HowDoesSleepingAffectTeenagersAcademicPerformance?

ByJaxunBlinn,JillianKoons&SigiLopez

Tableofcontents:
Abstract
A.Introduction
B.Method
C.Results
D.Discussion
E.LimitationsandSuggestions
F.Appendix

Abstract
Wewantedtoknowifsleepingaffectedstudentsacademicperformance.Werandomly
selectedtenstudents,rangingfrom9thto10thgrade,andhadfiveofthemtakeashortnapfor
fifteenminutes.Afterwakingthesleepingstudents,wegavealltenstudentsashort
assessment.Ourhypothesiswasthatthesleepingstudentswouldhavebettertestscoresafter
theirbrainrefreshingnap.Whatwefoundwasfarshortofourhypothesis,thekidsthatstayed
awakedidbetterthantheoneswhonapped.
A.Introduction
Ourgroupconductedanexperimentatschoolwherewetestedifmoresleephelps
studentsperformbetterinschool.Themainpointofthestudyistoseewhetherornotsleepisa
mainfactorinhowchildrenwork.Wegavesomeofourpeersa20minutenapandwetoldthe
otherhalftostayawake.Wegavethemashortmathtestafterthe20minutesandsawwhich
didbetter,theoneswhosleptortheoneswhostayedup.Wehypothesisedthestudentswho
slepttodobetterbecauseoftheeffectssleephasonthebrain.Sinceeverydaypeopledotwice
asmuchworkastheydosleep,mygroupthoughtthatsleepwouldhavepositiveeffectson
people.Manyofusknowwhatitisliketogowithoutsleepandhowitcanaffectourmoodand
stresslevel.Higherstresslevelsmakeithardertoconcentrateonwork,anyamountofsleep
deprivationwilldiminishmentalperformance.Whileyousleepyouareenhancingyourlearning
andmemory,andaremorelikelytodobetteronanexamthensomeonewhostayedupthe
wholenight.Whenyouaretiredyoubrainworksharderbutaccomplishesless.Wecompared
ourstudytoasimilarexperiment1 weretheymadepeoplesleepandtestedthemafteronmotor
tasksforexampletypingorplayingpiano.ourexperimentwasalittledifferentwherewemade
themthinkmoreontryingtosolveafifthgradertest.
B.Method
Design
Inourexperiment,werandomlyselectedstudentsfromeachgradeexceptourown,
studentsequallinguptoten.Wethensearchedtheinternetforaneasyenough5thgradelevel,
3questionquiz.Aftergatheringthestudentsinthemaincommons,wesplitthemupABby
pointingateachstudentgoinginaline,andassigningthemeitherAorB.Thiswastodetermine
whichofthemwouldtakeatenminutenap,andwhichwouldhavetoentertainthemselveswhile
theothersnapped.
WeinstructedtheAStudentstostayawake,andtheBStudentstofindacomfortable
placetonap.Afterwaitingtenminutesandmonitoringthesleepingstudentstobesuretheywere
1

http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2013/08/sleep

doingwhattheyweresupposedtobedoing,wewokethemupverbally.Wegatheredthemallin
thegroupagain,andhandedeachoneofthemtheirtest,thetestbeingtheirexittickets.
Participants
Webeganlookingforparticipantsinoneadvisorydayaroundoneo'clock.Wetook4people
fromthreeadvisories.Sincewedidn'thaveenoughresourcestomakethisarandomizedstudy
wejustaskedfortheonesthatwantedtoparticipate.Thenweusedaroomthathadenough
spacefortwelvepeople,wedividedsixsleepingandsixnotsleeping.Afterthetimewasdone
weaskedthemtofillinthetestwithsomesmallinformationaboutthemnameandgrade,
becausewewanttokeeptrackofthepeoplewehavetested.
Materials
Forourexperiment,ourmaterialsconsistedofthestudentsusedassubjects,andthe
printedquizzes.AsstatedintheDesignportion,wesearchedtheinternetforthequizandgaveit
tothestudentsforthemtoanswerthequestionsandforustoassessthem.
Procedure
Wefirstbeganwithcreatingathreequestiontestforourparticipants,whichwasbased
ona5thgradeleveltest.Thenonedayweapproachedtwelverandompeoplefromdifferent
advisories,designatedsixpeopletotakeanapfortenminutes,andsixwithouttakinganap.
Thenafterthetimewasdonewemadethemtakethethreequestiontest.Afterthatdaythenwe
madeaspreadsheetandcalculatedthepercentages,thegradethestudentis,scoresand
labelediftheytookanapornot.Thenwecalculatedthestandardvariationandalsothedifferent
C.Results
Whenwefinishedtestingandsettingupthedata.Wecalculatedthemean,medianandmodeby
theonesthattookanapandtheonesthatdidnot..Thecalculationsfortheonesthattookthe
naphadlowerscores,themeanwas61.17%,themedianwas67%andthemodewas67%and
100%.Thentheonesthatdidnottakethenaphadbetterscores.Themeanwas83.5%,the
medianwas83.5%andthemodewas67%and100%.Thenwecalculatedthequartilerange,
thevaluesfornaptimewereminimumvaluewas0%,thefirstquartilewas41.5%,themedian
valuewas67%,thethirdquartilewas91.75%andthemaximumvaluewas100%.Fornonap
wegot,minimumvalueandthefirstquartile67%,medianvalue83.5%,andforthirdquartileand
maximumvalue100%.
Grade
TestScore
Percentage
10thGrade 0outof3

0%

9thGrade
10thGrade
10thGrade
9thGrade
9thGrade
9thGrade
9thGrade
9thGrade
9thGrade
12thGrade
10thGrade

