Peyton,+Brian+K,+David

KEYNOTE

Video link of the experiment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVrkLoFpTtg
Peyton-Research Analysis  Research Analysis The topic that my group and I researched was peer pressure. We were interested to find out at what ages peer pressure has the most effects on children. After observing previous studies on our topic, we then went on to formulate our hypothesis. Our hypothesis was that the older that the children are, the more independent they will be. We then carried out our experiments. The procedure that I performed, and how I collected my data will next be further explained. It was film day for the classes at Gymnastics Etc. This means they go into the team room where the TV is located, and no one except for their teacher is in there with them. Usually, all of the athletes who are the same age watch their competitions at one time, but I requested to split up the groups so that the experiment could be performed. I suggested that while one group is in watching film, the others are goal setting for next year since it is the end of the season. They would be doing that out in the actual gym. This was a great way to test our hypothesis, and it wasn’t obvious at all that they were being tested. After the team meeting, their teacher excused each gymnast one at a time to their station. He mentioned that he had brought in treats for them, because their season had come to an end and they had done a good job. It was their reward. As each kid was dismissed to the film room, their assistant teacher told each child individually whether or not they could eat their cupcake. The first two children were told that they could eat it, while the third child was told to wait to eat the cupcake until it was time to go home.This procedure was the same for both our six to seven year olds (first graders), and also our ten to eleven year olds (fifth graders). The fifth graders were tested on March 24, 2011, and the first graders were tested on March 25, 2011. Both procedures were done at approximately 4:00pm. These children know me very well since I work out at the gym, and am there everyday when they are there, whether it be actually practicing or working. On March 24, I was practicing and pretended to go in and get my grips for bars during the first group’s experiment, and during the second one I went in pretending to look for athletic tape. On March 25, I was working and setting up for the birthday parties at the gym that would come in later. So, when the procedure took place, I was actually in the room. The children didn’t think anything of it. I was pretending to look for plates and napkins for the party. The children didn’t talk to me, and I didn’t talk to them. Also, their teacher wasn’t in the room when this was happening. He told them that he was helping people at the front desk. Brian and David also did this experiment. The location of their experiment was in an educational institution where the students come to learn English. The students who participated in the experiments had recently taken the tests and they all did very well on it. They told them that they had brought in the cupcakes for them as rewards. They told two children prior to the experiment to eat the cupcake as soon as they left the room to go get something, and tell one kid to not eat the cupcake until they came back. They told the two students not to tell the other that they had been told to eat it. The experiments were conducted around 3:00pm-4:00pm. All the students in the experiments knew each other. Next, we analyzed our results. For my first group of fifth graders, the child who was told not to eat the cupcake was disturbed to see her teammates eat the actual cupcake. She said that they weren’t supposed to eat it. The other two argued back, saying that they could eat it. The child kept on arguing that they were supposed to wait until they got home, and said that the other two were going to get in trouble for eating it. The two other kids said that they didn’t know, and that she should just eat it so that they don’t get in trouble, and they all could just say they didn’t know that they weren’t supposed to eat it. Eventually, after a few minutes the child gave in and ate it too. For my second group of fifth graders, the child that was told not to eat the cupcake was also disturbed to see her teammates eating the cupcake. She said that they were supposed to wait until it was time to go home. The girls started arguing about it, and eventually the girl that was told not to eat the cupcake went out into the hallway to ask her teacher if she could eat it. She didn’t give into the pressure. For my first group of first graders, the child that was told not to eat the cupcake ate it as soon as her friends did. She didn’t second guess it at all. For my second group of first graders, the child that was told not to eat the cupcake, immediately took her cupcake off the table and put it next to her belongings. Then, when her friends started eating it, she asked them if it was ok to eat it. They said yes, and she went back over to her stuff and began eating it. In Brian and David’s experiment, it was interesting to hear that none of the children gave in to peer pressure in any of his groups. They all did what they were told. Due to our findings, we cannot support our hypothesis. Although my experiment partially supported my hypothesis, the older the children, the more independent they will be, it didn’t fully support it, and neither did Brian and David’s experiment. I think that our experiment was well conducted, but there were a few things that we could have changed to make our experiment better and more accurate. For example, we should have tested more groups. In both my experiment and Brian and David’s experiment combined, only four groups from each age group were tested. I think that if we would have tested more groups of children then our results would have changed. To get more accurate results, we could have not only tested more groups, but also tested groups that were located in different areas such as different schools, gyms, etc. This way we would have had a greater variety of children which could have the potential to change our results. Also, in Brian and David’s experiment they told their children who were told to eat the cupcake to not tell the other child that they were told to eat it. However, in my experiment I did not tell the children that they couldn’t say that they were allowed to eat it. In this way, our procedures were slightly different. Our results definitely could have been affected by this, and could have changed if our procedures were exactly the same. In conclusion, we could not support our hypothesis. However, our research experiment was well thought out, but at the same time could have used some adjustments to make it a little more accurate. Peyton-Research Procedure and Results

Experiment: March 24th and 25th, 2011

-Two groups of three girls (two groups of first graders, two groups of fifth graders) -Cupcakes displayed on table next to TV -One girl in each group was told not to eat the cupcake until it was time to go home, while the other two girls were told that they could eat the cupcake when they entered the room. -Their teacher was not in the room during the experiment

My procedure...

