Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Thank you for looking into my science fair project.
The purpose of my project is to determine whether playing video games can affect the brain's ability to process auditory information.

I will have two groups of subjects to whom I will read a few paragraphs of information which I will proceed to test them on, using a test that I have prewritten.
One group will have played video games for an hour immediately before the test. The other group will take the test immediately without playing any video games. I will repeat the test with the same two groups in another week. This time, I will switch the two groups, so that the group that didn't play video games the first time will play video games the second time.

The game played will be constant as well as the age of the subjects.

I was wondering if there was anything that I could do to improve the experiment in any way.
Thank you

Hi,

This sounds like a really interesting experiment! Just so I'm clear, though--you plan to read the piece of information, then allow people to play video games, then do the test? What will the other group be doing--sitting quietly? It may be very difficult for students to sit still for an hour or even 20 minutes. Perhaps you might consider some other activity you could compare the video game to?

The only suggestion I would make is to have a very high sample size. You may need it in order to tell the difference between the groups. You may also want to test a couple of people before you do the actual experiment to make sure the test you're going to give isn't too easy or too hard.

Good luck!

Hi there,

As Melissa said, you have a very interesting project idea! If I understand your design correctly, you plan to have your subjects play a video game, hear you read information to them, and then take a test. Your control group will just hear the information and take the test without playing a game first. Is that correct?

I agree with Melissa that you will need a large sample size to tell the difference between your two groups. Do you plan to use the same test with your subjects one week later? If so, you will probably see improvement in both groups (because they'll remember something from the first time), and you may need to find a way to account for that.

Perhaps you can give us some more details about the test itself. Maybe the second week can involve a different piece of information with similar questions afterward.

Keep us posted with your progress!

Heather

Thank you for taking the time to look into my project,

I was planning on having the groups not playing video games come in later so that they can take the test quickly and leave, but now that you have suggested it, it might be interesting to have the "idle" groups participate in a more conventional activity such as playing board games or cards. I was also planning on giving a similar test with different information the second week so that test scores would not improve simply because of memory.
The large sample size is another aspect of the experiment that I had not thought about before. I should probably begin to recruit volunteers long in advance of the actual experiment so that I can get a large enough sample size to properly conduct the experiment.

Once again, thank you for the suggestions and the time you have taken to read and comment on my experiment. I really appreciate it.

Help!
I thought it would be easier to make a test that could properly measure a person's listening skills, but I was wrong. I cannot find any examples of such tests anywhere I look. If anyone has any sites that may point me in the right direction or any tips on making an effective test, it would be kind of him/her to post them. Thank you for your help so far.

Hi again!

If I were you, I would plan to read aloud a reading comprehension test. Just type 'reading comprehension test grade X' into your favorite search engine, and you will get examples of paragraphs that students can read and questions on those paragraphs. Then, rather than have them reading it themselves, you could read it aloud to them.

If I could make a suggestion, I would suggest that you record yourself reading the passage and then play that recording for everyone. That way, you know you read it at the same speed and with the same inflection, etc. for everyone.

Let me know if that works for you!

Hi - There is a Science Buddies project that doesn't map exactly to what you are hoping to do with your project but that I think you might be able to look at as an example of something similar in terms of procedure.

Multitasking: Brain Drain or Boost in Efficiency?
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p022.shtml

And there is an abbreviated project idea here:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p003.shtml

Amy
Science Buddies