Welcome to Psychology Fair 2015

Psychology Fair 2015

What is Psychology Fair? - A quick synopsis of Psychology Fair

Psychology Fair Participants Information Sheet 

2014 Psychology Fair Blog - Take a look back at last years projects and results.  

2014 Psychology Fair Pictures

Psychology Fair Blog Directions - For Students

If you are interested in finding out more information about Psychology Fair or about specific project please Contact Desi Vuillaume - Carl Sandburg High School

Group 19: Hassan Abdelghani, Megan Kats, Emily Lhotka

THE MYSTERY BOX

March 10th: Day 1

It has begun! Today was an adventure. Well right now, we are just doing background research and figuring out the process of the exciting experiment. We are planning to be original and do an experiment that has never been done by another past psychology fair group of Carl Sandburg! Talk about being creative...we have set plans and ideas in order to make this experiment successful and amazing. We want every person to go in the box and fall on their booty... then to walk out and say, "What the hell happened?" I want everyone to enjoy their adventure in the box and learn something new at the end about psychology through this experiment...

March 11th: Day 2

Oh boy! WOAH! We finally found some past experiments that have been done that we could use to learn from for our experiment. Let's just say we were jumping with joy when it took us after 53 searches on google to actually find something similar... Now time to do research... it's not the most exciting part, but it has to be done in order to get started on this experiment. Now, we are planning ideas on how to build the box in order to give many people a good time of their lives on the day of the psych fair! Let's just say it will be a journey when you are in a box that will result in you falling on your booty. You won't be laughing, but you will be amazed and shocked behind the psychology of this whole experiment...

March 12th: Day 3

OHHHH! We are almost there. We are finishing up the research. I know it's not the fun part, but the pain will go away once we start working on this experiment. Since Hassan knows everyone in this school. He is planning to talk to the crew members in order to get help building this box. Let's just say we can't leave Emily, Megan, or Hassan to build this box unless you want it to collapse on someone because none of us know how to turn on a power drill or even know where a screw goes in... a majority of the crew is up for building the box because all of them love and live for building anything. As well, they are pumped to work on a cool experiment. So thank you Carl Sandburg's crew members for being the bomb diggitys.

March 13th: Day 4 

Our group is literally kicking some booty right now. We are all finished with our background research. Now, let's just say we are ready for this psych fair. Well, not really because we still have a lot of work ahead of us. We still have to figure out when and how we are building this box of excitement... Well it needs to be amazing because our goal as a group is to leave each person with an impression of loving psychology and this new experiment. Even though, it will probably hurt when they fall on their butt. Also, as a group we are focusing on making this experiment successful and fun as we still have a lot of work ahead of us. 

March 16th: Day 5 

We are now discussing possible problems with the box after we build it. We fear that it might be too heavy to keep up on those 4 small wheels or that the box might be too tall to fit in the theatre doors. I know what we can do to solve these situations. We have to make sure we don't attach more wood to the wood we already have because then it will make it heavier...instead we get one side piece of plywood. Then, we attach the two wheels to that. We can make sure its not too tall for the theatre doors by going to the PAC and measuring the doors with tape measure to get an exact measure. 

March 17th: Day 6 

CHANGE OF PLAN! The crew can't help us build this box because they have musical set designs to do for the next week, so here's another problem that just came to us! Woah. If my life wasn't as easy as pie... That was sarcasm if you didn't catch it. So I'm gonna have to spend the next few days thinking of something to do quick about building this box or else we will have no box on the psych fair. Then, it will be the invisible box! HAHAHA get it? You won't be able to see it because it's not there!!!

March 18th: Day 7

Still don't know what to do? Oh typical Hassan...wait I have an idea though! I need to get in contact with a few certain friends that can actually help me build this box. I think I'm gonna get help from my friend, Alyssa Mohn, a painter. As well, I'm going to talk to Carly Bandera who will have her dad help me build this box from scratch...Hey at least I got good news...this box will turn out amazing! You watch! The other people in this group, Emily and Megan will work on the poster that sits on our booth area on the day of the psych fair! 