1outof3
2outof3
2outof3
3outof3
3outof3
2outof3
2outof3
2outof3
3outof3
3outof3
3outof3

33%
67%
67%
100%
100%
67%
67%
67%
100%
100%
100%

Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
N

Wechosethisgraphbecauseitshowsthedifferencebetweeneachvolunteer.Itshowsclearly
whynonapstudentsgotbetterscoresevenintheonesthatdidbad.
Wenoticedthatthefirstvolunteergota0%fornapandbecauseofthatwecanseethatnonap
hasabiggeradvantagebecausetheirscoresarehigherthan67%.
Wenoticedthatthelasttwovolunteersgotthesamescoresbutthepartthatmostlyaffected
wastheonesfromthebeginning.
D.Discussion
(Jaxun)
5

Relatingtheresultstoourhypothesis,wewereinitiallywrong.Wesaidinthebeginning
thatthestudentswhonappedwouldperformbetteronthetest,butwewereprovedwrongbythe
results.Wehaveacceptedthehypothesisasincorrect,becausethedatadoesntlie.Thestudy
weresearchedhadagreedwithusinthesensethatsleephelpslearning.Theysaidithelpthe
braintohelplearnmotorskills,whichstillfallsintoourcategory.Thismeansthatpeopledolearn
andretaininformationwhiletheysleep,whichistechnicallydifferentfromourhypothesis,yetstill
fitsintothegeneralideaofourstudy.Again,wefoundthatthekidswhodidnotnapperformed
betteronthegivenassessmentasopposedtothekidswhotookafifteenminutenap.
(Sigi)
Thehypothesiswasrejectedbecauseaftertheexperimentwasdonethescoresforpeople
takinganapwerelowerthantheonesfornottakingthenap.Thegraphalsoshowswhytheres
lowerscores.Thehypothesiscouldvehavebeendifferentiftherewasmoreelementsthatcould
improvetheresults.Theresultsfromthereferencearedifferentbecausetheysucceededat
provingthatsleepingdoesimprovetasktakingbutitmightbebecausetheyusedmore
advancedtechnologyforthebrainstudies.Thatcanalsoshowmoreprecisionthanjusta
physicaltest.Itsalotharderdoingabrainactivityexperimentwithoutseeingwhattheyare
thinking.Theexperimentedshowediftherewaspossibilitythatanapcouldimprovelearningbut
wefoundoutthatthiswasn'tpossiblewithourtestanditshowedthatpeoplewhodidn'ttooka
naphadhighertestscores.
(Jillian)
Afterthisstudytheresultswereshocking,itwentagainstalloftheotherstudies
researchedbyourgroupandtheoriginalhypothesis.Thoughitwashardtoaccepttheresults
thedatashowedthatstudentswhodidn'tsleepdidbetteronatestthenthestudentswhodid
sleep.Althoughtheexperimentshowedthatthesleepdidn'thelp,sleepisstillaveryimportant
partofthebrain.Itiswhenthebrainretainsmostofitsinformationandwithoutsleepthemind
wouldnotworkproperlyatallwhichiswhytheresultsweresosurprising.Intheenditwasvery
interestingtostudyhowsleepaffectsperformanceandalthoughitwasn'twhatwasexpectedit
wasstillsomethingenjoyabletostudyandresearch.

E.LimitationsandSuggestions
Thefirstthingthatwerecommendisthatyouhavethemostpeoplepossibleyoucouldhavefor
example50peoplebecausethesewillhelpyoumakeyourresultsmorerealistic.Alsowe
recommendthatthetestsarelessthan5questionsbecausethelessthequestionsthemore
6

peoplehavetimetoanswerthem.Therequestedtimethatittookforthetestandnapwasabout
halfanhour15mintakingnapornot,then15mintakingthetest.Thewholetimetoanalyzedata
andthestudiesmightdependonthepeople,recommendedaround1015peopleperday.
F.Appendix
TestExamples

StandardDeviationForNap

%Correct
0
33
67
67
100
100

Deviation
(Correct
Mean)
61.17
28.17
5.83
5.83
38.83
38.83

Squared
Deviation
3741.7689
793.5489
33.9889
33.9889
1507.7689
1507.7689
TotalSquared
Deviation
Variance(Total
Squared
1523.76668 Deviation/n1)
Standard
39.03545414107
Deviation
54 (SquareRootof
7618.8334

theVariance)
StandardDeviationForNoNap

%correct

Deviation
16.5
16.5
16.5
16.5
16.5
16.5

67
67
67
100
100
100

Squared
deviation
272.25
272.25
272.25
272.25
272.25
272.25
1633.5

326.7
18.07484439767
05

TotalSquared
Deviation
Variance(Total
Squared
Deviation)
Standard
Deviation
(SquareRoot)

QuartilesForNap
MinimumValue
FirstQuartile
MedianValue
ThirdQuartile
MaximumValue

0
41.5
67
91.75
100

QuartilesForNoNap
MinimumValue
FirstQuartile
MedianValue
ThirdQuartile
MaximumValue

67
67
83.5
100
100
Contributors

JillianIntro,quartiles(min,first,med,third,max)Nap,resources,graph,halflimitationsand
suggestions.Mostofthestructureoftheproject.
SigiMethods(Participants,Procedure),quartiles(min,first,med,third,max)Nonap,appendix
work,imputedrawdata,halflimitationsandsuggestions.
JaxunMethods(Design,Materials),Abstract,[mean,median,modefornapandnonap],test
design,aesthetics.