Breakfast- The Most Important Meal of the Day?

Sheldon Vaz and Srikesh Rudrapatna

I. Introduction-

This experiment looked to investigate the relation (if any existed at all) between eating a
healthy breakfast and academic performance. Using Grade 8 students from a randomly
selected middle school and splitting them into two classes with a stratified breakdown,
this connection was put to the test. One class represented the control group and was given
breakfast every day for 2 weeks. Conversely their counterparts in the other class were
deprived of breakfast everyday for 2 weeks. In order to see how this affected them at
school, standardized tests were given both before and after observational instruction
period (before in order to divide into classes, and after to measure the effect of the lack of
nutrition received from a breakfast meal).

II. Design
Hypothesis: If a child does not eat breakfast, his/her performance at school will suffer.
On the other hand, if a child eats a healthy breakfast everyday, then his/her performance
at school will remain exceptional.
Null Hypothesis: Any relation between a child who does not eat a healthy breakfast, and
poor academic performance is due to chance or external variables.
Aim- To determine the effect of eating breakfast on a child’s school performance.

Variables:
- Independent:
o Whether or not a child ate breakfast before attending school
- Dependent:
o Mathematical standardized test score(s).

Ethical Concerns- There are no other ethical concerns outside the use of a Consent form
and the Debrief after the completion of the experiment. A Confidentiality agreement is a
pre-requisite for participation in this study as the subjects are minors, as well as parental
approval. Also the Consent form guarantees that the subjects will be protected from
Mental and Physical harm and that if at any time any such harm does occur, that they
have the complete right to Withdrawal.

III. Participants

A: Sampling technique (stratified, random, opportunity) and justification,

characteristics of target population identified (gender, age, ethnicity etc.)

The target population of this experiment is Grade 8 students. This target population was
chosen because this is the age at which they are physically and mentally maturing into
what they will be like in the future. Also, the testing of Grade 8 students will clearly
show the effects that breakfast has on academic performance and social life. This is
because, students at this age most likely have not experienced consecutive days without
breakfast and thus this would be a new experience for them; this quality allows the
students to be able to distinctly show any difference in behavior patterns as it is a
completely new experience for most. If this experiment were to be done on adults, they
would not be able to point out exactly how different they felt because lack of breakfast
would not necessarily be new to them.
The sampling technique used was stratified; this was the ideal choice because it would be
an accurate representation of the varied intellectual capacities of students based on their
mathematical abilities prior to the experiment. In addition, the participants would be at
the exact age of our target population.

IV. Materials

The materials used:

1) A week supply of breakfast for 11 children which consists of:
- whole wheat bagels
- low-fat cream cheese
- 2% milk
- bananas
2) Two sets of standardized tests on mathematics for before the experiment and
after the experiment.

V. Procedure:

Step 1- Middle-school from Mississauga is randomly chosen. Consent and

Confidentiality forms are handed out. Of the students who signed the consent
form, 30 are randomly selected.
Step 2- The
Step 3- Based on test scores students are divided equally, through the stratified
sampling method students are divided in Group 1 and Group 2. (see below for
breakdown)

Type of Sampling – Stratified (Academic Performance)

Percentage 50-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91+

Of Class
6.66 6.66 33.33 20 6.66
(%)
# of
2 2 10 6 2
Students
# of
Students in 1 1 5 3 1
each group

Step 5- Group 1 will not be allowed breakfast for the duration for the experiment.
Group 2 will be given a standard breakfast each morning at 8 A.M. for the
duration of the experiment. The breakfast will consist of-
 - A whole wheat bagel with low-fat cream cheese
- A glass of 2% milk
- A banana
Step 6- After a two week instructional period; the students will be tested on the
identical mathematical material covered in their respective classes.
Step 7- The results of the tests are quantified and compared
Step 6- Debriefing

VI. Analysis and Evaluation

The data gathered will show, in a quantitative fashion, the effect of breakfast on academic
performance. Each intellectual sublevel within the sample will be allotted a before and
after score for the standardized tests. The difference in scores will be compared to the
parallel sublevel in the control group. From this comparison in the rising (or dropping) of
test scores one can infer what role breakfast played.

A possible flaw in the research would be that the data produced, may not be applicable to
all Grade 8 students. Because it was in one specific school, socio-economic factors, as
well as cultural factors, and the question of learning disabilities all have the probability of
skewing results within this experiment. Also the type of breakfast given may change the
scores of the control group and be responsible for outlier results within the group’s final
test score.

This experiment opens the door for further research into the connection between, proper
healthy nutrition and how our mind works and processes information better because of it.
It could emphasize the importance of breakfast especially for children, and remind adults
that no matter how busy they are breakfast will allow them to excel. This could also
inspire research into what kind of specific food drive test scores higher, or which subject
breakfast helps the most etc.

This experiment is hard to generalize broadly, and has specifics which could throw off
final results in a small way, however because of its sampling processs and thorough and
easily replicable procedure this experiment has high validity (ecological and otherwise)
as well as reliability.