March 19th: Day 8 

I just got in contact with both of my friends who I think could help me with this box! I mean at this point I'm desperate! They said "YES!" I'm dying right now of happiness. They are planning to help me build this box on Sunday, so hopefully we can get it done on a single long day. We have to...to finish this box before Wednesday. We need the box built and the walls and sides painted in certain colors... Just pray for us! I know we can do this! 

March 20th: Day 9

Here it goes... so I planned the box building! I made a blueprint! So I'm gonna need 2 plywoods (4' by 8') and 2 pieces of wood (2" x 2" x 8'). I'm gonna need a lot of white paint and a little black paint. As well, I need 4 small wheels, a power drill, and screws. I'm planning to met with them on Sunday. Sunday is the big day! :-) 

I went to Home Depot to grab the wood and then just the black paint since Mr. Bandera had everything else! The price totaled out to $65! Not bad! 

March 23th: Day 10 

I did it! It took about 7 hours to finish this box! YAY! Well, it only took 90 minutes to build the box, but man can we talk about painting a box was a serious challenge...and took forever. We were up from 8:00 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. We stayed in my shady garage and blasted the radio and jammed out while painting this box! Can I just say I became really good friends with Alyssa that night because we had such a nice real talk once it hit midnight. Thank you so much to Carly Bandera and her dad and to the amazing painter, Alyssa Mohn. She is the one who designed the walls and did the amazing writing. I mean I did the hand prints though!

March 24th: Day 11

Apparently my group got mad at me for ignoring them and building this box without their support! I just wanted to surprise them...at least the box works. Megan came with her big pick-up truck and took the box and then assembled it at her house and tested it on a few people. They all fell! YES. We succeed...we accomplished what I wanted from day one. Well Megan said that they all freaked out and panicked because they fell, but hey we sometimes have to get the last laugh. Hopefully, everyone gets a new experience from trying this experiment. I FEEL AMAZING THAT THIS EXPERIMENT ACTUALLY SUCCEEDED... 

We still have to work on the poster :/...Hey one step at a time...Hopefully the poster doesn't take as long as the building of the box. 

March 25th: Day 12

You Betcha! Psych fair is one day away. Tonight is parents night... I would not feel bad to make a few parents fall or feel unbalanced. I'm excited for tonight! Well, I can't I'm gonna say this but everything is done AND ready to go. Our group is pumped and ready to try this experiment on hundreds of students. 
Well we tried it on the parents. They loved it... let me quote what most said, "I feel so trippy in there." Most said it wasn't what they expected. Many couldn't keep balance especially all the females lost their balance. Some of the men were able to keep balance. 

March 26th: Day 13

Here is the big day. We tested this box on 335 students. Let me say they all loved it. However, the ones that didn't were the ones who completely fell off the platform and hit the front of the box with their hand or head. I'm not gonna lie. Me as a cameraman was amazing... I made the students feel like models. Many said, "Don't take pictures of me." However, I do it anyway. I will be sharing some videos and pictures soon because our whole group felt amazing. We had a lot of fun. The box worked and proved our hypothesis correctly. YAY! So today was a wonderful day filled with psych geeks! :-)

3/15/15
We decided that our experiment will be on superstitions, and found a few other experiments that we could possibly did for the fair.
3/16/15
We just finished student handouts 11-17. They were a little difficult because we are still unclear of how exactly our experiment will be.
3/17/15
We are working on student handouts 18-20 today.
3/18/15
We finally figured out exactly how our group will conduct our experiment. We will do a golf experiment to test if superstitions affect physical performance.
3/19/15
Finally got our golf putting green.
3/20/15
Today we are planning the poster and what we are going to put on it. We titled our poster "the lucky shot" and printed out images of pigeons and golf putters to explain the 2 experiments that we based ours off of.
3/23/15
Everything is pretty much finished like our poster and the way we will exactly perform our experiment.
3/25/15
Tonight the parents are coming to test out all of the students experiments! Really excited for my mom to come and see what we have been working on.
3/26/15
The parents night went awesome and we're all set for today! Really excited for the students to try our experiment now because we know that it is going to work on everyone.
positives: A lot of kids tried our experiment and seemed interested in our experiment.
negatives: A few kids decided to be rude and putt the ball way too hard and the ball ended up across the PAC. Some kids just stood in front of our booth and didn't want to try it so they blocked the way of other students who wanted to try our experiment.

