It was lunchtime in the teachers' lounge and science teachers Brett and Eddy were chatting about their new classes acquired from the new year.
"Hey Eddy, how have your classes been ?"
"Brett, they've been pretty good, I like them."
"All your classes ?"
"Yeah."
"That's great. I'm really happy for you."
Eddy chuckled.
"Aren't the Year 7s tiny."
Brett laughed.
"Oh yeah, that's right, you started mid-year last year and only had Years 9 to 11, didn't you? The new Year 7's would definitely appear tiny to you. After all, they were in primary school just 3 months ago."
"Yeah, and they're super cute."
"Yeah?"
"I told them I'll organise lab coats for them to wear for lab work in their next science lesson and they were so excited."
Brett smiled.
"Oh, but Brett, I've already embarrassed myself."
Brett raised an eyebrow.
"Oh no, Eddy, what have you done now ?"
"Geez, Brett must you say that to me this year too? I was hoping I'd grown out of that by now."
"Not a chance in hell, this is only your second year of teaching !! So what have you done now ?"
"I went up to this student and told him that I taught his younger brother last year."
"Yeah ? So ?"
"He said 'No sir, that was me, I grew 3 inches during the holidays.'"
Brett burst out laughing.
"Oh my god that's hilarious."
Brettany was in Year 7 and had just started high school at the beginning of this year. She loved it for the most part. She liked her new school uniform and her teachers and classmates were nice and she has been settling in very nicely. Except for one thing. Her science classes.
She really liked her science teacher, Mr Chen. She thought he was friendly, funny and quite handsome. A lot of her friends have said the same thing. On her first science lesson Mr Chen shyly introduced himself and said he was a new teacher, so he was sort of like them. "I'm new to high school, too!" he said. She thought that was kinda cute.
So she really liked her science teacher. The problem was, Mr Chen told the class that the first thing she had to learn in his science class was to light a Bunsen burner and Brettany was a pyrophobic – she was scared of flames.
Her first 2 science classes were held in a normal classroom so they went through class rules, laboratory safety rules and a worksheet about the parts of a Bunsen burner. Today was their third science lesson and their first time in a laboratory.
"So, who's lit a match before ?"
Brettany was surprised when Mr Chen asked that question. Mr Chen was actually surprised that only 5 students put their hand up.
"So... um you guys don't light candles? Or ... I dunno, light fireworks? No? Hmm.. I suppose I come from a different era, hey."
Mr Chen smiled.
"Okay, so I'd like you to all first practice just lighting a match. See how I'm standing right in front of the sink? If you get scared of your match, just drop it into sink like this, okay?"
Mr Chen demonstrated a few times. He held the match with his long fingers and struck it along the side of the matchbox and ignited the match in just one go. He made it look so easy.
He held the match stick at different angles to show how you have to tilt it at an angle to keep the flame going without burning your fingers.
"Just have a bit of a play around with the angles. And remember, if the flame gets too big, just hold it upright like this, or you can drop the match stick in the sink like this."
Brettany thought it was very grown-up to light a match like that.
She didn't get to do any science experiments in primary school so she was looking forward to doing experiments in her high school science classes. But she was still very nervous lighting a match on her own.
She paired up with Edwina, who was her new friend she made in high school. She was tall and looked very grown-up compared to Brettany.
"So Brettany, would you like to go first ?"
"Um... why don't you show me Edwina? I'd like to watch first."
"Okay. So I'm just going to light this match...."
Edwina struck the match along the matchbox and the match ignited.
Brettany recoiled. Unlike the demonstration Mr Chen did at the front of the class, Edwina was standing right next to Brettany and the flame felt awfully close.
Edwina held the match stick in different angles to control the size of her little flame, then blew out her match.
"Done. Too easy. Your turn Brettany."
Edwina handed Brettany the box of matches. Brettany's hands were trembling when she received them. Edwina raised an eyebrow.
