I have accomplished quite a bit in the past week regarding my STEM project; Does the same food taste the same and have the same effects on people who have autism and people who don’t. I have recently completed my introduction, finished my aim, Hypothesis and did some further tweaking for homework. The tweaks that I made was to the foods to test and the questions to ask. I changed to the foods to foods that I generally don’t like to have a better result that will highlight the hypothesis and will challenge myself and get a real and raw approach. The foods that rid of was the cheese toastie (as it wouldn’t highlight any information) and I also got rid of the Cereal for the same reason. I replaced these foods and dishes that personally affect me, like; Raw Carrot and Cucumber and Grainy bread. I chose these foods because as I researched and from my experience, people with Autism like my self, aren’t to keen on grainy bread as it has a texture variation.
The updated foods that I am doing are;
- Avocado on Toast- This is a good food to use as it showcases a soft texture that can be challenging to eat for people with autism. (This can be toasted this it at school)
- Carrot and Cucumber Sticks with Hummus- As it shows a variation in textures *hard to soft* (this can be prepared at home then easily brung it to school).
- Fully Loaded Nachos, with Black Beans, Cheese, Salsa and Sour Cream( this food can be brought from home but put the topping on at school. This food is great for the experiment, as it showcases a hard texture and has salad which normally people with a sensory problem struggle with).
Something that I currently need to work on is to try and develop more survey questions that will highlight my hypothesis more thoroughly and give me the result that I want.
Now, the survey question I have so far is;
- What texture do you feel?
- How is the texture of the food affecting your taste buds?
- What textures do you think are incorporated in this dish?
- What textures can’t you handle?
- Do you like this dish? If you do what textures made you like it and enjoy it? If you don’t, what textures don’t agree with you?
- What do you feel on the 1 to 5 scale (1 is fine and 5 being disgusted).
Something that I currently need to work on is to complete my variables as it will help conduct the whole experiment because without I can’t start testing the food.
Meanwhile, on the double on Tuesday, I used my time very effectively as I managed to finish all the variables, write the materials needed, conduct a method while also creating a risk assessment if something goes wrong. Now, having done my prior research I can start creating a table that will be easier for me to collect my information and have it in one spot. Something I did well this lesson was using my time effectively to get ahead and to start earlier with my project so I am not wasting next term. Doing this is great as it puts me ahead and also shows how much effort I am putting in. Something else that I did well this lesson, was making sure I don’t get distracted in class and use my double to fullest. I did this really well this lesson, as I reached the goal that I wanted to reach and tried not to talk alot- which was to finish off what I need before I start testing people. This lesson I have definitely completed my goal which was to finish off the variables, list the materials, conduct the method and create a risk assessment and to finish before I test people. But a trouble that I faced was formatting my word document wrong. This was a little bump in the road but it didn’t take that long to fix and didn’t waste much time. To fix this issue, I just consulted my teachers about the problem and they kindly helped me.
Wow Cleo, you have worked SOOOO hard on this. I am so pleased you have selected to do something so personal and important to you. You design is coming along beautifully, it looks like you might be ready to do the test early next term. Please let me see you final design before you do the test. Your menu sounds delicious!!! Love Mrs Kemp xx