Teacher's guide
The purpose of Hanna’s House
Many frequently used household chemicals can be hazardous and the pupils may thus encounter hazardous chemicals in their homes.
Hanna’s House help your pupils (2nd -6th grade or approximately 8-12 years old) to understand the significance of the hazard pictograms on the product labels in order to avoid accidents and unintentional use.
The educational material will give your pupils new knowledge about some basic chemical terms and chemicals unintended impacts on humans and the environment.
The website contains
- 4 lessons plans
Lesson plan 1 is aimed at 8-9 year olds pupils in 2nd and 3rd grade. Lesson plans 2, 3 and 4 are aimed at 10-12 year olds pupils in 4th, 5th and 6th grade.
- 9 situations in Hanna’s House
Hanna’s family is cleaning up the house using hazard labelled products.
- 3 articles
The articles are closely related to lessons plans 2, 3 and 4.
- A hazard pictogram quiz
The pupils can test how many of the hazard pictograms they can recognize.
- An overview of the 9 hazard pictograms
An explanation to each of the pictograms.
National educational standards
The lessons meet the national educational standards:
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The frame story in Hanna’s House of Hidden Hazards
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.
4 lesson plans
On the website you will find 4 lessons plans. Lesson plan 1 is aimed at 8-9 year olds pupils in 2nd and 3rd grade. Lesson plans 2, 3 and 4 are aimed at 10-12 year olds pupils in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. The lesson plans involve the 9 situations in Hanna’s House. Each lesson plan contains a learning objective and a step-by-step teachers guide.
9 situations in Hanna’s House
In Hanna’s House your pupils can chose between 9 different 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 situations in Hanna’s House because the pictograms for “Acute toxicity” and “Gas under pressure” 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 be confusing. 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.
- When an answer has been selected, the correct 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.
- When a pictogram has been selected, the correct 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”.
3 articles
The 3 articles on the front page of the Hanna’s House web site are closely related to the 3 lesson plans aimed at the 10-12 year olds pupils in 4th, 5th and 6th grade.
“Our world is made of chemicals” explains that chemicals are both naturally formed and man-made and why some household products has one or more hazard labels on them.
“Stay cautious” is concerned with the human health hazard of some chemicals and how to handle hazard labelled products in order to protect oneself.
“Chemicals and the environment” explains the term “environmental toxins” and what can be done to keep the environment free from hazardous chemicals.
A hazard pictogram quiz
The quiz is accessible from the front page of Hanna’s House. Here your pupils can put their knowledge of the hazard labels to the test.
An overview of the 9 hazard pictograms
In the top menu you’ll find an explanation to each of the 9 hazard pictograms.
Your preparation
- Go through the situations and read the articles 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.
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.