"Brettany? Are you okay?"
Brettany shrugged.
"I've never lit a match before."
"Oh"
"Have you, Edwina?"
Edwina gave a cheeky grin.
"Yeah my brother taught me how when I was like 7."
"Oh"
"It's okay, just give it a go."
Brettany slowly took a matchstick out of the box, then tried striking it against the side of the matchbox. The match snapped in two.
"Oh no....!"
"It's okay Brettany. That happens all the time. Just try another one."
Brettany took out another match. This time she was being more gentle, which meant that she didn't build up enough friction to ignite the match. She was striking the match 4, 5, 6 times... On her 7th strike, the match ignited.
Brettany held the matchstick pointing it downwards and the flame quickly travelled up the stick towards her fingers. She panicked, screamed and instead of dropping the matchstick into the sink in front of her, she flicked it over the laboratory bench and it fell on the floor on the other side. Edwina yelled out;
"Oh my god!!"
"Hey, what's going on over there ??"
Brettany heard Mr Chen's sharp voice and everyone in the laboratory went silent.
"What happened Edwina?"
"Um... I'm sorry sir, we panicked a little bit."
Mr Chen walked over towards Edwina and Brettany's bench.
Oh no, I'm in so much trouble now..
Brettany stood frozen, tears welling up in her eyes, visibly shaken.
"Hey Brettany what's the matter?"
"I.. I'm so sorry sir.."
"Hmm is that match stick yours?"
He pointed at the match stick on the floor.
"I'm sorry..."
Brettany's voice was trembling.
"Hey, it's okay, no harm done. You're not hurt are you? Did you burn your fingers?"
Brettany shook her head.
"Okay, so next time just drop it into the sink like I showed you, yeah ? It's much easier than throwing a match stick, I promise. So, would you like to try again ?"
Brettany shook her head as tears fell from her eyes.
Mr Chen looked at Edwina.
"Edwina, how did you go with the matches ?"
"I did okay sir."
"Okay, so Brettany, you can watch Edwina practice lighting her Bunsen burner, okay?"
Brettany nodded.
"I'll be right back."
Mr Chen took large strides across the laboratory to grab a box of tissues from the teachers bench at the front of the laboratory. Just as quickly he returned to Edwina and Brettany's bench and offered Brettany a tissue. Brettany took one and wipes her tears.
"Brettany, I'm sorry I forgot to say that if anyone was a bit too nervous about this to come and see me first. I should've helped you light your match. I will next time, I promise, okay?"
But I don't want a next time..
Brettany was too upset to object though so she nodded.
Mr Chen stepped back to the teachers bench and asked for everyone's attention. He now wanted to demonstrate how to light the Bunsen burner.
"Let me demonstrate. Hey how about I do it like a Youtuber."
The students looked puzzled.
The next instance, Mr Chen flicked his hair and pointed at his audience and winked as he said out loud in a sing-song voice;
"Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Science with Mr Chen !! Today we are going to light a Bunsen burner with some matches !!"
He then struck a pose by holding up the box of matches with both hands towards an invisible camera as if it was a colour palette of eye shadow or blush. The girls in the class giggled and the boys cringed. Even Brettany let out a little smile.
Oh my god I can't believe he did that.
"Okay the first thing I have to do it make sure the air holes on my Bunsen burner are closed. Now here we go, I'm going to light this match."
Again, Mr Chen lit his match with one strike. He turned on the gas and ignited the Bunsen burner, which gave off an enormous flame in orange and yellow.
"See, this flame is really easy to see, isn't it ? It's called the safety flame because it's clearly visible and we're not going to miss it. Now have a look when I do this.. "
He slowly opened the air hole of the Bunsen burner and Brettany thought the flame disappeared.
"Will someone standing near the lights please turn them off ?"
A boy turned off the lights.
The students gasped as they saw a beautiful blue flame from the Bunsen burner.
