Inquiry Project

When people think of the risks of living in an urban environment they typically think of issues such as gang related fights, shootings, drug overdoses, or other risks that are related to the negative stereotypes connected to urban areas. What people don’t realize is that there are numerous health risks that urban students face, and these are not connected to any stereotypes. Health issues such as obesity, lead poisoning, and asthma are very popular in urban areas, and it is my goal to see how these issues are affecting the Newark School system.
I feel that gathering information on the health of urban students would best be done by asking them. I intend on creating a questionnaire with general questions about the students’ lifestyle (I will disclose the topics of these questions below). This will give me direct answers to some of my questions and can either support or rebut some of the information that I have gathered from research studies online. Another source that I will look to for answers will be the school nurse; I know I will not be able to get private information about students, but I am hoping that general information such as number of students with asthma or any other diseases may be revealed to me. These will be my two main sources of information on the student’s health risks. I may look for other sources in the community but these will be the first two that I seek out.
The first risk that I will look to gather information on is asthma. With heavily polluted air and cigarette smoke the risk of developing asthma has increased in urban populations, and I intend to put some questions about the in home lifestyle of these students in the questionnaire. By asking if the students have parents, siblings, care takers, or even they smoke inside the home will let me know if the exposure to cigarette smoke is daily for these students. This is important to know because second hand smoke contains the same amount of deadly chemicals as direct inhalation, and exposure in a contained environment is not what children need.
The second risk that I will look at will be lead poisoning. Lead poisoning, although not popular, is also a health risk that urban students face. What many people don’t realize is that children can get lead poisoning from many objects, including soil. Many children do not wash their hands after playing in the park and if there is direct hand to mouth contact without washing off contaminated soil than children can obtain lead poisoning. I may not be able to find out whether the soil itself or other easily reachable items in the city are contaminated, but I will ask the children if they routinely wash their hands after playing outside. This will give me a good idea whether their chances are higher or lower.
The final risk that I will be looking at is obesity. African Americans have the highest percentage of contracting a heart disease at some point throughout their lives. With the majority of the urban population being African Americans I felt this was an issue that I may take a look into. One major contributor to heart disease is obesity, and since the percentage of people who are labeled obese is increasing in the Unites States I felt this would be a good studying point. I intend to ask students questions about their diet (eating of fast food, fruits/vegetables, whole grains), physical activity inside and outside of the school, and family history (if known) to gather some basic information. These questions will help to see if basic changes can be done in their daily lifestyle that will decrease their risk of obesity, which in turn can have a direct positive effect on the issue of heart disease.
Most of the information I intend to gather is direct from the students or the school itself, and I will look to make possible graphs to display this information. I hope to learn more about the risks that urban students face, and I hope that even by answering simple questions that these students may seem more interested in their health habits.