Muskan Hossain 8B
Science Fair Project

Are boys better than girls at following instructions, does age have an effect?
Independent Variable
: The gender being tested, the age of the person
Controlled Variable
: The Instructions
Dependent Variable
: The gender who followed the instructions the best
Objective
: The objective of this experiment is to ascertain if there are differences in the ability to follow instructions, between genders and ages.
Procedure:
1.

Test each participant separately

2.

Explain to each participant that they are being tested on their ability to complete a list of tasks and that they will be timed. Also advise the participant that they will be competing against the other participants. (This will create a sense of competition).

3.

Allow each participant to have a copy of the list of tasks to refer to at the time of the experiment
(do not let participants see the list of tasks prior to actually being tested). In particular, do not mention how much time the participants have, for reading the list.

4.

Enter your observations of each participant in the data sheet. Did the participant follow instructions as indicated on the list of task?

5.

Allow each participant one minute to complete the task list (You may extend this time if your task list contains more items than those provided in the example).

6.

Do not give the participant any assistance or feedback while conducting the experiment.

7.

Refer to the example task list. Important: note task # 10. This task needs to be included as the last task item. It will determine the participant's ability to follow instructions. You can change or add all other task items.

Hypothesis
: If boys and girls were given instructions to do a particular job then