Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
School Name : Junyuan Secondary School
Team members: Shelly Ho, Priscilla Yap, Kimberley Wee, Jonathan Poon
Teacher in-charge and RP Staff advisors :
Mrs Yap-Wong Fui Yen
Mr Choong Tze Hong
Dr Dawn Ong
Ms Kam Boon Horng
Topic: Think Twice Before You Text.
Introduction: As we all know, the number of fatalities increased to 197, while the number of casualties
decreased to 9,752 in the year 2012. However, this is still not acceptable. According to the statistics shown
online, accidents are one of the top 5 causes of death in Singapore. Therefore, seeing that the accident rate
in Singapore is increasing, our group has decided to investigate about the most common cause of accidents.
After studying some statistics and articles, our group has found out that accident normally happens when the
driver or pedestrian is multi-tasking, such as texting while driving or when crossing the round.
We also came across a Straits Times article (dated 11 May 2013) reported that multi-tasking, such as texting
while doing work, can actually impair learning. It somehow sparked our interest further to see a correlation
between losing of concentration when one starts to multitask. Hence, we decided to investigate a subject’s
reaction time when they start to multi task. We hope this may possibly explain how the reaction time may link
to road accidents caused by multitasking.
Research Question: Does our reaction time become slower when we start to text someone on the
handphone? How does using handphones affect one’s reaction time?
Hypothesis: Human reaction time would be slower when they are texting using handphone as they take a
longer time to react.
Materials:
- Metre ruler
- Test subjects with cell phones (15 males and 15 females)
- Calculators
- Notebook for recording results
- Article (Standardized text used for subjects to type into their handphones)
Procedures:
1. Hold the metre ruler vertically just above the test subject’s hand. Each test subject to perform following
steps below.
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Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
2. Ask the test subject to place his or her thumb and forefinger on either side of the meter stick at the 0
centimeter mark. Test subject will allow the stick to fall freely between his fingers. This is done without
warning and without the anticipation of the subject.
3. The test subject is to grab hold of the metre rule as fast as he could, as it falls.
4. Drop the metre rule and record the distance (cm) where the test subject had stopped the ruler.
5. Perform three similar trials and calculate average score.
6. Repeat the experiment. This time, test subject will send a text message with one hand while the experiment
is being conducted.
7. Perform three similar trials and calculate average score.
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Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
Figure: Carrying the experiment on different subjects in school
Figure: Standardized text used by every subject while texting on their handphone
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Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
Results
Reaction distance
Subject
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Gender
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
Distance travelled while not texting
/ cm
Distance travelled while texting / cm
Trial 1
8
25
28
19
33
26
28
25
36
8
18
45
35
10
16
Trial 1
21.5
59
50
79
33
46
43
51
36
77
52
61
68
85
57
14
4
17.5
33
28
35
38
19
33
28.5
12
25.5
13.5
8
6
Trial 2
8
26
14
8
32
24
21
25
9
2
13
10
18
21
24
6
4
6
28
24
22
27
20
19
20
18
13
17
13
5
Trial 3
8
18
20
25
13
21
25
17
14
11
3
18
13
15
10
26
11
5.5
24
27
31
37
17
10
19
15
16
14.5
12.5
10.5
Average
8
23
21
17
26
24
25
22
20
7
11
24
22
15
17
15
6
10
28
26
29
34
19
21
23
15
18
15
11
7
21
68
41
59
59
53
67
78
14
73
53
76
56
84
46
Trial 2
23
65
57
61
58
78
44
41
54
16
39
16
45
67
81
51
55
61
43
53
42
42
41
41
40
48
58
35
59
51
Trial 3
19
74
23
58
45
50.5
45
28
46
38
15
18
56
87
46
42
27
45
55
18
31
71
39
19
39.5
43
46
68
78
75
Average
21
66
43
66
45
58
44
40
45
44
35
32
56
80
61
38
50
49
52
43
42
60
53
25
51
48
60
53
74
57
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Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
Analysis of the data:
90
Distance travelled while not texting
Distance travelled while texting
80
Distance travelled / cm
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Subject
100
Distance travelled while texting
Distance travelled while not texting
90
Distance travelled / cm
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Subject
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Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
Based on the results of the average reaction distance when not texting and the average reaction distance
when texting, it has shown that people are more alert when they are not texting or on the phone. The distance
travelled when texting is in a range of 21 to 80 cm compared to the distance travelled when not texting is in
range of 6 to 34 cm. Comparing the maximum distance travelled for both scenarios, the increment in distance
travelled is more than 100%.
