Chris V. answered • 08/11/16
Tutor
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Engineering student with a love for math, science, and writing
A few things potentially come to mind. It's difficult to know if these might be too simply or complex for your needs. But if you'd like to message me with a follow up I'm happy to discuss it with you.
First idea:
This is essentially testing the myth of "The 5 Second Rule". Namely, seeing if exposure to a surface changes the rate of bacterial growth. It could be performed by using the same type of food (and wearing gloves every time you handle the food to prevent cross contamination). For one group, put it on the floor for 5 seconds, then rub the exposed surface on agar in a petri dish. Another group is exposed for 10 seconds, another for 20 seconds, and so on. Finally, you have a group that isn't exposed to the floor at all and is immediately rubbed on agar. Then, the agar is kept in its ideal conditions and you record the rates and types of bacterial growth for the groups.
Second idea:
Test the idea that dogs are colorblind (works best if you have a dog). To do this, you can have 3 cards of different colors (say red, blue, and yellow). Then you spend the first little while training the dog to associate the blue card with getting a treat. Once the dog has completely associate the blue card with food, then you can start the experiment. You basically present the dog with all of the color cards and see if it can differentiate the blue card from the others. You would repeat this many times, then mix up the cards and do it again many times, and so on.
A quick Google search turns up a few other good ideas:
• How the temperature of food affects its taste
• The affect of age on hand-eye coordination
• Correlation between physical activity and academic performance
• How do cooking methods affect the vitamin content of certain foods
• The effectiveness of anti-bacterial soap
There's a lot of things out there!