Group 27-Amar

3/15/15
I was planning for the project. I didn't know what to choose but then I found an experiment I can do.
I am doing memorization. Reason why I chose this is because I am trying to memorize a whole book myself.
3/16/15
I now finished student handouts 11-17 and right now I am brainstorming ideas on how to do my booth for the fair. I thought of a name and it is going to be memorization Explanation.
3/17/15
I finished students handouts 18-20. I found out what I am going to do with my booth. I am going to have a poster about memorization and how it works. I am also going to have a T.V. to show a presentation of what memorization is as well and show a test on how good are you at memorizing.
3/18/15
I have finished all of my students handouts and I just need to get all the materials for my booth and then I should be set. I am getting a poster, tv, and candy for the audience as well :)
3/19/15
I just got the confirmation for my idea and booth will be set. Everything should be into place by Wed. Pics will be posted soon!

Group 11-Dempsey, Dever, Alanis, Zougras

I 3/10/15-Today we were told what our topic was for psych fair. We will be testing if chewing gum affects our concentraion in a positive or negative way. We researched our topic to get more details on what we will do for the experiment. We looked into other studies to see how the gum affects the subjects as they preformed different tasks. Overall most subjects were affected in a positive manner. 

3/11/15- Today we began working on handouts 11,12, and 13. We split up the handouts so that everyone had something to do and so we were able to get them done on time. Through these handouts we had to choose who was going to be responsible for each part of the experiment and also figure out how we were going to test the subjects. We have also looked up other experiments similar to ours. The studies we've looked at have used many different types of tasks to see how the gum affects concentration. Some have used math equations, others have used visual or audio memory tasks. We haven't yet decided what we will use for our experiment.

3/13/15- Today we focused mostly on figuring out what our hypothesis was going to be and how we feel the experiment was going to play out. We feel like the chewing gum will help the subjects to concentrate more on the tasks we give them. We also worked on handouts 14 and 15. Through these handouts we figured out what our varibles would be and if we needed a control group or not. We are using two subjects at a time for each task. One will not be chewing gum, being the control group and the other will be.

3/16/15- Today we decided what tasks we would have the subjects complete during our experiment. We are going to have 3 different experiments to see how cheeing gum affects the different things we do. For one we will use math equations to see if they can answer them faster while chewing gum. Another will be visual and we will have them read a short story and answer a few questions that go along with the story. The final task is to listen to a list of words through headphones and they have to try and write as many down as they remember. We've also decided that we will be testing males and females to see who does better on the tasks while chewing gum.

3/17/15- Today we picked the name for our booth. For handout 19 we had to go into more detail on how we wanted our experiment to go and the steps involved in getting good results from our experiment. We also started our rough draft. We had to go back to earlier handouts and fix some of the information that was needed for the rough draft.  

3/18/15- Today Emma brought in our tri-fold poster board. We continued to work on our rough draft for handout 18 and we also worked on handout 20 which had us figure out what materials we needed to make our experiment successful. We are also are beginning to decide how we're going to record the results. Google forms seems like the easiest/most efficient option so we're probably going to use that.

3/19/15- Today we finished and submitted our rough draft. During 2nd hour I began to create the google forms we need for the experiment. For the google forms we were informed of something that can grade the forms for us ourself which would make this alot easier. We also started working on handouts 21 and 22 in the packet. We still have some things to figure out but other than that, our psych fair experience is going well. 