"So this blue flame is much hotter than the orange one, but it's harder to see, which is why we either turn off the Bunsen burner or close the air hole and put it on the safety flame when we aren't using the flame."
He then asked for the lights back on then instructed the students to practice lighting the Bunsen burner, controlling its flame and turning it off.
He noticed Edwina was confidently showing she could manage the task, while Brettany watched.
He instructed the students to pack up 5 minutes early so that he could give his students some time to take selfies with their lab coats on before they were sent home.
Eddy returned to the teacher's lounge.
"Hey Eddy, how did your science lesson go with your Year 7's? Didn't you just have them?"
"Brett. Yeah..."
"What's wrong ?"
"Um... I have a pyrophobic."
"What !? Did someone set the lab on fire??"
"Noooo, I didn't say pyromaniac, I said pyrophobic."
"Oh.. my bad. Phew. Scared of flames, hey."
"Yeah, the poor girl, got so nervous, she threw a lit match across the laboratory."
"Yikes. So she did almost set the lab on fire."
"I'm just glad it didn't land on anyone. She was visibly shaken. I gotta think of something.."
Brett grinned at his colleague.
"What?"
"You're a good teacher Eddy, I'm sure you'll come up with something."
The next lesson they were in the laboratory again and Eddy was armed with some tea lights and a special box of matches.
After completing a worksheet to revise the steps involved in using a Bunsen burner, Eddy told his students that they could use the rest of the class time practising lighting a Bunsen burner and those who were confident could be assessed by him to obtain their Bunsen burner license.
"Now for those who aren't used to light a match, I would like you guys to practice lighting a candle with a match stick first. And for those who are a bit scared of matches, I've brought in some special matches for you, they are much longer than the normal matches."
After quickly checking each group, Eddy headed to Edwina and Brettany's bench.
"Hi Brettany, I brought you these. Here's how you hold the match and the matchbox.
The longer matches actually had larger heads and were a thicker stick so their flames were larger, which initially frightened Brettany, but after Eddy convinced her that the flames were much further away from her fingers thanks to the long match sticks, Brettany was able to successfully light one of these matches and even light a tea light candle.
"Wow Brettany, knowing how frightened you were yesterday, I'm so proud of what you've just achieved!!"
Brettany gave a shy smile.
"Okay let's try the same thing but light up the Bunsen burner."
"Oh.. I'm not sure if I can do that..."
"Of course you can. I'll turn on the gas, you just need to light the match and bring it close to the Bunsen burner."
When the Bunsen burner was lit and a large flame erupted, Brettany flinched. But to her credit, she held onto her match and did not throw nor drop it.
"You did it ! Now you can put that match away. You can place it in the sink if you like."
Brettany nervously popped it into the sink while that match was still lit and she saw it's flame still burning the match stick.
"But it's still burning...!!"
Eddy turned the tap on and the flame in the sink went out with a fizz.
"Just make sure you pick up the wet match stick at the end of class and put it in the bin, okay? So next you need to control the flame by adjusting the air hole to give it more air. Would you like to try that ?"
Brettany shook her head. She really didn't think she could bring herself to touch the Bunsen burner.
"Okay, well would you like to turn off the flame by turning the gas off ?"
"I think I can do that."
Brettany turned the gas tap and the flame disappeared.
Eddy smiled.
"Hey, well done. I'll put a tick on all the things you were able to do. You can use the Bunsen burner if you are working in a group and I can upgrade you to a full Bunsen burner license as soon as you can show me that you can control the flame by adjusting the air hole, okay?"
Eddy signed his name and dated Brettany's Bunsen burner license and marked it "Provisional" and handed it back to her.
Brettany smiled.
"Thank you sir."
"Hey Eddy, how'd you go ?"
"Brett. Great. I got her long match sticks and was able to give her a Provisional license."
Brett grinned.
"That's great. I knew you'd come up with something good. Well done Eddy."