was to upgrade/downgrade to a 1uF Ceramic, which eliminates the problem,
And probably stops it from being electrically an effective solution. Many regulators need a minimum of 2 to 3uF and so putting 10uF is the simple solution.
What is to stop students putting diodes or other orientation sensitive components in wrong. A simple rule of letting the teacher check before powering on would work. As would running your parts from a low current capacity power supply. You don't get anything much of an explosion from a 500mA power supply.
My fear is that this bogus safety concern will be used as an argument by the microsoft / health and safety muppits to ban the whole subject.
Do some experiments yourself with 5V and aluminum capacitors and see how unspectacular the results are.