3/23/15- We don't have much left to do before psych fair. We finished our google forms and we've started to work on our poster. We put the booth title on but still have to to much more detail into the poster. We are still working on trying to get gum but besides that we're good. 

2/24/15- Today we fininished working on our poster and are discussing final details of our experiment. 

3/25/14-Tonight was parent night for psych fair. It was a great opportunity for us to try out our experiment before the big day. We were able to figure out how to organize all 3 QR codes so we could get the best results. Only Emma and I(Peyton) were able to attend the parent night but even with only two of us we were able to do all 3 test so having Rebecca and Paulina tomorrow should make our experiment flow smoother than tonight.

3/26/15- TODAYS THE BIG DAY! Psych fair has arrived and after a few weeks of preparing we were ready to test our experiment! Walking in at 7:50 with everything set up made it even more real. We were nervous about the amount of people that were going to be there but also extremely excited as to what was to come. The first few hours of the day were  probably the hardest because we were just getting used to it but by the end of 7th period we were pros. Paulina worked the math test, Rebecca worked the reading comprehension test, Emma and I(Pey) worked the Audio test. I always was the person in front of the table getting people to come to our booth. Advertising free gum was what got people to come. I think psych fair was successful and we has a good time! Mr.V was also very helpful and did a great job running it!

3/27/15- The day after psych fair was both good and bad. It was a relief for it to be over but it was also sad bc it was fun. Today we went through our response and we had to type in our paper responses into the data spreadsheets.  

 

Group 22 Sisco

3/10 Today we go to pick our groups. and figure what the project will be on. i choose o work alonme and my project will be about typoglycemia

3/11 Handouts 11 12 and 13 were assigned and we were given the class period to-do so




3/12 Finished 11, 12 and 13. Handouts 14 and 15 were asked to be be completed and i did so


3/16 Finished assigned handouts 16 and 17




3/18 Handouts 18 and 19 and 20 done

3/19 All handouts done now thinking about what to put on display board

3/20 Created visual aid for students and parents to asked that attend the fair

3/23 Did not attend school was not able to work on project

3/24 Bought all materials needed for the board and candy to hand out to people who did my experiment

3/25 Project is done and ready for the fair

3/26 The psych fair was a great experience wish i could do it again
 

Group 29 Smith, Burns, Wikstrom

3/12/15
Our group is studying the placebo effect. This is basically false treatment. It is the idea that if you are told something will give you a desired response, in most cases it makes you healthier (medicine); you will fake that it does help, even if it doesn't. We are going to use this idea and make an experiment to show people will believe something if you simply tell them. We plan to deceive our subjects by giving them tea that will make everything sweet, bitter. We have regular green tea and Gymnema Sylvestre Tea. Gymnema Tea is known as a sugar destroyer. Both will be described as the Gymnema Tea and we will give certain people the actual sugar destroyer and certain the green tea. After they will receive a piece of chocolate to eat. We plan to convince all participants that the sweet taste will diminish and have a chalky/ bitter taste. Those with the green will most likely experience the placebo effect and agree that their tea made the chocolate bitter.

3/16/15
Today our group is looking into studies on the effect we are experimenting. Surprisingly, it is hard to find studies on Gymnema Sylvestre tea and the Placebo effect. However while reading we found it interesting that the placebo effect is often used with medicine. There have been instances where doctors have prescribed inert medicine, or fake medicine and it has been found out that people still agree that the medicine made them feel better in result. This has also happened in surgery. Surgeons have performed fake surgeries with the same results. We also learned that Placebo is latin for "I will Please".

3/18/15
The group has made out the works for our booth. We have decided on a very punny name to serve as a title for the booth. Since we are testing with tea we decided on That's MighTEA bitter. At least its along the lines of that. Ally Brought in our tri fold poster board so things are moving along smoothly. Despite the many worksheets this is a fun learning process. We have learned that this tea actually helps people with diabetes. pretty cool. Anyways, enjoy this picture of us hard at work.

