Teacher’s guide to Hanna’s House of Hidden Hazards
Hanna’s House of Hidden Hazards is a simple and ready-to-use online teaching resource aimed at pupils from the 2nd to 6th grades. The purpose of this material is to raise awareness amongst students of the dangers of hazardous chemicals and ensure their safe usage.
Hanna’s House of Hidden Hazards introduces pupils to the 9 new hazard pictograms that are used for hazard labelling of chemicals in a bid to help them understand the significance of the different hazards.
Background
The hazard pictograms are intended to provide information about the damage a chemical product can cause to our health and the environment. During the period from 2010 to 2015, the European Union introduced a new classification and labelling system for hazardous chemicals, which is in line with the United Nations' Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The initiative aims to ensure uniform hazard information for the same chemicals around the world.
Many frequently used household chemicals can be hazardous and the pupils may thus encounter hazardous chemicals in their homes. It is important for children to understand the significance of the hazard pictograms on the product labels in order to avoid accidents and unintentional use. The new pictograms used to indicate the hazard are in the shape of a red diamond with a white background and are replacing the old orange square pictograms.
Timeframe
You can use 1 or 2 lessons.
Technical requirements:
The website is optimized for standard screen resolutions in most modern browsers (IE9+, Safari, Firefox and Chrome. The requirements for viewing the website as intended is a minimum screen resolution of 1024px width and 768px height. The website does not require any browser plugins, but do require java script to be enabled. Viewing on mobile devices is supported, but does not give an appropriate user experience and is therefore not recommended.
National educational standards
Insert the educational standards here
The frame story
Hanna is bored. Today her family is cleaning the house. Hanna’s mother told her to stay out of the way. “Cleaning the house can be dangerous,” she says. Hanna decides to find out why. She grabs her camera and takes 9 pictures of her family in different “cleaning” situations.
How it works
After the short introduction your pupils can chose between 9 different cleaning situations:
Situation in Hanna’s House |
Product |
Hazard pictogram(s) |
Dad is cleaning the toilet |
Toilet cleaner |
Corrosive |
Little brother is loading the dishwasher |
Detergent tabs |
Health hazard |
Uncle cleans up the garage |
Fireworks |
Explosive |
Mum lights the barbeque |
Lighter fluid |
Serious health hazard |
Big brother is applying wood preservative to the bicycle shed. |
Wood preservative |
Hazardous to the environment |
Big sister is waterproofing her shoes |
Waterproofing spray |
Flammable Health hazard |
Dad is killing ants |
Ant poison |
Environmental hazard |
Hanna’s aunt is cleaning the drain in the shower |
Drain cleaner |
Corrosive |
Big brother is cleaning the railing of the staircase |
Cleaning detergent |
Health hazard |
There are 9 different hazard pictograms that are used for hazard labelling of chemicals. Only 6 of the hazard pictograms are used in the cleaning situations in Hanna’s House because the pictograms for “Acute toxicity” and the “Gas under pressure” hazard pictograms are rarely found on common household products. The pictogram “Oxidizing” is not used, as it is quite similar to the “Flammable” pictogram, something that might confuse the pupils in the lower grades. You can still find a description of all 9 hazard pictograms in the top menu of the website.
A “situation” is designed as a step-by-step story:
- The situation is introduced.
- A question concerning the situation is posed which has 3 possible answers.
- An answer to the question pops up.
- The pupil should guess which kind of hazard pictogram(s) are found on the product used in this situation.
- The answer pops up with a short description of the hazard pictogram.
There is a “read more” button with more information on each hazard pictogram.
- The pupil can choose a new situation by clicking the yellow “house-icon”.
Your preparation
- Go through the situations on the website.
- For more information about the 9 hazard pictograms you can visit link to national EPA websites or the European Chemicals Agency’s website (https://chemicalsinourlife.echa.europa.eu/da/pictograms-infographic)
- Make reservations regarding electronic equipment.
- Bring a selection of hazard-labelled products into the classroom.
.
How to work with the Hanna’s House of Hidden Hazards
- Your preparation:
• Many chemical products can be dangerous to your health or the environment.
• Most of the chemicals you might use are not dangerous if you use them properly and know what to do if something goes wrong.
• Some chemicals need more careful handling than others.
• Reading the label and being familiar with the hazard pictograms can help you identify the more hazardous chemical products and tell you what the hazards are and how to avoid them.
• A hazard label is made up of specific symbols (known as ‘pictograms’) and warnings. These pictograms, and the wording that supports them, are set out in the law. It is the companies supplying the chemical products that must use them where hazardous properties have been identified.
• A chemical is not just something used by scientists in laboratories.
• Most people use chemical products in their home every day e.g. for washing and cleaning and other housework. Many people also use chemicals as part of their jobs.
- Show your pupils a selection of products with hazard labels. Make sure that the products are labelled with the new red and white hazard pictograms. Tell them very briefly what the 9 pictograms stand for. Remember to mention that these pictograms are replacing the old orange and black pictograms that the pupils may be familiar with and which they may still find on older products at home.
- Launch the website LINK TO HANNA’ HOUSE with the projector. If your pupils can’t read yet, read the text aloud to them.
- In the 4th to 6th grade: let your pupils work alone or together two by two on PC’s or a portable device like a tablet or an iPad. The task is to walk through as many of the situations as they can manage in approximately 30 minutes.
- In the 2nd and 3rd grades you will have to guide your pupils through the 9 situations using the projector.
- Allot 10 minutes at the end of the lesson. Project the 9 hazard pictograms onto the wall. (Click the top menu). Are your pupils able to answer the following questions about the hazard pictograms?
• Which kinds of products are typically labelled as flammable?
• What are the hazards and how do you avoid them?
• Which kinds of products are typically labelled as corrosive?
• What are the hazards and how do you avoid them?
• Which kinds of products are typically labelled as hazardous to the health?
• What are the hazards and how do you avoid them?
Further suggestion
If you want to spend more time on the subject you can supplement the initial lesson/s with the following activity:
[Pupils name or class’ name] House of Hidden Hazards
Ask your pupils to find out how many hazard-labelled products they have in their own homes or in the school building. Ensure that they ask an adult to help them with this task, just to avoid accidents. They can either make a list or take pictures of the products on their mobile devices. In class you can illustrate their findings using a simple scheme drawn on the blackboard, flipchart or on the smart-board. Observations might include:
- What hazard pictogram did we find the most of?
- What hazard pictogram did we find the fewest of?
- Make a print of the 9 hazard pictograms below and cut them out.
- Rate the pictograms from 1- 9 (1 = most of, 9 = least of).
- Make a hit list and put it on the wall.
Activity sheet: Find hazard labels
Print and hand out a copy of this activity sheet to your pupils. In the columns they can note down how many different hazard pictograms they found.
Important: You should inform their parents in advance so they can assist the pupils. They should not do this alone! If you go on a mission in the school building you will have to be their guide.
General remarks on Hanna’s House of Hidden Hazards
Not all products are labelled exactly the way they are in the situations in Hanna’s House of Hidden Hazards. For instance the toilet cleaner in the situation “Dad is cleaning the toilet” is labelled with the hazard pictogram Corrosive. It is actually possible to buy toilet cleaner without this hazard pictogram. The hazards of a product depend on the exact composition of the product and the concentration of the hazardous substances within. A toilet cleaner could thus also be labelled with the hazard pictogram "Health hazard" for skin or eye irritation instead of the “Corrosive” pictogram. It could even not be labelled at all.