It was film day for the classes at Gymnastics Etc. This means that the girls go in to watch their competitions and other videos instead of actually practicing. They go into the team room where the TV is located, and no one except for their teacher is in there with them. Usually, all of the athletes who are the same age watch their competitions at one time, but I requested to their teacher, Brandon, to split up the groups so that I could do my experiment. I suggested that while one group is in watching film, the others are goal setting for next year since it is the end of the season. They would be doing this out in the actual gym. To me, this was a great way to test my hypothesis, and it wasn’t obvious at all that I was testing them.

After the team meeting, Brandon, excused each gymnast one at a time to their station. He mentioned that he had brought in treats for them, because their season had come to an end and they had done a good job. It was their reward. As each kid was dismissed to the film room, their assistant teacher told individually whether or not they could eat their cupcake. The first two kids were told that they could eat it, while the third kid was told to wait to eat the cupcake until it was time to go home.

I had this same procedure for both our 6-7 year olds (first graders), and also our 10-11 year olds (fifth graders). The fifth graders were tested on Thursday, and the first graders were tested on Friday. Both was around 4:00pm.

**These kids know me very well since I work out at the gym, and am there everyday when they are there, whether it be actually practicing, or working. On Thursday, I was practicing and pretended to go in and get my grips for bars during the first group’s experiment, and during the second one I went in pretending to look for athletic tape. On Friday, I was working and setting up for the birthday parties at the gym that would come in later. So, when the procedure took place, I actually was in the room. The kids wouldn’t think anything of it. I was pretending to look for plates and napkins for the party. The kids didn’t talk to me, and I didn’t talk to them. Also, their teacher wasn’t in the room when this was happening. He was “helping people at the front desk”.**


 * This is what I noticed... **


 * Group 1: Fifth Graders **
 * -Kid that told not to eat the cupcake was disturbed to see her teammates eat the actual cupcake. She said that they weren’t supposed to eat it. The other two argued back, saying that they could eat it. The kid kept on arguing that they were supposed to wait until they got home, and said that they were going to get in trouble for eating it. The two other kids said that they didn’t know, and that she should just eat it so that they don’t get in trouble, and they all could just say they didn’t know that they weren’t supposed to eat it. Eventually, after a few minutes the kid gave in and ate it too. **


 * Group 2: Fifth Graders **
 * -Kid that was told not to eat the cupcake was also disturbed to see her teammates eating the cupcake. She said that they were supposed to wait until it was time to go home. The girls started arguing about it, and eventually the girl that was told not to eat the cupcake went out into the hallway to ask Brandon if she could eat it. She didn’t give into the pressure. **


 * Group 3: First Graders **
 * - Kid that was told not to eat the cupcake ate it as soon as her friends did. She didn’t second guess it at all. **


 * Group 4 : First Graders **
 * -Kid that was told not to eat the cupcake, immediately took her cupcake on the table and put it next to her clothes. Then, when her friends started eating it, she asked them if it was ok to eat it. They said yes, and she went back over to her stuff and began eating it. **

One fifth grader gave in to peer pressure, while one did not. **Both first graders followed their peers rather than authority.

Peyton- Lit Review

Literature Review

I am researching how strongly elementary students are influenced by their peers. Typically, one will hear about teenagers being very influenced by their peers, yet younger students are not mentioned. I believe that students will follow their peers when put into a situation in which they have the choice of obeying authority, or following in their classmates footsteps.To see what research has already been done, I have looked up multiple scholarly articles which can give me a starting point for my own research. The first article that I read was by Sharon Keeler, and was called Children’s Peer Relationships Have Enormous Influence. This article was very interesting to me. Keeler stated, “The relationships kids form with their peers from the young age of six months through adolescence exert enormous influence on their lives.” This statement does show that children are influenced by their peers at a young age, but I still want to know how much are they influenced. Are they influenced to the point where they will follow their peers rather than listen to authority? The next article that I read was by Elizabeth Stearns, Kenneth Dodge, and Melba Nicholson, and was called Peer Contextual Influences on the Growth of Authority-Acceptance Problems in Early Elementary School . This article reflected a study that they performed on first, second, and third grade students. The study investigated the effects of peer influences in relation to how children accept authority. The article stated that “Children’s growth in authority acceptance behavior problems across time partially worsened even to the level of disruptive behavior.” It also stated that “Peer influences were strongest among the same gender.” This information was very important to me, because I might now consider taking gender into consideration during my experiment. Another article that I read was called Peer Group Influence in Adolescents , and was by Noona Kiruru, Kaisa Aunola, and Jari-Erik Nurmi. It discussed how from a young age one will choose or mold into a specific group of friends. It is extremely common for students among the same social group to act and behave in similar ways. This information is important to me, because since children are more likely to follow their friends rather than just anyone their age, this might affect the students who I choose to study. Maybe now I will try to test students from different social groups if possible, and see if they are still influenced by their peers. The last article that I read was called Teaching Middle School Students . It discussed how in their studies for the most part elementary students did respect authority. The article stated that “Elementary school students generally respect their adults and view their elementary school teachers as wonderful people who not just teach, but entertain them, as well.” Then it went on to say as students reach the junior high level of education, they begin to realize or think that they don’t have to fully accept authority. However, these students sometimes think that not accepting authority means not respecting it. This information is important to me, and may cause me to consider changing the age groups that I want to study. Maybe I will do an experiment similar to this to see if it is accurate in my findings. Maybe instead of studying third and fifth graders, I will do second and seventh graders, and see how authority affects them in different ways. Through reading these articles I have seen what people have done in the past with similar experiments, and this has inspired me to make some adjustments to my own research.

