The Impact of Personal Moral Philosophies on the Safe Practice of Students in Chemistry and Related Majors
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The Impact of Personal Moral Philosophies on the Safe Practice of Students in Chemistry and Related Majors Xiaohong Ren 1
1
2
& Xiaoyan Wang & Xinglong Jin & Mengting Li
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Accepted: 5 October 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
Moral ethic prevails in the science and education of chemistry. These issues are unique to chemistry and arise from between the theoretical and the practical behavior in laboratory. The study reported in the paper investigated the impact of personal moral philosophies on the safety practices of students in chemistry and related majors. The results showed that lab anxiety, safety attitude, safety knowledge, and idealism were significant predictors of safety practice, with the last item being the strongest predictor. According to Forsyth’s four distinct personal moral philosophies, among Chinese students, situationism was the most common, followed by exceptionism and then absolutism, with subjectivism as the least common. All lowest scores are from exceptionism. Idealism was more common among males than females, more among higher grade students than lower, and more among students from eastern as compare to western regions of China. All the results showed that the content of idealism should be incorporated into safety training to improve safety practices. Attention to idealistic education in all aspects of university education can help to improve safety behavior. Keywords Chemistry . Safety practice . Personal moral philosophy . Idealism . Relativism
1 Introduction 1.1 Background Universities are where the young study and prepare for future professional work. Chemistry is rooted in the laboratory where ideas, knowledge, and technique come together (Kovac 2015). In a university, students in chemistry and relevant majors are exposed to educational spaces, * Xiaohong Ren [email protected]
1
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China
2
School of Environmental Science and Safety Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China
X. Ren et al.
such as laboratories, where they may handle harmful substances. Unsafe operations could cause temporary or permanent harm to themselves and others, including facilities and the environment. Publicized accidents in a university have added the negative image to chemistry. Therefore, safety practices in chemical labs are critical. In general, the most efficient method to improve safety practices is through safety training.
1.2 Literature Review There are numerous studies on chemical laboratory safety in universities, which can be divided into four domains: laboratory safety education, laboratory safety culture, laboratory safety management, and laboratory risk assessment (Yang et al. 2019). In most cases, studies focus on safety knowledge, techniques, and other external factors. Safety practice is an individual behavior that is impacted by personal characteristics, the internal factors of the students, specifically their personal characteristics, should also be considered. In addi
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