Help needed on trials for Science Project

[Lydiataylor]

My science project question is - Will elementary students that are made aware of the top 8 food allergen's dangers to people with allergies and the labeling law be able to identify more allergens in food packaging than elementary students that are not made aware of the top 8 food allergen's dangers and the labeling law? I have 10 common foods that I'm using. I have tested 10 students so far in my control group that was told about allergens and I've tested 10 students so far that was in my 1st trial that were not told about food allergens. I give each student a packaged food and give them 60 seconds to circle from a list of allergens what is contained in that food. I'm I headed in the right direction? Should I have more people in each group? Should I do 2 more trials introducing a different variable like 90 seconds for one? I just want to make sure I'm following the correct method.


Thanks for any help

[LewisWhaley]

Hi Lydiataylor.

Please do a search on Sciencebuddies web site for the following keywords:
1. Go to Science Buddies web page "Project Ideas."
2. Type this keyword in the "Search for" box on the top right of that screen.
Keyword Search on the following:
food allergen's dangers
3. Select "Advanced search options" button for " All http://www.sciencebuddies.org "
4. Select "Limit results to," "All"
5. Read the search results that are returned to see if they can help you answer your Question.


NEXT:

1. Do a Google Search using the following keywords:
food allergen's dangers + labeling
2. You will have several million search results returned which will require you to experiment
with different variations of your Question's keywords for which you need answers to.
3. Try different search arguments and put them in QUOTE MARKS in order to limit the
number of search results that you receive, such as the following keywords:
"food allergen's"


Please let us know if this helps you with the answers to your Question.

Good Luck!

[MelissaB]

Hi,

Just to add to the advice you've already been given--I think you are definitely on the right track. Generally, especially in K-5 levels, we advise that you stick with just a single variable. I would suggest getting more than 10 students in each group instead of adding another variable (60 vs. 90 sec). The more students you test, the more confident you can be in your results. Overall, though, I love your study design and your project sounds really interesting. Good luck!