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Sleep vs. Cramming and Academic Performance

Sleep vs. Cramming and Academic Performance

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Science Fair Project Description

Anyone who has ever been a student most likely has experienced cramming for an exam or staying up late to complete a paper. For some students, this is their normal method of study, some claiming that they do better when they wait until the last minute. Does waiting to the last minute to do an assignment really work best? In this experiment you will track students' grades under both conditions: restful sleep and pulling an "all nighter."
Complexity level:6
Time required:This experiment requires tracking students' study habits over a minimum of 4 weeks. Additional time required to identify and recruit participants for the study.
Safety concerns:

Overview

Researchers are learning what many students do not fully appreciate; both study and sleep are needed for successful academic performance. Though students may believe that last minute studying is more important than a good night's rest, it may be that both are equally important. In this science fair project, you will compare the academic performance of students who routinely cram for completion of an assignment and those who are able to get restful sleep.

Scientific Terms

Learning, Sleep

Materials

  • A minimum of 30 students
  • Microsoft Excel (recommended) or Google docs.

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Procedure

  1. This science experiment will require you to identify participants for the experiment: You will need students who routinely wait until the night before to study for an exam or complete an assignment. Additionally, you will need students who routinely get a full night?s sleep before exam day.
  2. These participants will need to agree to report to you, over a period of three months (as it would be difficult to determine how often teachers conduct exams or tests, it does not matter how many tests are taken. Instead, record the data over a period of 3 months, regardless of the number of exams/tests), every time they complete an assignment or an exam. Participants will report the following:
    • Whether they crammed for the assignment or exam
    • The number of hours of sleep they received the night before the due date.
    • The grade they received on the assignment or exam.
  3. Students need to be assured that the information you gather will be anonymous, their names will not appear in any part of the experiment.
  4. For more efficient data management and analysis, it is recommended you enter the information in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel or Google docs.
  5. When the data for all participants has been collected, determine the relationship between the amount of sleep and academic performance. This can be done by determining the averages of the grades and hours of sleep in each group, do this by calculating the sum of all hours or grades in the group and dividing the sum by the number of participants. Divide the final data into two groups, those who received 6 hours or more of sleep and those who received less than 6 hours sleep.

References

"Cramming for a test? Don't do it, say UCLA researchers," by Wheeler, from UCLA Newsroom http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/cramming-for-a-test-don-t-do-it-237733.aspx

Related videos

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