science fair project

Sebastian has been collaborating with his friends Nathan and Wyatt on a project for the upcoming science fair at their school. They've been helped along by Nathan's parents, who brainstormed possible projects and have spearheaded the design of the experiment. We've had weekly science fair playdates - so fun - at which they do the bare minimum of work and then play together. :)

But the project is due on March 15th, so yesterday found them making flash cards and a results table, and practicing their explanatory spiel; we are ready to move ahead with the experimental phase. Their hypothesis is that children are able to retain more information - their memories work better - after exercise. (So more recess = better learning outcomes!)

The experiment: show a set of 10 photos (all of common food items) to a child and ask him/her to remember as many as possible. Then have the child do some exercises - jumping jacks, running in place, pushups. After a break, show the child a different set of 10 photos and see how many he/she remembers. Record the results in a table. The final phase will be to collect results, display them, and present a poster at the science fair.

I have no idea if their hypothesis will be proven correct or not, and the number of factors affecting their outcomes is huge. This is clearly not going to be a controlled, statistically significant study. But the fact that they're talking about a hypothesis, constructing an methodology to test their hypothesis, and carrying out an experiment, is huge. I love that they're doing it at all.

 Practicing his speech:

science fair from B. Avery on Vimeo.