Equip each student with a thermometer and a game of jacks. Over one
weekend, have the students maintain a regular schedule (e.g., no
sleeping in late, no partying all night). Beginning at 8:00 a.m. on
Saturday, they should measure their temperature orally once every 4
hours. While they are taking their temperature, they are to play 3 games
of jacks. Then they record the time, their temperature, and the
number of jacks they picked up in each of the 3 trials. For the night
measurements, the students will have to set their alarms for the
correct time, and take the same measurements. They should continue
taking these measurements for two days, and so get a full 48 hours of
data. The students could also be asked to keep track of when they
slept, ate meals, and engaged in vigorous activities. Having collected
the measurements, the students can plot the results in class,
calculating means and standard deviations for the results of the 3 trials
at jacks for each time point. Assuming they see some sort of
variation, they can determine the times when their temperature and
reaction times peaked and troughed, and see if there is a correlation.
Comparisons can also be done between students. If they
kept track of other behaviors, they could look to see if the changes
are in any way related to the other behaviors.
