2001 WSMC HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CONTEST PROJECT QUESTION

Sleep Cycles

Concept: periodicity.

Subsidiary concept: modeling.

Recent studies suggest sleep patterns of teenagers are different from adults and contrary to early morning school sessions. Some researchers conversely argue sleep patterns are more influenced by external factors (e.g. time of sunrise, work schedules, and over-involvement in extra-curricular activities) than biological factors. While both sides agree that there is sufficient evidence to suggest teens need more sleep than they typically get, the factors affecting the opportunities teens have in getting a full night's sleep need further exploration.

Your task is to establish the amount of sleep teens need and directly investigate the affect of external factors on the number of sleep hours a teen gets. Write a function that predicts the number of hours of sleep for "a typical teen" given values for the variables you identified (as part of this investigation) as affecting the amount of sleep teens get.

Consider for your report:

• How a "natural sleep cycle" for teens is established.
• In what ways the "natural sleep cycle" is unaffected by external factors (such as going to bed earlier, turning off the TV, and avoiding particular foods or beverages).
• What factors DO affect the number of hours of sleep.
• How testing of possible factors was done.
• Sources of all information.

Final comment: assume normal, healthy teens!

Click HERE to view the scoring rubric.

© 2001 WSMC and Richard T. Edgerton