MulTiTasking (aka REAL Blog one)

Hey......again,

So in my earlier blog, it was still unclear what i would be doing for my 6 month project. I decided, that although the lactose experiment was really interesting. It didn't really pose a problem. My question would only be, What is Lactose Intolerance? I wouldn't have found a great hypothesis and what could I have concluded from it? I'll have to run it through with Ms Zhang because I have to ask her stuff about it. I actually wrote BLOG 1 on it and I've posted in intro to it at the bottom, and I may still be doing it if I can find a reasonable hypothesis so I can properly conclude my experiment. I have always questioned multitasking. Can someone really do two things at once?

This experiment will investigate if a person can pay attention to two things at once. This is only a rough method, as I may change it in the future. I really like this topic because I can play around with it. So step one is to recruit about 10 to 20 girls to do the test for me. Apparently the more people, the more accurate the result. They will bring portable headsets to listen to music to. (If they don't have one I'll just borrow some for them to use from friends with ipods). I will create 2 sets of simple maths tests (pretty simple) that will take around ten minutes for them to do. Half of the girls will do the test with their music on and the other half will do the test without their music. When everyone is finished with the first test, the groups are reversed and the test is conducted for the second time. After the test. I will ask the volunteer how they felt they did on the first test versus the second test. After marking the tests, I will record the results and the total points for test one and test two.

If it was too difficult to find enough head sets, I would conduct the test in two different rooms. One room would play background music fairly loudly (not too loud)and the other room would be quiet.

The materials for the test are well are the girls, music headsets and maths papers. I can easily obtain the materials for free, and I'll just recruit some of my friends in school. The experiment is very low cost, but is a bit time consuming. (If you consider doing tests, doing them again, and marking them time consuming). I'm still uncertain if I should conduct the experiment as a blind one. If the people knew, they might put their ipod music really, really softly so they could concentrate on the test. If this happened it would distrupt the results.

The dependent variable in the test is how many marks the people got in their test, the time it took to complete the test
The independent variable in the test is when the people do the test with music or without
The controlled Variable in the test is the number of people, the loudness of the music, and the easiness of the exam paper, time conducted

So is it...

A fair test
- There are controlled variables other than dependent and independent (listed above)
- there will be a repeat conducted the next day with a different set of people (if i can recruit more)

A reliable one
- As I said before, it will be repeated

Conducted with house hold equipment
-well I wont be using any chemicals so yes

Able to be completed in the time frame
-It will only take a couple of weeks to conduct, mark and gather the results, The time frame, 6 months is more than enough

Gives a valid conclusive result
-YAY!! it actually does, unlike my failed lactose blog. It will show whether multitasking will impact a volunteers ability to answer maths questions

Got MiLk? (aka First Blog Submission)

Hey,

So in my earlier blog, I was still unclear of what to do for my SRP, but after carefully thinking about it, I have decided research Lactose intolerance

The experiment will involve investigating the biochemical basis of lactose intolerance by adding lactase to lactose and testing for a reaction product, glucose. From my research, I discovered you can do this by testing the glucose concentration levels in milk and lactose free milk and comparing it to the glucose concentration levels in milk and lactose free milk after lactase is added to the milk. The different types of milk is a factor in the experiment.

The materials (milk-lactose and normal), glucose strips, glucose tablets and lactase drops) can easily be obtained from the supermarket or the chemist and because the experiment doesn't involve chemicals or anything potentially dangerous, it can be conducted within household equipment.

So before I conclude whether it is reliable and conducted fairly, I better present the method I will be using. I stated it briefly in the second paragraph, but I left out some stuff.

Firstly, I'll have to test the glucose strips, with positive and negative controls.
By dipping separate glucose strip into the positive (positive solution of 2% water (made by mixing water with the glucose tablet)) and the negative control, (100mls of plain tap water) Hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, I will get a reaction out of the positive control. Following this, I'll put one teaspoon of milk and lactose-free milk in separate cups, and dip the glucose strips to determine the concentration of the milk and compare it, After recording these results, I will add one drop of lactase into the normal milk and lactose free milk, and dip the glucose strips there too, so I can determine the glucose concentration. Then, with the results, I will compare the glucose concentration between regular milk and lactose-free milk before and after the addition to lactase and hope to explain why there is a change in glucose concentration after the addition of lactase in regular and lactose free milk.

The independent variables are the lactose free milk and the normal milk
The dependent variables are the glucose strips
The controlled variables are the amount of milk in each cup, the number of lactase drops and the size of the cups
I not totally sure of this, but I think the Lactase drops would be the catalyst.

So is it.....

Conducted Fairly?
I believe it will be a fair test because I will be repeating it twice, there is a use of a control in my experiment- the glucose strip test- there are a control of variables other than the dependent and independent (listed above).

Reliable?
I will ensure it's reliability by trialing it more than once

Able to be completed within the time frame?
I am certain that it won't take me the time period given to finish the experiment.

Able to give a valid conclusion
determined the level of glucose in normal milk and the level of glucose after the breakdown of lactose? (UNCERTAIN)

oops, I didn't consider this. Might have to change now......sigh. I'll ask ms Zhang about this tomorrow.

IDEAS!

I've done some research and I've choosen some of the experiments that I like
There's one on multitasking that i thought was interesting and another on extracting
perfume oils from flowers using the enfleurage-extraction technique. The third one was
whether chemical lightening treatments affect the natural elasticity of human hair. The last one was
exploring the basis of lactose intolerance. I sort of like that one, because I'm a bit lactose intolerant
myself, and I often wonder what the cause of it is. Well that's all for tonight.