Am I right?

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My 10 year old sister is doing a 5th grade science project. She was thinking to choose the topic boys or girls who are taller run longer. She mention which kids she wanted to use I said it depends on genes my dad said no tall peoples legs are longer. Going off of Health and Wellness A COLLEGE COURSE (Not some stupid 5th grade that compares just height!) Genes play a role! The kids she has chosen there are factors! Does "billy" Who is tall exercise or does he just sit around? This plays a role!! !! There are TONS of factors to consider!! ! NOT JUST HEIGHT!! !! !! (Of course this is for 5th grade and not college) but I know PROFESSIONALLY as someone wanting to get into research I'd look at MORE than height to determine running capability!! !! !

Of course you are right. But then, as you said, it is just a 5th grade class. My own kids have done similar type projects and aren't really expected to be very strenuous about good study practices.

Heck my oldest comes home occasionally with word math problems that don't have enough information in them to answer the questions accurately, yet they are still expected to answer them.

What does she mean by "run longer"? Run for longer? Or run further in the same amount of time? If the former, I'd say it is an interesting hypothesis and I would doubt it would be true. If the latter, then that makes sense since taller people would tend to have longer legs, but what is the purpose of studying this, isn't it a bit obvious?

If you had a big enough sample size, I think you would find that taller people run further, on average. So you wouldn't need to look at other factors. But it really doesn't tell us anything except that taller people have longer legs! So if your sister is wanting to do her project on running capability, then I doubt height would be a very good indicator.

BUT for a 5th grade project it could be an interesting learning experience (i.e. the discussion of her results at the end would be the important bit).

Arrgh don't you hate that! Or one is expected to mind-read the teacher to find out what they really wanted you to write. I had a teacher ask us to "list the author, year, and publication" so I put them in a list, line by line. I got a big comment back saying "No need to waste space! You should present it like a paragraph."

HELLO! Last time I checked, a paragraph requires more wording, which takes up MORE space. Stupid teachers!

I KNOW as a runner, there are SO many factors to consider, slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers in their muscles, body-build (bone structure, frame), length of stride, if anyone was a runner in their family in the past, if their DNA gives them any heriditary dieases or limirtations causing them to not be able to have a longer endurance or more speed, training and experience with running, diet, knowledge about running, enjoyment of running, mental attitude about running. etc...

But for a 5th grade project it is ok (plus if you try and change it, the teacher will accuse you of doing the project for her...and that wouldn't be good)

In all actuality, I have been thinking about that also because I have been with cross-country (a sport of running 3 miles for a race) for 4 years, and this one really short and a little bit of a stocky girl entered in at the end of her senior year and almost beat me on my last race. (she did on almost all the others though )I wondered if shorter people are faster sprinters because I KNOW if she raced me, say 10 miles, she would NOT have beat me!! !

Anyways, let her do her thing, maybe in high school (if she were to do a project on it) inform her, and tell her to research it out.

Oh, and for the question with not enough info...GOOGLE IT...I <3 Google. Especially with math. If they are using a popular enough book, google parts of the exact question, and it almost always works. =) But that annoys me when they do that on the test.

Glad I was right LOL! She chose to do the absorbency of paper towels. The teacher kept denying everything else. DARN teacher!

So, which paper towel is the most absorbent? Or, more to the point, which is better value for money?

hmm... yeah, this could be a good one to know

could boost kitchen science a long way