ABSTRACT
There is an element of danger about science that is attractive to some students and induces anxiety in others. For certain, science is associated with Ebola virus, nuclear weapons, earthquakes, deadly neurotoxins, and other threats to life and limb. If it is unsafe, somewhere scientists are studying it. That danger easily extends into the science classroom, and science teachers are well aware that an oversight on their part could actually result in student injury. The benefit of having students wear safety goggles is that they protect their eyes as well as their teachers’ livelihoods. Further, this practice also instills in students one of the most important values of engaging in science and engineering, that of mitigating risk and maintaining a safe environment in which to work. Goggles can work as a signifier of real science at all levels, not just in high school science laboratories.