Resarch Topic: See how elementary students are affected by their peers.

Research Plan: 1. Gather three first grade students and three fifth grade students. 2. Pull two kids from each grade aside and tell them that when they sit down they can eat the cupcake in front of them. Tell the other student from each grade not to eat the cupcake. 3. Leave the room and observe and see if the kid follows the rules by not eating the cupcake, or see if he/she follows his peers instead, and eats the cupcake anyways. & MAYBE: test according the number of people 1. Only one person is pre-told to eat the cupcake. 2. The other two are test subjects, and we will observe how the number affects their decision in whether to eat the cupcake.

Variables to Mind: 1. Time -- when to eat the food & to match our time also 2. Area -- where to locate the experiment at 3. Relationships -- amongst friends or stranger kids 4. Food Type -- maybe cupcake is not the favorable food 5. Gender -- what do gender roles might play in the decision of the experiment

Hypothesis: 1. If there are more people that are not been told to eat the cupcakes, then the test subjects would not eat the cupcake. 2. If there are two out of three people that are pre-told to eat the cupcakes, the test subject who is told not to eat the cupcake will eat the cupcake.

Presentation Component



Experiment procedure and results _ Brian Kim - Literature

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/6/580

1. When children do something they are not supposed to, most of the time they know by doing so they will face some kind of negative consequence. However, many of children and teenagers decide to do things they are not supposed to because of the peer pressure. It is normal among the children and teenagers to want to fit in to the group. In order to belong to the group and be accepted, the children and teenagers follow the actions of other peers. One of the reasons children and teenagers do what they are not supposed to is that they think taking the risk of facing negative consequence and be accepted by the the peers is worth more than being an outcast by not following other peers. Many children and teenagers fear that they might be challenged by their peers by not doing what the the peers do. This interesting fact that many children and teenagers would rather take the consequence from their wrong actions over taking the pressure from their peers from not following their action is related to our experiment. Our hypothesis is that if other two peers eat the cupcakes, one will follow their actions and eat the cupcake. When doing the experiment, we can consider the fact that children might eat the cupcakes because they think the consequence they think they will get from the instructor or teacher might be less severe than not being accepted by other peers.

http://goarticles.com/article/Chocolates-Indulge-in-Gluttony/351727/

2. Chocolate is loved by mostly everyone in the world, since it was made. Many people enjoy chocolate not only because of its sweet and rich flavor, but also because of its healthy nutrition contained in chocolate we are recommended to take regularly. Chocolates are used to make many different kinds of food and dessert such as cakes, muffins, ice cream, etc. Also, there are numerous kinds of chocolates. There is no doubt that chocolate is loved by almost every children throughout the world. I think the fact that chocolate is almost everyone’s favorite kind of flavor is an information to consider in our experiment. One of the variables to consider in our experiment was the food type. There are many different kinds of cupcakes. Since we know that chocolate is most preferred flavor over other flavors, I think statistically more children who are not told to eat the cupcakes will eat the cupcakes if the cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes rather than banana flavored cupcakes. I think the type of food used in this experiment will be one of the most critical variables to consider from this experiment.

Sadie: I think this is a really interesting topic! You seem to have a lot of variables which could be a problem. I would suggest narrowing it down. For example, trying to eliminate the gender variable by always having either 2 girls or 2 boys. Other than that, the experiment seems really cool!

Trace: So what exactally are you going to do about these variables? Its good that you have identfied them but you need to find a way to narrow them down so you can get a more accurate reading on your experiment.

I think this is a pretty good experiment. You're going to want to get specific on what you're actually going to measure in the experiment since you have a lot of options, but other then that it looks great. (Ryan R)

(Danny)- I also think that you guys have a really good idea and experiment with a lot of detail. The only thing that I could suggest is maybe what Sadie said and narrow down your details.