The relationship between distance travelled and reaction time is the longer the distance travelled, the longer
the reaction time. When the distance travelled is longer, the subject took a longer time to catch the ruler,
which result in longer reaction time. This means that, the reaction time when one is not texting is shorter than
when one is texting due to shorter distance travelled. For example, if a person had increased his average
reaction timing, even by a few seconds , he could have met with an accident if he had crossed the road while
texting.
Difficulties/ obstacles faced during experiment:
- Finding a common time to conduct experiment
- Finding volunteers for experiment
- Tendency for subjects intend to anticipate the meter ruler
- Sourcing for good references such as reliable websites, books and journals for our groundwork.
Discussion:
We could conclude that humans’ reaction time are affected when multi-tasking. As we can see, the graph of
subjects when they are not texting shows lower average of distance travelled than the graph of subjects when
they are texting. Humans have proved to be less focused when having to concentrate on catching the meter
ruler while texting. When the subject is not doing anything but just focusing on catching the meter ruler, it
seems easy as they have only one purpose and one thing to focus on: catching the ruler. However, when the
subject has to catch the ruler while texting, the subject has more than one purpose, which are: 1. To catch the
meter ruler; and 2. Texting. Therefore, the subject has more than two things to focus on: 1. Phone; 2. Metre
ruler. The subject is thus distracted, affecting his reaction time. Hence, the graph of reaction time when texting
compared to the graph of reaction time when not texting, has a larger average of distance travelled.
Texting has not only increased our reaction time but is also the main cause of car accidents. According to a
recent article, about 6,000 deaths and a half a million injuries are caused by distracted drivers every year.
Answering a text takes away our attention for about five seconds. As a result, a driver may not be able to
react quickly when a car is coming towards him. He may not be able to avoid the oncoming vehicle/
pedestrian in time, resulting in a car accident. Innocent lives are taken away as a result of being distracted
while driving.
Conclusion:
Humans are less focused when multi-tasking. When doing more than one thing, a humans’ reaction time
seems to increase. Texting while driving may be one of the causes of major car accidents. When they are
texting, drivers are less likely to be aware of their surroundings. They may not be able to avoid a car which is
coming towards them. Lives are precious and fragile, and must be protected. Accidents can be prevented if
drivers do not use their phones when driving. With this, drivers are more focused on driving and safety is
ensured. We are responsible for our own actions. Our careless actions may cause the deaths of innocents.
See, the world which revolves around you, but your phone does not.
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Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
Application of your findings:
To discourage drivers from using their phones while they are driving.
Reflections:
Shelly (Leader):
Firstly am glad that our hypothesis is correct! As a leader, getting a team to work together is not an
easy job. My team members were always busy with school and CCA. Despite that, I was able to
learn the measurement of reaction time, doing research and learn about the importance of human
reaction time, with my members. Through this experiment, I finally realized how texting puts one's
fragile and precious life in danger. If there is another opportunity, I hope I can do more on it.
Jonathan Poon (Member):
Throughout this scientific thinking program journey, I have learnt more about reaction time and the
impacts of it to the society. As many people out there do not have an idea about the importance of
not using phone while crossing the road or driving, this experiment proved that using the phone while
crossing the road and driving does affect our reaction time. Now, we are able to remind and educate
the people around us about the importance of reaction time with phones. Other than that, I have also
learnt to be more contributive and supportive of the team. Our team was only able to set on the idea
of reaction time one to two weeks back, so we have to distribute different roles for everyone to be
more able to complete work on time. In a nutshell, this program and experiment have definitely
benefitted all of us as to the contributions to the school or the society.
Kimberley (Member):
This experiment has been fun and engaging for me. I have learnt that how fast we react to
something, could mean life or death. I have had a few, minor hiccups during the conduction of the
experiment. These include the unwillingness of our school mates to cooperate with us for the
experiment as well as the lack of suitable candidates for the experiment. Overall, the programme
had been intriguing for me and I hope to be able to have more opportunities to conduct such
experiments in the future. Our experiment this time will benefit the public, and prevent possible
accidents in future.
Priscilla (Member):
We might have difficulty with this project because we have to tell people that we are doing an
experiment on them. Many might be unwilling to do so. We also have to make sure that the
instructions given to them were clear and ensure that there were no mistakes so that it can be a fair
test. We also have to make sure they understand what we are doing. Most of them were confused at
first and did not know what they have to do and after one try they started to get it.
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Scientific Thinking Programme Project Report 2013
Appendixes/ References:
Texting Versus Talking: The Effects of Cell Phones on Reaction Time: http://www.education.com/sciencefair/article/texting-talking-effects-cell-phone-reaction-time/
Science Fair Project-Reaction Time Experiment: http://the-science-mom.com/50/science-fair-project-reactiontime-experiment-part-1-the-overall-design/
New Straits Times (newspaper article) dated 11 May 2013
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