Which Cookie Looks the Best?

All of the kids did science experiments this year, although only two out of the three kids were required to do so. We're overachievers. I used to make Rus do the experiments because my own memories of the science fair were riddled with dark images of myself panicking the night before the due date, painting a shoe box with a hole cut out of it, stringing rubber bands across the hole, and then ashamedly passing it off as a "musical experiment." Dark days those were. Everything changed when I helped Bekah come up with her project last year - the light clicked on in my head and I realized we could do something I was actually interested in! (We dyed fabric using different types of fruits and veggies.)

This year Bekah tested different types of leavening in baked goods, Jacob found the perfect temperatures for making and cooling crystals, and Beau asked the question, "Do cookies look more appealing if they're under different colored lights?"

His project was really fun. And it was understandably easy to find willing participants. Beau made the cookies himself (with my help), and then we called all willing neighbors to come test out his theory. He turned two shoe boxes into four little sections that each had a light in it. They were all white push lights, but three of the lights had colored filters. So one section displayed a cookie in a white light, and then the others were blue, yellow, and red. His hypothesis was that the cookies in the white light would be the most appealing.

To up his numbers, we made cookies for his entire class and had them come up one by one to get a cookie. Here he is with his good buddy Cameron.

And here's a better view of the cookie set up.

I'm sure you're dying to know, so I'll tell you that the cookies under the yellow light were found to be the most favorable! Out of a sample group of 38 participants, 14 chose the cookie under the yellow light, 10 chose blue, 8 chose white, and 6 chose red.

Beau concluded, "I think people chose that light because it looked buttery and warm. I think sometimes the people picked a cookie because it just looked good."

Amen to that.