| Does Chewing Gum During a Math Test Improve Test Scores? | |
Researched by Miranda
G.
|
|
The purpose of this experiment was to determine if chewing gum duringa test improved math test scores.
I became interested in this idea when I was chewing gum while doinghomework; it seemed to me that it was helping me to concentrate.
The information gained from this experiment would
help parents, students,and any kind of educators to better understand how
gum chewing affectsperformance.
My hypothesis was that chewing gum during a test would improve testscores.
I based my hypothesis on an article by Joan Weber
in a World Book Encyclopediasaying, “Gum is known to help people concentrate.”
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
The constants in this study were:
*Student’s ages: 12-13
* The room temperature, noise level, lighting,
etc.
* The room and arrangement (desks far apart)
* Type of Gum
* The tests given to the subjects
The manipulated variable was whether gum was chewed by subject duringthe math test.
The responding variable was score on math test.
To measure the responding variable I corrected
each test and countedthe number correct.
| QUANTITY | ITEMDESCRIPTION |
| 40 | 12 to 13 yr old students |
| 40 | test 1 and 2 |
|
40 |
pieces of sugar-free gum |
|
1 |
empty classroom |
| 40 | pencils |
| 50-60 | permission slips |
| 1 | experimentor's script |
| 1 | answer key |
1. Obtain subject pool with permission slips.
2. Randomly create four groups with a similar
amount of boysand girls in each group.
3. Prepare test for experiment.
4. Prepare room for experiment by separating
each desk at least 3 feetapart, place a chair with each desk, and make
sure there would be no distractions.
5. Collect students to be tested from their classrooms
and show themto test room.
6. Give instructions (based on treatment group)
to the students andanswer any questions that were asked.
Treatment Chart for Each Group
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
Day 1 Test A with Gum Chewing Test B with Gum
Chewing Test A with NoGum Test B with No Gum
Day 2 Test B with No Gum Test A with No
Gum Test B with Gum ChewingTest A with Gum Chewing
7. If students are currently in a “Gum Chewing”
treatment:
a. Hand the students an envelope with a stick
of sugar-free gum init.
b. Have the subjects take out the gum stick and
start chewing.
8. Make sure each subject puts their name on
the test.
9. Time the test with a stopwatch. Tell them
to begin!
10. After 20 minutes, stop them. Collect all
tests
11. If students are currently in a “Gum Chewing”
treatment, also collectthe envelope with the piece of chewed gum inside.
12. Repeat steps 5-11 with every group for the
current day.
13. On a different day repeat steps 4- 12 using
the correct treatmentfrom the chart above and with subjects taking the
opposite test.
14. Score all tests using answer keys.
15. Log the results.
The original purpose of this experiment was to determine if chewinggum during a test improved math test scores.
The results of the experiment were that chewing gum during a test didimprove test scores.
See the table and graph below.
My hypothesis was that chewing gum during a math test would improvetest scores.
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if sugar gum wouldimprove test scores more.
If I were to conduct this project again I would
test different typesof gum.
I would like to thank the following people for
helping make my projectpossible:
* My parents for helping and encouraging me while
conducting this experiment.
* My subjects for all their efforts taking the
test
* Several teachers for allowing the subjects
to participate in my experiment during class time.
* Mr. Newkirk and Mrs. Helms for helping me with
my project.
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