Learning Aim D
Review of personal development of scientific skills for laboratory work
P7 - Summarise key personal competencies developed in relation to scientific skills
undertaken
Throughout the practicals that I have carried out, I have gained personal skills and
knowledge of practical skills as in most of the experiments I have worked independently, I
have follow the methods as it was given to me, and in certain experiments the procedure
was repetitive for example; titration we had to re-fill the burette using the funnel and
carried out the titration, that was a repetitive steps from the experiment, I also had to read
from the meniscus and stir constantly, whereas in calorimetry I had to collect data
constantly, this is because during the procedure I had to collect the data from the
thermometer and write it down, this was quite challenging because this needed to be
quickly.
My organisation skills were in action in all three learning aims, because everything had to
be tidy therefore it would not take longer, and specially when I was using toxic substances
for example Solution A and B in chromatography, I placed them in a far end where I was
working so I keep them safe, and therefore I could avoid accidents.
In all the learning aims there were hazards, health and safety is important, in all the
experiments I was focused and concentrated therefore nothing could have gone wrong and
I was working at my own pace so I could avoid accidents, like breaking glass because most
of the material is glassware, and as toxic substances were involved in experiments, I wore
eye goggles everytime and gloves were optional, in my case I prefer to not used the gloves
because it could have caused me to make the glass fall.
If my skin were in contact with toxic substances I would quickly wash off the part exposed,
so I could avoid irritation in the skin, but for this reason is why the toxic substances used in
the experiments were stored in proper storage containers. In this part of health and safety
my time management skills and attention to detail were in practice to conclude with a good
work in this learning aims.
Skills that I had mentioned before are skills that I already knew from previous experiments
that I did in secondary school.
Through the experiments I develop furthermore my skills in interpretation of data and
providing demonstrations this has been in practise since an early stage of carrying out
experiments but in this three learning aims this skills has developed more, an example is
the learning aim B, where I drew three tangents in the graph that I did myself for cooling
curve using the data that I collected from the thermometer reading and time lapse.
, My mathematical skills are good, I can draw a graph and calculate concentration of solution
as it was needed for Learning aims A and B and some in Learning aim C when we had to
calculate the Rf values, but this were straight forward I also have basic knowledge in doing
tangents and calculations on graphs as it’s needed in Learning aim B for cooling curves.
Carrying out this three learning aims, I have to work independently but whenever was
possible and I could help any of my peers with something that they could not understand
or they need anything extra equipment that I could borrow, there were my communication
skill in practice which is important in order to work effectively when it comes to work in
teams, and share ideas, this happened a lot when it came to the calibration of
thermometers because I had to share the balance with my peers.
Apart from my communication skills, I also have developed my written communication
skills by doing reports, everytime we did an experiment I was constantly writing in my
laboratory book, and after finishing the experiments I had to write reports in which I
structure them by using subtitles, paragraphs and using tables and graphs to present data.
During the experiments I follow the instructions but it was not perfect, in certain
experiments like in Chromatography for Learning Aim C I had to re-do my chromatogram
because in the first chromatogram that I did, i did not get separated spots, therefore I
carried out again in which I improve what I did wrong before, the second time I did it well
thanks to the teacher advice in what might be the error that I was doing and it end up
being not using the enough amount of spinach pigments.
M4 - Analyse skills developed and suggest improvements to practise
My communication skills are in a good development this is because I had to constantly
communicate whenever I did not understand something or if I needed help with any
equipment, most of the part my communication was towards the teacher or the person
which supervise us, sometimes I had communication with my peers this usually happened
when we teamed up to work together as we did for the calibration in Titration and in
Cooling curves were we communicate with each other and help each other, sharing ideas
also when it came to borrow any equipment, in oral communication I’ve not have any issue
I'm good at expressing my ideas with peers and make myself understand, written
communication is something I have develop through Unit 2, where we write reports every
time we do an experiment and during the experiments I note down in my lab book anything
that I see and most of my work is done on the lab book first, what I am lacking in terms of
Review of personal development of scientific skills for laboratory work
P7 - Summarise key personal competencies developed in relation to scientific skills
undertaken
Throughout the practicals that I have carried out, I have gained personal skills and
knowledge of practical skills as in most of the experiments I have worked independently, I
have follow the methods as it was given to me, and in certain experiments the procedure
was repetitive for example; titration we had to re-fill the burette using the funnel and
carried out the titration, that was a repetitive steps from the experiment, I also had to read
from the meniscus and stir constantly, whereas in calorimetry I had to collect data
constantly, this is because during the procedure I had to collect the data from the
thermometer and write it down, this was quite challenging because this needed to be
quickly.
