Science in the Daily Lives of High School Students
A Teacher Inquiry Project
Rahila Khan
I have often wondered whether students really understand how much science has an
affect on their daily lives. From the smallest ideas to world changing inventions, do students
understand the struggle and creativity that has gone into making their lives easier? The
following is an inquiry paper that looks into this topic using an entry/exit ticket procedure to
get a glimpse into the mind of the high school student and their thoughts on science in their
every day lives.
Do students see science in their everyday lives?
To what extent do students understand how much science affects their daily lives?
These students have seen and done entry/exit tickets before, however a handful of
students refuse to do the entry ticket regardless of the difficulty level. I wanted a way for these
students to participate, so I tried to scaffold as best as I could. I began testing this inquiry
question by using a simple entry ticket. Students answered three questions on a piece of
paper, “draw or write about one item in your life you use every day. What features does this
item have that you use? What is it about this item that makes it important in your life? How do
you think this item was invented, discovered, or understood how it works?” I noticed that
many of the students doodle and draw during class and I wanted to offer them a way to get
credit for their drawings and doodles. These sheets of paper I collected as and data for future
reference.
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Science in the Daily Lives of High School Students
A Teacher Inquiry Project
Rahila Khan
For the purposes of understanding the data, I separated what the students wrote into 6
categories; electronics, hygiene, body parts, food related, writing implements, and other.
Category
Number of Students
Percentage
Electronics
Hygiene
Body Parts
Food Related
Writing Implements
Other
Total
26
13
11
2
2
4
53
48%
25%
11%
4%
4%
8%
100%
An overwhelming 48% of students wrote about an electronic item that they cannot live
without! These included cell phones, MP3 players, video gaming devices, computers or laptops,
and beauty devices. This category was followed up by 25% of students writing about something
to improve their hygiene. These included soap, toothbrush, lip balm, and washcloths. I was
surprised by the 11% of students writing about a body part which included heart, brain, feet,
arms, ears, eyes, and nose. 4% of students wrote about food related items such as a
microwave, pots, and pans. 4% of students wrote about a writing implement such as a pen or
pencil. And 8% of students wrote about an original item that no other student thought to write
about, a doorknob for example.
The meat of the inquiry project was really rooted in the last question that was asked of
the students, “how do you think this item was invented, discovered, or understood how it
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Science in the Daily Lives of High School Students
A Teacher Inquiry Project
Rahila Khan
works?” In their descriptions, 79% of students described or attempted to describe a scientific
discovery or phenomenon, while 9% of student descriptions were unrelated to science.
Unfortunately, 11% of students decided not to answer the question at all.
Relevance to Science
Number of Students
Percentage
Description Related to
Science
Description Unrelated to
Science
Missing Description
Total
42
79%
5
9%
6
53
11%
100%
On a side note unrelated to the inquiry question, only 23% of students chose to
supplement their descriptions with a drawing of their item while 77% of students only used
words to describe their item.
Category
Number of Students
Percentage
Drawing + Description
Description Only
Total
12
41
53
23%
77%
100%
Reading about the items the students chose to write about were interesting. It gave me
a glimpse into what interested students and what each student values in life. While some items
were inventive and creative, other items and descriptions gave me a clearer picture about the
student as a whole being. One student in particular wrote about her cell phone and how she
uses it to keep in touch with her grandmother who is in the hospital. Another student wrote
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Science in the Daily Lives of High School Students
A Teacher Inquiry Project
Rahila Khan
about his computer and how he uses it to keep in touch with his friends back in his home
country of Nepal. A common theme that came about from the Electronics category was that
students mainly use them to communicate with their family, friends, and classmates. Of those
students who wrote about an electronic item, 15 students or 58%, use it primarily for
communication. The remaining students that wrote about an electronic item, 10 students or
38%, primarily use it for entertainment.
I hypothesized that about 75% of students would write about an electronic device. I
was a little surprised at the actual lower percentage of 48% of students that chose to write
about their cell phone, MP3 player, or computer. Beyond that category, I was not sure what to
expect students to write about. I was extremely surprised to find that 25% of students chose to
write about an item related to keeping good hygiene. It was unexpected that the percentage of
students writing about soap and their toothbrush was so high. I was also pleasantly surprised
that 11% of students chose to write about a body part. I supposed I should have expected that
some students would choose a body part because, after all, this was a Living Environment
classroom that they were a part of.
I also hypothesized that less than 50% of students would describe their object coming
about in a scientific environment. According to the data, the percentage of students describing
a scientific discovery or phenomenon for their item was 79%, while only 9% of students wrote
about a non-scientific related description. I was very surprised that there were more students
that related the discovery or invention of their object to scientific means than not. Six students
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Science in the Daily Lives of High School Students
A Teacher Inquiry Project
Rahila Khan
chose not to write anything for the last question. These 6 students either did not know the
answer or did not attempt to answer the question. Given that the students had 10 minutes to
complete this entry ticket, I do not believe it was an issue of not having enough time to
complete the entry ticket.
This inquiry project gave me some perspective into seeing how many students actually
consider science as part of their lives, when asked to contemplate it. Surprisingly, almost 80%
of students described their item in terms of a scientific discovery, invention, or phenomenon.
It is clear from this project that there are certain aspects of life that high school
students’ value. Communication, entertainment, and personal hygiene play key roles in the
lives of high school students. This project allowed me to get a more intimate picture of the
students’ minds. I think that if teachers are looking to make their content more relevant to
their students’ lives, they can relate a particular topic back to some form of communication,
entertainment, or personal hygiene issue.
These entry tickets can also serve as tools or talking points throughout the year. For
example, soap looks like and works very much like the phospholipid bilayer of a cell membrane.
With a polar head and non-polar tails, the molecules of soap surround non-polar oil to form a
micelle which is easily washed away by polar water molecules. Another talking point would be
the importance of personal hygiene in keeping the human body healthy and preventing disease
which is extremely relevant and important within the Living Environment curriculum.
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