What project could we do?
Students can chose any project they wish that conforms to the aims of the competition. Some ideas are listed below; they might get you thinking of other ideas.You are encouraged to use data collected from a science class. You may, for example, have collected data in biology about the best conditions for growing bean spouts. What a great idea for a Stats Competition poster!
Some general guidelines should be followed for any project; you should read this before starting!
Here are some ideas to get you started. Detailed directions are provided by clicking on the project name.
- Splat that! (Physics)
- Determine the accuracy of a catapult.
- Ants for lunch. (Biology)
- Do ants prefer meat or jam sandwiches?
- Kids Bizz. (Psychology)
- Find out about your school mates.
- Slow Coach. (Scheduling)
- Is it really true that the bus is always late?
- Tack toss. (Probability)
- When a thumb-tack is tossed, how often does the tack land point-up?
- Common cents. (Hobbies)
- What happens to Australian coins?
Other ideas may include:
- Transport
- How old are the cars on the road?
- Cycling injuries: Helmets, do they make a difference?
- Who uses which forms of transport and why?
- Sport
- Do fit people sweat more than unfit people?
- Can the winner of a rugby match be picked at half-time?
- How do resting and after-exercise pulse rates vary across age and gender?
- Science
- How does the boiling point of water change with concentration of dissolved salt?
- What factors determine the coefficient of friction?
- Are extra-life batteries worth the extra expense?
- How do plant germination times vary under different conditions?
- How does the level of ant activity change with temperature?
- Psychology
- Does reaction time vary with age?
- How does short term memory retention vary across various groups?
- Marketing
- Do generic brands taste different?
- Can people distinguish amongst brands of tea/coffee/cola by taste alone?
- Are opinions affected by advertising?
- How knowledgeable are people about nutrition?
- Behaviour
- How much do people eat?
- At what age do people take up smoking?
- How much do teenagers drink?
- How do homework habits vary with grade/sex/type of school?
- Opinions
- What subjects should be taught in schools?
- How do opinions vary with age/sex on matters such as abortion/legalisation of marijuana/censorship/etc?
For any project, these are the issues you will need to consider.
- What exactly is the question of interest?
- How can you obtain data to help answer the question of interest?
- What equipment you will need
- Design the experiment to answer the question that was asked
- Collect data
- Summarise and check the data
- Use statistics to analyse your data
- Interpret and make conclusions