3/19/15

We have been hard at work today finishing up handouts 18-20. Now that we are finally finished we can move on to constructing our poster boards. Our group, though very angry at times have had a good time today. No fights which means were all good. I (Nicole) bought the Gymnema Tea from Mr.Vuillaume. He has given me instruction on how to prepare the tea properly. I hope I make it right otherwise we will be in trouble. Fun facts on our tea today: It is used for weight loss, It tastes disgusting, It is an Indian herb used in medicine long ago. Fun fact on placebo effect: It is a very cautious thing with testing medicine for doctors because of the placebo. People might only think the medicine cured their symptoms because the doctor said it would. That is why testing medicine can be so difficult. Fun RANDOM Fact of the day: It is not illegal to be topless in New York. 

3/20/15

Time is running out until psych fair and today we get a little bit of weight off our chest with designing our booth. We are currently mapping out the layout of our poster board. Mr. V is going around the room and having everyone walk through their experiment to them. Ally is absent so Chloe and I have creative dictatorship over the poster board, which honestly we both enjoy. We plan on having a very vibrant poster board and will set up the booth with rows of tea on display along with the hershey kisses. I think that even more than experimenting the placebo effect the green tea will have we are excited to witness people 1) be disgusted and in awe of the gymnema tea and 2) lie with the green tea. Chloe has read over handouts 21 and 22  in order for us to know the guidelines for the booth. My throat hurts and I want tea, but not the Gymnema Tea, maybe Black Tea with honey and sugar...mmm. ANYWAYS Today gets us one step closer to Psych fair 2015! Pictures of poster board coming soon! 

3/23/15

Psych Fair starts thursday and our poster board is in the works! Amazing how time flies. We are confident In our projects success and hope for it to work as well as anticipated. Chloe and I are currently adding borders and words to the poster board while ally cuts out our visuals! AHH so close to Thursday, Finished pics of the board coming soon. Still in the works, don't want to show the crap stage it is in. 

3/24/15

Today we have been instructed to finish our boards and work away. We are very close to the finished poster product. I have bought all the tea and plan on starting the brewing tonight. I'm afraid the tea will stink up my house but it's all for psychology! My partners and I have loved this experience but are nervous to execute the experiment tomorrow on our families. Fingers crossed!!!

3/25/15

Today is the day! well the practice day! Our parents come tonight to see how all the fairs tables and all the crazy psychological projects we've all done. I'm excited to see everyone else's experiments, as well as see how well ours works. I made some tea last night and it did in fact make the house smell like a forest. Chloe had to buy more tea because we did not have enough for Thursday night which means more tea making for me tonight. Can't wait to show all the parents our placebo and see the amount of them that fall for it . We are praying for the placebo/ psych gods for a helping hand. Wishing everyone luck for the real deal tomorrow. Hope nothing goes wrong! Here is the finished poster below!

3/26/15

PSYCH FAIR TODAY! We are here, and so far things are going great. About half way through our day and sadly we have disproved our hypothesis. Most students can tell that the Green Tea is not working like the Gymnema Tea. However we have a handful that the placebo has worked. It is disheartening but a great learning experience. Our participants have been very nice and helpful throughout the day and overall we have been having a good day. We got the chance to look at other booths during second hour and I (Nicole) am impressed by a lot of people's booths. Chloe and I have been interacting with the crowds but Ally is falling back a bit. She won't engage with others. She has just poured tea for the most part of today. Chloe and I have been in people's faces persuading them to try the tea. We have reached our number of people to test but are continuing since we have enough tea for one more group. Psych fair is coming to a close in about an hour. This has been crazy and fun. I (nicole) have made a few new friends and have experienced a lot of sweating and nerves but had a fantastic time at psych fair. Chloe thinks psych fair was interesting and busy, but she had a lot of fun. Ally, well i think she agrees: she is doodling.  THE FAIR IS OVER!!! Wow what a day. We all had a lot of fun but we are glad it's over. Now time to look at the results! pics posted below!