This an appeal for assistance.

I'm writing a multiple-choice safety exam for undergraduate lab
students. In this exam, I want to question the reasoning for the lab
rules/safety practices, not just what the rules allow or forbid. I'm
finding this fairly difficult, as I object to using false information as
distracters (wrong answers).

My solution, so far, has been to ask about priorities (which of these
items should you do first?) and use questions where all choices are
correct, but not all answer the question at hand

What is the reason for prohibiting ALL chewing gum, food, drink, and
smoking materials in the chemistry labs?

Dried gum under lab benches
Delay of lab work
The possibility of contamination and poisoning
No appropriate disposal containers
Health concerns for those with food allergies

If you have such questions - or ideas on how to approach this, please
share your ideas with me. I will, of course, share the results with
anyone who's interested. Let me know (off list).

--
Sheila M. Kennedy, CHO
Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr.
La Jolla, CA  92093-0303
(858) 534-0221

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

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