Eukaryotes the Scientific Method Applied

Eukaryotes

The Scientific Method Applied to Eukaryotes: A question of nutrition quality

Research shows that children who eat breakfast do better in school. A recent study "Effect of breakfast composition on cognitive processes in elementary school children," in the journal Physiology & Behavior (85(5), 635-645) in 2005 found that children who ate oatmeal for breakfast did better on school tasks involving memory, attention, and visual perception than children who ate sugary cold cereals or no breakfast at all. Oatmeal has a higher fiber and protein content, takes longer to digest, and raises the blood glucose level more slowly than some other foods (Delisio, 2006). Glucose is an "essential fuel for the brain, but overdoing the sweet stuff not only affects your child's behavior, it also has an impact on their ability to learn. High blood-sugar levels are toxic to nerves and blood vessels, prompting the body to react to what it sees as an emergency. This results in low blood-sugar levels, which leads to irritability, mood swings, insomnia, poor concentration, aggressive behavior and cravings for more sugary things" (Colson, 2006). Junk foods, even French fries with catsup, and pizza sauce, often have high-sugar content, as do sweets.

The breakfast study raises the question if a lunch with a similarly non-sugary, high fiber, low sugar content would also help student performance, especially in afternoon classes.

Hypothesis: Lunches with whole grains, low sugar, and high fiber will improve student performance more than lunches with high levels of sugar, lower fiber (i.e. junk food) or no lunch at all.

Observation: Eating a heavy, high sugar and grease filled lunch seems to cause students to either feel sleepy, or to have a quick 'energy crash' during afternoon classes.

Experimental group: Group a will receive nutritionally balanced lunches (such as sandwiches on whole grain bread, milk, and fruit) Group B (control group 1) will have standard cafeteria fare (pizza with high-sugar sauce, French fries, etc.) and Group C (control group 2) will have no lunch at all.

Testing hypothesis: Student's grades of the students receiving the nutritionally balanced lunches will increase, because of improved memory and attention span, compared with students in the control groups. Group B. will have a glucose spike of energy and crash, Group C. will have not enough glucose in their systems at all.

Variables that will remain the same: Students will be in the same types of classes. Improvement, not overall intelligence or GPA will be measured by the experiment.

Variables that will be tested: Students will eat the same type of nutritionally balanced or unbalanced lunch (or no lunch at all) for a period of one month. They will not be allowed to bring their lunches to school, regardless of how they ate before, depending on their group assignation.

Data: Performance on tests, attention span in class, and retention of material as measured on quizzes and papers vs. The month previous when students were allowed to eat as they wished.