Laboratory Skills for National 5

Sponsorship cost £1500

This course aims to support the delivery of National 5 Laboratory Science with practical, hands-on experiments that will support teaching and learning at this level. 

Course Outcomes  

By the end of this course, you should: 

  •  Be able to carry out a range of simple weighing and measuring activities with accompanying calculations on percentages, molarity and ratios.
  • Understand the fundamentals of Health and Safety law and how it applies to working in a laboratory and have some ideas as to how best to teach it.
  • Understand the hazards of working in a laboratory as above and know how to clear up chemical spills and how to model these for learners.
  • Have a working knowledge of a variety of pieces of scientific equipment: spectrophotometers, microscopes, oscilloscopes, melting point apparatus, ammeters/voltmeters, etc
  • Be able to carry out a simple acid/base titration with the required level of accuracy and understand the techniques involved.
  • Be able to set up glassware to safely and effectively carry out a distillation.
  •  Be able to carry out chromatography, both paper and thin layer, to separate mixtures.
  • Carry out complex microbiological techniques that are applicable to the N5 Laboratory science course with appropriate risk awareness and safety precautions: including sub-culturing, slide preparation staining and microscope observation.
  • Understand the principles behind radioactivity and how to carry out a range of classroom experiments on the topic safely and effectively.
  • Gain some ideas of straightforward experiments in all three sciences that are suitable for the Practical Investigation.

This course is GTCS accredited, i.e., it is aligned to the GTCS Standards for Full Registration and the National Model for Professional Learning.