Project on Brain Cells
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Smath
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:14 pm
- Occupation: Student
- Project Question: How many survey respondents would I need to represent the general population?
- Project Due Date: Couple of days
- Project Status: I am finished with my experiment and analyzing the data
Project on Brain Cells
My Project revolves around the importance of Brain cells (Neuron & Glial Cells) - How important they are, their lifespan, how they "die" off, and how they can supposedly regenerate. How can I perform an experiment on this subject? Do I need to?
Re: Project on Brain Cells
Hi,
You are right; this kind of a topic can be difficult to do an experiment on. I would suggest trying to find a mentor who works on neurobiology at a local university if you are interested in doing experiments. Another potential route you might consider is to do an experiment on how cognitive function varies with age (e.g. give a test of some sort to people of different ages to see if cognitive function does vary with age).
As to whether or not you 'need' to perform an experiment, this is something you should really ask your teacher--we don't know what the requirements for your project/fair are.
Hope this helps!
You are right; this kind of a topic can be difficult to do an experiment on. I would suggest trying to find a mentor who works on neurobiology at a local university if you are interested in doing experiments. Another potential route you might consider is to do an experiment on how cognitive function varies with age (e.g. give a test of some sort to people of different ages to see if cognitive function does vary with age).
As to whether or not you 'need' to perform an experiment, this is something you should really ask your teacher--we don't know what the requirements for your project/fair are.
Hope this helps!
-
Smath
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:14 pm
- Occupation: Student
- Project Question: How many survey respondents would I need to represent the general population?
- Project Due Date: Couple of days
- Project Status: I am finished with my experiment and analyzing the data
Re: Project on Brain Cells
It appears that I do need to perform an experiment for this fair, otherwise reasearch based projects will not be eligible for competition (but allowed for display). The rules state that the experiments must be inquiry based, meaning they require a scientific method based process. While I have provided reasearch through books and the internet, I haven't quite performed an experiment, seeing as actual experiments on Brain cells are sort of out of the question. I also cannnot conduct surveys/test on human subjects; the form of pre approval on human subjects is past due. At the beginning of this project, my goal was to provide information on brain cells and their lifespan. Is there anything I can do that can be eligible for my science fair?
The student handbook containing the rules can be found here:
http://www.cceconptnr.org/ScienceFair/S ... ndbook.pdf
The student handbook containing the rules can be found here:
http://www.cceconptnr.org/ScienceFair/S ... ndbook.pdf
Re: Project on Brain Cells
Okay, if you can't look at humans, what about animals? I bet that many of your friends/acquaintances/etc. have dogs and that these dogs vary in age. Perhaps you could do an experiment on trying to teach dogs of different ages new tricks, to see if old dogs really can learn new tricks...
Otherwise, I suggest you take a look at the 'science fair ideas' section of Science Buddies--it's a great resource and you might find something you can do there.
Otherwise, I suggest you take a look at the 'science fair ideas' section of Science Buddies--it's a great resource and you might find something you can do there.