science: Does Age Affect How Well You See Optical Illusions Science Fair Project

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Does Age Affect How Well You See Optical Illusions Science Fair Project

The control experiment for this science fair project will test a person who is about 30 to 40 years of age. This is the median age for the test group. They will each be exposed to an optical illusion card and asked what they see. The cards will begin with simple optical illusions and progress to more complex optical illusions.

The test experiment will actually consist of three separate test groups. Test Group 1 will be made up of elementary aged students between the ages of 8 and 10, Test Group 2 will be made up of young adults between 17 and 22, and Test Group 3 will be made up of older adults between the ages of 45 and 55. Each test group will be given the optical illusion test given in the control experiment.

Data Collection

The collection of data will be very simple. All the students will need to do is to write down the responses to the cards. They will then need to indicate if the correctly identified the optical illusion or if they failed to identify the optical illusion.

Data Analysis

The analysis of the data in this experiment is going to take some time. This is because there is going to be a lot of data to organize and evaluate. To start with each test group will be evaluated individually. The student will want to find the average rate of correctness in the optical illusion identification test. They will also want to find the average rate of correctness for each optical illusion card.

Students can then determine if the age group had difficulties with any particular card and they can give the group an optical illusion complexity rating of one to five, with one being that they cannot identify any optical illusions and five being that they can identify all levels of optical illusions. These results can then be compared across the age spectrum.

Drawing Conclusions

The conclusions that are drawn will be based on the results of each test group. Students will want to determine if aging positively impacts a person’s ability to identify, or see an optical illusion. If this trend is identified then the hypothesis is correct, if it is not present then the hypothesis is considered null and void.

By: M. Binder

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How To Win A Science Fair Contest

Tip #1 – Age Appropriateness Counts When a science fair judge looks at a project they are going to judge its value based partially on the age of the student and the complexity of the project. Students that create projects that are too simple for their grade level are going to receive lower scores than those students that create projects that are more complex than the average project created by someone of their grade level. A good way to select a project idea or topic that will be considered above your grade level is to examine text books or curriculum guides for science classes that are above your grade level. Tip #2 – Select a Topic That You Can Handle While it is important to push the envelope in terms of project complexity, you do not want to over do it. You need to be able to understand your topic and its related concepts in order to complete your project with precision and accuracy. If you select a topic that is too complex then you may not be able to design an experiment that will be manageable for your skill level and available resources. Tip #3 – Take a Unique Approach Uniqueness is one of the main characteristics that will be judged about your project. Uniqueness is very important to implement into the design of your project. You can make your project more unique by asking yourself if there is another way to solve your project’s main question or problem, or if there is a better way to do something or if there is a more interesting way to approach your topic. These simple questions can help you to find new angles that the judges will be intrigued by. Conclusion Winning a science fair contest is not easy to do. There are few prizes to be won and many students try to win the top places in the contest. The best way for you to enhance your chances of wining a science fair contest is to plan out your project, put in your best effort and to organize your time so that you do not have to rush the completion of your entry.