Shapesplosion is an on-line game in which a person is expected to place specifically shaped pegs into the appropriate holes within a short time period. In this project, students are asked to use the Shapesplosion game to design an experiment and collect data. This game is specifically designed so that students have the opportunity to develop and test their own unique research question. You can leave all the variables blank when you are simply trying out the game, however, if you want to find your score is the database of results, you will need to select the Participant Info box.
Memorathon is an on-line game in which a person is expected to repeat a sequence of buttons provided by an electronic device. Each time you successfully repeat the given sequence of buttons, the sequence gets longer. The challenge is to remember as long a sequence as possible. Cognitive psychologists test short-term memory using serial recall, which evaluates the ability of people to recall information in the specified order in which it was presented. Measuring how many items a subject can remember in order without an error, called memory span, is also studied. The Memorathon Game is an example of serial recall and memory span. This on-line game provides students the opportunity to design multiple versions of the Memorathon Game in order to test which variables have the largest effect on memory. You can leave all the variables blank when you are simply trying out the game, however, if you want to find your score in the database of results, input any specific course ID and student ID.
Statistically Grounded is an on-line game that introduces multivariate issues in a simplified game environment. Students are asked to serve as a consultant for their friend, Joe. Joe is starting his own coffee company and students help him design a study to determine whether factors, such as location, time of day, price, type of music, or some combination of these influence sales. The on-line game allows students to design a study, sample data, and make suggestions on how Joe's business should be run. The game then simulates several months of business based on student's suggestions. The goal is to design a plan that will earn the most sales and make the largest amount of profits.
Tangrams are puzzles in which a person is expected to place geometrically shaped pieces into a particular design. The on-line Tangram Game provides students the opportunity to design many versions of the original game in order to test which variables have the largest effect on game completion time.
…experimentation will always involve a series of trials; the question is how well one utilizes information from one to the next.
Nancy Flournoy (1947 - )
Do not seek for information of which you cannot make use.
Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
… most people prefer to carry out the kinds of experiments that allow the scientist to feel that he is in full control of the situation rather than surrendering himself to the situation, as one must in studying human beings as they actually live.
Margaret Mead (1901 – 1978)
Lyrics by Dennis Pearl. May sing to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun" popularized by the Animals
There is a mouse with odd new genes
They’re all analyzing that one.
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor lab
Reproducible results are none.
My mother went to Baylor
Where she studied new transgenes.
My father was a Gramblin’ man
Down near New Orleans.
Now the only thing a study needs
are cases to match controls.
And the only time that’s satisfied
takes dice and all their rolls.
Oh teachers, tell your students
Not to do what I have done.
Spend your lives experimenting
on a mouse, analyzing just one.
Well my bioinformatics platform
Is impossible to train.
I’m going back to splicing genes
having samples to obtain.
They built a mouse with odd new genes
to solve a rare disease.
A statistician asked for a hundred more
And God, I hope he said “please.”