UPD8

Wired or tired?

Learning objectives

Pupils will learn how to test a hypothesis, by seeing whether the evidence matches their prediction (ideas and evidence)

Try the activity

• Wired or tired teachers' notes
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• Wired or tired activity
  Downloaded: 5280 times

You will need Acrobat Reader installed to open the activity sheets.

Curriculum link

KS3: Fit and Healthy [9b]: what effect do drugs have on how the body works physically and mentally

Scientific enquiry:
d) consider factors to be taken into account when collecting evidence
e) decide the range of data collected and technique to use
h) make sufficient measurements to obtain reliable evidence
k) use measurements to draw conclusions
l) decide whether conclusions support a prediction
p) suggest improvements to the methods used.

Running the activity

The activity could last between 30-60 minutes, depending on how many tests are carried out.

As a quick starter activity you can show pupils the first activity sheet, with the scenario and hypothesis, and ask them to discuss in pairs what they think. Is it a Winner or a Binner? They can hold up the appropriate card (see activity sheets) Can they say why?

Ideally, you need to select at least 2 pupil volunteers the previous lessons. They need to simulate being tired after revising all night. You could suggest they get up really early, on the day of the activity.


One pupil becomes Wired by taking caffeine drinks, like coffee, coca-cola etc. The other should not. Alternatively, for greater reliability, you could select 2 Tired and 2 Wired volunteers.

The simplest way to test the hypothesis 'Wired is better than Tired' is for pupils to take an exam. But we can learn more about the effects of caffeine, by carrying out a series of tests on factors relating to performance, like alertness and concentration. The activity asks pupils to choose the 3 best tests, and think about what to measure.

Now, it's time to carry out the tests on the Wired and Tired pupils. The activity sheets de

Test on Way to measure it Notes
A: Alertness The speed of your reactions (using the dropping ruler method) A helper holds the ruler just above the pupils' fingers. The sheet has a table to convert the distance ruler drops when the pupil catches it, into a reaction time
B: Concentration How many sums you can do in 2 minutes, listening to a Walkman The sheet has a series of quite easy sums. The idea is that pupils do these while being distracted by some music on headphones.
C: Mood How you answer a questionnaire
The sheet has a series of questions to help identify whether pupils are in a positive or negative mood.
D: memory How many objects you can remember from a list The sheet has a series of pictures. Pupils are shown these for 30 seconds write down all they can remember.
E: Coordination How long you can balance an object for

You can try either:
a) How long can a pupil balance a ruler on a fingertip?
OR b) set up a 'course' of stools. Pupils walk in and out, balancing a beaker of small plasticene balls on their head, to see how far they can get before it falls off.






A record sheet is supplied so the class can take measurements, and draw their conclusion. Again, they can hold up the appropriate card to show whether the hypothesis is a Winner or a Binner.

A possible plenary is provided. The sheets asks get pupils to decide whether the tests provided reliable results (e.g. were there enough measurements?) They can also think whether the tests measured what they were supposed to (The experiments were not controlled – pupils were not tested before and after. So differences between Wired and Tired could simply be due to the pupils chosen).

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