OK SO LIKE i was full stressing the other day about blog I being due. i kept putting it off and putting it off and then BAM its the 11th March. AND NOW im stressing over the marks i may have lost on that first blog thingo. But, in my defence, my lack of blog entries was totally only because i was being thoughtful of miss zhang and how she has to read 150 of these things. So i was totally thinking of miss zhang by not writing blogs. really. im not joking.
ok maybe i am.
BUT TODAY i decided that i will be FULLY, 100% committed to being ACTIVE and updating my SRP blog regularly . because i love it so much. really, i do. im not joking.
ok maybe i am.
ok i'll stop.
NOW TO THE POINT OF THIS WHOLE BLOG ENTRY: just a teeny bit of research i wanna throw in.
So, I always thought that a persons balance is based on some funky chemical in our ear or something? Here's what http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/anatomy/ has to say:
Balance, or one' s sense of equilibrium, is controlled through the vestibular system that is contained in the inner ear. Balance and equilibrium help us stay erect when standing, know where we are in relation to gravity, and help us walk, run, and move without falling. The functioning of the vestibular system depends on information from many systems, hearing as well as vision and muscle feedback.
So i'm not doing WHETHER sight affects balance anymore, rather COMPARING how different levels of sight affects balance. Also, it's given me some other ideas about how to test the idea.
so yeah already thinking of changing some things around in my experiment. If I do make any changes, I won't be posting a new blog with the whole experiment, i'll just be tweaking it in my previous blog.... for anyone out there aside from miss zhang who actually care about me and my science problems... :D
AND FOLLOW ME. cause then it'll look like i have friends :)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
EXPERIMENT IDEA
My blog's been pretty dead with "hello world" being my most productive post so far... and other people have so many entries...and they look so pro...depressed...BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, i've come up with an idea for SRP (with help from miss zhang's email help thingy) yay!
WHETHER/HOW MUCH SIGHT AFFECTS A PERSON'S BALANCE
So I don't mean like walk across the beam blindfolded because then yes, it obviously affects your ability to do so (and i dont want my subjects to die).... I'm thinking more along the lines of whether it affects the balance of a person while they're stationary. So here's my idea for the experiment.
Aim: To observe whether/how much sight affects a person's ability to balance while stationary.
Hypothesis: A person with an obstructed sense of sight will find it more difficult to balance as opposed to a person who has clear sight.
Equipment: heavy blindfold, eye patch, 30 subjects (with varying abilities to balance eg. ballet dancers and unco people), low stool, timer
Method:
1. Find a flat-surfaced area to conduct the experiment.
2. Get the subject to stand in the tree position and time how long they can stay in that position.
3. Blindfold the subject and repeat step 2.
4. Remove the blindfold and place an eyepatch over the subject's right eye and repeat step 2.
5. Place eyepatch over the subject's left eye and repeat step 2.
4. Record results, noting whether they may be better at balancing naturally (eg ballet dancer)
5. Repeat steps 2 - 4, except instead of the tree position, have the subject balance on one lef on a low stool.
6. Repeat steps 2 - 5 with all other subjects
WHETHER/HOW MUCH SIGHT AFFECTS A PERSON'S BALANCE
So I don't mean like walk across the beam blindfolded because then yes, it obviously affects your ability to do so (and i dont want my subjects to die).... I'm thinking more along the lines of whether it affects the balance of a person while they're stationary. So here's my idea for the experiment.
Aim: To observe whether/how much sight affects a person's ability to balance while stationary.
Hypothesis: A person with an obstructed sense of sight will find it more difficult to balance as opposed to a person who has clear sight.
Equipment: heavy blindfold, eye patch, 30 subjects (with varying abilities to balance eg. ballet dancers and unco people), low stool, timer
Method:
1. Find a flat-surfaced area to conduct the experiment.
2. Get the subject to stand in the tree position and time how long they can stay in that position.
3. Blindfold the subject and repeat step 2.
4. Remove the blindfold and place an eyepatch over the subject's right eye and repeat step 2.
5. Place eyepatch over the subject's left eye and repeat step 2.
4. Record results, noting whether they may be better at balancing naturally (eg ballet dancer)
5. Repeat steps 2 - 4, except instead of the tree position, have the subject balance on one lef on a low stool.
6. Repeat steps 2 - 5 with all other subjects
So I tried to get positions that were not too easy, not too hard to get more accurate results for the aim. Tried them out in my living room but not sure how reliable I am with my not-so-great balancing skills.
OH AND VARIABLES
independent variable: conditions under which subject is being tested. eg position, blindfolded or not etc...
dependent variable: how long the subject can stay in a position
I will most definitely be changing the experiment around once I try it out on my subjects (VOLUNTEERS? I have cookies :)) to try and get better results. Also change wording of a few things - had several mental blanks while writing this.
REALISATION: how these blog thingies are being marked. oh god. SCIENCE IS EVIL.
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