Geoffrey's Science Project

Purpose
Hypothesis
Planned procedure
Actual procedure
Results
Conclusion
Illusion
Response Chart
Response Graph

PURPOSE:
I want to find out if most people will be fooled by the arrow illusion. I wanted to do this because my brother found an illusion program on the Web. The program was called Dreamweaver.

HYPOTHESIS:
I think at least 70% of the people will be fooled by the optical illusion. I think that fewer older people will fooled by the illusion. Young people are those in 6th grade or younger.

PLANNED PROCEDURE:
I plan to make a picture of the illusion, a record sheet, and a circle graph of the results. I plan to ask 60 people which line segment is longer. I plan to publish my results on the Web.

ACTUAL PROCEDURE:
I made a picture of the illusion on the computer. I covered the picture with contact paper so it would not get ruined. I made the record sheets on the
computer, too. My dad provided me with a folder to carry my materials.

I got kidnapped by my visiting cousins so I could not go to Bears where I planned to do most of my surveying. My dad (and I did not know this) took the recording sheets and the picture to see if he could get some surveys. I guess this was okay. I still surveyed about ten people myself.

I forgot to plan to tally the results. My dad, my sister, and I tallied it by gender. My dad and I tallied it by age. We learned to cross check our work because we missed some responses the first time through. We had to design more than one record sheet until we found one that worked.

Instead of making a circle graph, I made a bar graph because the circle graph was not very helpful. We had to learn how to use the tools to make the graph. We came up with three or four different graphs until we found the right one. After we finished the graphs, my dad couldnŐt sleep and was up late working on the computer. He accidentally trashed all our info. Because we had printed out the spreadsheets, we did not have to start from scratch.

We had to go buy a project display board. We had to go to my grandfatherŐs house to print the charts in color. We used Pagespinner to make the web version of the report.


RESULTS:
I found out that 44.3 % got the first figure wrong. The best group on the first figure was the Old people. They were fooled only 35 % of the time. The worst group was the Young people at 51.4 %. On the second figure, 80.3 % were fooled. The best group on figure two was the old guys again. And the worst was the girls (ha, ha). On the last figure, the best groups was the males. The worst group was the females, again.

CONCLUSION:
I was very close on my hypothesis. On figure one, I was too high because the arrows were all going the same way. On figure two, I was right. The percentage was 80.3 for all groups. The percentages ranged from 70 % for the old guys to 89.7 % for females. On figure three I was right. The percentage for all groups was 77.7 %. The range was from 73.1 % for the males to 82.8 % for the females.

Reader:

Illusion | Response Chart | Response Graph |

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