Gillian Myers

Science Fair

Reflection

March 30, 2019

Science Fair

My science fair hypothesis is to show that stress balls do not have any correlation with

relieving test anxiety. For me and many of my friends, we do not feel any difference in our

stress levels when using stress balls. However, we decided to use Freshman as our test subjects

because they can experience higher level of stress due to have been transitioned from middle

schools. We selected math and science classes because those are more difficult courses and

hence the test anxiety would be more pronounced. We made our own stress balls using balloons

and flour. Freshman students completed the surveys before taking their exams with no stress

balls and after exams with stress balls. We collected the data. The results showed us that

overall students still have test anxiety even with stress balls. Although our hypothesis had some

correlation, we did not look at other factors that could skew the results of the experiment. Those

other factors are the level of difficulty of the test, and family/social problems. Nonetheless, this

science fair helped me strengthen my critical thinking skills such as to consider other

possibilities that external or peripheral events could hinder an experiment.