is tidy and safe, all equipment and materials are set out in the lab or readily available and that all equipment is in working order.

It is important to define the role of the other two key players; to define what is not the responsibility of the demonstrators. Despite the best efforts of demonstrators, a practical activity can be a failure due to poor planning and/or oversights by the unit chair or technician. The unit chair and technician should work closely together, and have trialed all experiments before the classes take place to confirm that they actually work and therefore will be good teaching activities.

To summarise - the unit chair and technical staff set the scene for a great prac and you make it happen!

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