1. Candy Confusion
by:Liam Comer

2. Scientific Question
Can small children mistake medication for candy?

3. Background
I chose my topic because I have always wondered how old one would have to be to realize that potentially dangerous medications though similar in appearance are not candy. In addition I have a baby brother and I wanted to know just how long I might need to keep an eye on him.

4. MY HYPOTHESIS
I believe if I show small children dangerous medication and assorted candy they won’t be able to differentiate between the two.

5. VARIABLES INDEPENDENT-The ages between the children.
DEPENDENT-If they will be able to tell the difference between candy and medication.
CONSTANTS-pills,candy,and jars.

6. PROCEDURE 1. Gather materials-candy,medication,jars,kids
2. Recruit small supervised children to help me
3. Create hypotheses for my experiment
4. Set up experiment-put candy into jars in front of subjects
5. Mark how many kids pick medication instead of candy
6. Clean up any mess and return medications
7. Create data chart
8. Write my conclusion

7. Data Test Subjects Trial #1 Trial #2 Trial #3
5 Year Old Boy candy medication medication
5 Year Old Girl medication medication candy
8 Year Old Boy candy candy candy
8 Year Old Girl candy medication candy
RESULTS:
5 Year Olds: 4-2 in favor of Medication 8 Year Olds: 5-1 in favor of Candy

8. Graph 6 5 Candy 4 Medication3 2 1
Candy
Medication
Number of times selected based on 3 trials
5 yr olds Ages of kids yr olds

9. Conclusion
Is it possible for small children to mistake medication for candy? In my experiment I put candy and medication into jars to see which one the kids would choose.
Although the older kids picked the candy over medication more times than the younger ones the data supported my hypothesis.
Small children generally have a hard time telling the difference between candy and medication. I have learned that the older they get the more they realize what medication is. There were really no errors with my experiment but what I would do differently would be to take more kids with different ages.