Posted on 03/23/2006 12:51:56 PM PST by Calpernia
Has anyone's children ever done a Mouse Maze for a science project?
My 10y.o. has a science project due by April 4th. She would like to try to do a Mouse Maze with her gerbil and Egyptian Spiny Mouse to see who can learn it.
I've no idea how much time a rodent needs to learn a maze. I just surfed a few university sites too and it seems they without food and water for about a day or too to encourage the mouse to learn the maze.
Anyone have experience doing this?
We do have a back up project ready in case this isn't doable.
ping
Woo weee. Let me try that sentence again:
I just surfed a few university sites too and it seems they withhold food and water for about a day or two to encourage the mouse to learn the maze.
Too many children helping me post :P
Try bread crumbs, as it were, leading it to the prize a few times. Each time, increase the distance between the hints until finally only the prize remains.
I'd be interested to hear if this works.
Do you think I should withhold food and water while training them? These are her pets and not lab rats.
Or should I buy feeder mice?
What would you do?
Guess a Crystal Radio is out of the question?
LOL!
I will keep that in mind for my son. He has taken apart every electronic in the house.
He has made stuff out of them too.
Is that real or a myth? My rodents never ate cheese. Guess I can try that.
Whell, whatever is their favorite treat. Maybe peanut butter. Cheese has stronger smell, though.
I'm going to try that. Thanks!
No, I wouldn't withhold food, just do the experiments at feeding time.
In the best interest of teaching real science, make the maze and do the experiment. Let your kid learn for themselves what the mouse will or will not do.
The fact the mouse doesn't do anything maens something and is a valid result. putting bait along the way and at the end might change his motivation and teach him the maze.
To start the experiment with preconceived results invalidates the real science. Dealing with unknown and uncertainty is what it is all about.
I just talked to her and incorporated your advice.
We are going with the fall back plan for the fair (soil experiments) and I ordered the mouse maze anyway for her to learn with unconstricted time how the mice learn the maze.
If she can do it for an extra credit project for class, great. If not, this is an opportunity for her to conduct her own experiment and see for herself how the mouse and gerbil learns without the short notice of the fair. :)
Great job mom!!
Heck, one of them (I have 3) will be able to do the project next year or something. At least they will know what to work with then :)
Collecting the samples must have been a blast.
It should only take a few minutes for the mouse to learn the maze. Just don't put in enough food to make him full.
Put the food at one end and the mouse at the other.
Time the first run.
Start over - time the second run.
Start over, etc.
I'll bet within 3 or 4 runs, he'll have it down.
Make a line graph of the results.
Do it tomorrow to see if he remembers. You may want to make two or three runs. Again, graph the results.
NOW - CHANGE THE MAZE and do it all again.
More than likely, some sort of instructions like this will be included in the maze kit, if you are not building it yourself.
This one shouldn't be hard, and the experiment can be done in a couple of days. The long part is the write-up, and making the display.
Don't worry if things don't turn out perfectly. Part of the evaluation is whether the participant can think it through enough to explain problem results...
I'm actually clipping that for a home experiment. The ice wouldn't work for the science fair.
Huh. Then maybe we can do that for the fair. I didn't know it only take a day or two for the rodents to learn the maze.
THANKS!
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