My organisation skills were in action in all three learning aims, because everything had to
be tidy therefore it would not take longer, and specially when I was using toxic substances
for example Solution A and B in chromatography, I placed them in a far end where I was
working so I keep them safe, and therefore I could avoid accidents.
In all the learning aims there were hazards, health and safety is important, in all the
experiments I was focused and concentrated therefore nothing could have gone wrong and
I was working at my own pace so I could avoid accidents, like breaking glass because most
of the material is glassware, and as toxic substances were involved in experiments, I wore
eye goggles everytime and gloves were optional, in my case I prefer to not used the gloves
because it could have caused me to make the glass fall.
If my skin were in contact with toxic substances I would quickly wash off the part exposed,
so I could avoid irritation in the skin, but for this reason is why the toxic substances used in
the experiments were stored in proper storage containers. In this part of health and safety
my time management skills and attention to detail were in practice to conclude with a good
work in this learning aims.
Skills that I had mentioned before are skills that I already knew from previous experiments
that I did in secondary school.
Through the experiments I develop furthermore my skills in interpretation of data and
providing demonstrations this has been in practise since an early stage of carrying out
experiments but in this three learning aims this skills has developed more, an example is
the learning aim B, where I drew three tangents in the graph that I did myself for cooling
curve using the data that I collected from the thermometer reading and time lapse.
, My mathematical skills are good, I can draw a graph and calculate concentration of solution
as it was needed for Learning aims A and B and some in Learning aim C when we had to
calculate the Rf values, but this were straight forward I also have basic knowledge in doing
tangents and calculations on graphs as it’s needed in Learning aim B for cooling curves.
Carrying out this three learning aims, I have to work independently but whenever was
possible and I could help any of my peers with something that they could not understand
or they need anything extra equipment that I could borrow, there were my communication
skill in practice which is important in order to work effectively when it comes to work in
teams, and share ideas, this happened a lot when it came to the calibration of
thermometers because I had to share the balance with my peers.
Apart from my communication skills, I also have developed my written communication
skills by doing reports, everytime we did an experiment I was constantly writing in my
laboratory book, and after finishing the experiments I had to write reports in which I
structure them by using subtitles, paragraphs and using tables and graphs to present data.
During the experiments I follow the instructions but it was not perfect, in certain
experiments like in Chromatography for Learning Aim C I had to re-do my chromatogram
because in the first chromatogram that I did, i did not get separated spots, therefore I
carried out again in which I improve what I did wrong before, the second time I did it well
thanks to the teacher advice in what might be the error that I was doing and it end up
being not using the enough amount of spinach pigments.
M4 - Analyse skills developed and suggest improvements to practise
My communication skills are in a good development this is because I had to constantly
communicate whenever I did not understand something or if I needed help with any
equipment, most of the part my communication was towards the teacher or the person
which supervise us, sometimes I had communication with my peers this usually happened
when we teamed up to work together as we did for the calibration in Titration and in
Cooling curves were we communicate with each other and help each other, sharing ideas
also when it came to borrow any equipment, in oral communication I’ve not have any issue
I'm good at expressing my ideas with peers and make myself understand, written
communication is something I have develop through Unit 2, where we write reports every
time we do an experiment and during the experiments I note down in my lab book anything
that I see and most of my work is done on the lab book first, what I am lacking in terms of
