Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

i want to use the Braille Alphabet and kids at my school. either test how they can learn the braille or how quickly they can remember it. or try giving a control nothing, dependent candy, and another variable saltines or something...or doing something with males vs. females.. any ideas??


HELP!!!!!!

Hi,

You seem to have some ideas already. Which one are you most interested in at this moment? The Braille Alphabet experiment sounds pretty interesting, especially if you can find a way to test for gender differences in learning it.

Shijun
Science Buddies Staff

I agree. The ability and learning styles of each gender is a hot area of educational research at the moment. I suggest pursuing the male vs female aspect. However, be sure that you give everyone the same thing to read. Also, make sure that you test at least 50 people. I know this sounds like alot, but it really isn't. Your teacher may even be willing to let people do it during class. The most difficult of this project will be the controls. Carefully consider the importance of each and every control.

hey thanks, i'm really interested in the Braille Alphabet and i was thining to do this:

test females:
set alphabet infront of subject, let subject look over alphabet for one minute. after that, blind fold subject and sramble letters [letters will be cut out in indivisual letters] ask subject to spell 1) cat 2) dog 3) blue

the only thing I'm not quiet sure how to do is
a) graph the results
b) wat is the control?
c) how many females and males? 50 all together?

lil papa,

This sounds like a fine idea. However, you may want to give more than 1 minute for each person to study the alphabet. Also, blindfolding the subject might cause stress. Therefore, I would reccomend that you have another table set up in a different room with the mixed up lettersm rather than mixing up the letters with the person blindfolded. This ensures that a minimum amount of stress is caused. To graph the results, it is best to use a computer program like Microsoft Excel. If you have never used Excel, ask your school librarian or teacher for help. I would suggest using a bar graph, because you are comparing ratios, not changes over time. Your control would be to have a person who is ask to spell the words using the correct spelling. But, instead of having the person spell it, you have a "spelling list" that tells them how to spell it. I would suggest using an equal amount of males and females. I would also reccomend testing as many people as possible. If feasible, I would also suggest that you test people of different ages and ethnicities.

Keep in mind some of the following rules: whenever someone uses a human in a research project, the subjects must sign an Informed Consent form. This is a paper that tells the person exactly what they will be doing, the risks involved, and informs them of any personal information that may be released during the study. Do not let anyone be a part of your experiment unless they have signed an Informed Consent form. Keep all the Informed Consent forms in a file, as the judges may ask to see them. If you have any questions about informed consent froms, feel free to go to http://www.science-fair.org and click on the SRC link. There should be a section there that discusses Informed Consent. If not, there will be an e-mail address for you to write to. Good Luck!

ok, i guess i need to type a consent form then.


but i still don't understand who/what is my control. a person that ???
HELP!!

also... the blind folding thing... see the Regular Alphabet's letter is printed below the Braille dotted letter. so if i were to tell someone to rearrange the letters and spell 'cat' they could easily do it...so how do i not blind fold the subject, but also see if they learned anything??


SO CONFUSED!!!!

lil papa,

For your control, give an unblindfolded person (use equal numbers male and female) a copy of the Braille alphabet. Give them time to study it. Then, give them a set of Braille letters with their Eniglish equivalent printed beneath them.

For the unblindfolded people: is there any way that you can remove the English version of the alphabet for the test? If so, this would be the ideal way to go!

Good Luck