ABSTRACT
There is an element of danger about science that is attractive to some students and induces anxiety in others. For certain, science is associated with Ebola virus, nuclear weapons, earthquakes, deadly neurotoxins, and other threats to life and limb. If it is unsafe, somewhere scientists are studying it. That danger easily extends into the science classroom, and science teachers are well aware that an oversight on their part could actually result in student injury. As teachers, we are the adults in charge—in loco parentis, as the lawyers say—and are responsible for our students’ safety even as we introduce the risk. English teachers worry less about this sort of thing.
