So anyway, I thought for our project we could do a similar study,
总之，我觉得我们在自己的项目中也可以做个相似的研究，
but investigate whether it really was the writing activity that had that result.
不过我们要调查的是，是否真的是这个写作环节导致的那个结果。
OK.So we could ask them to do a writing task about something completely different...something more factual?
好的，我们可以叫他们以某个完全不同的事情，某个更加真实的事情为题写一篇文章？
Like a general knowledge topic.
比如以常识为题。
Maybe...or we could have half the students doing a writing task and half doing something else, like an oral task.
也许......我们可以让一半学生完成写作任务，另一半做点别的事情，比如口头任务。
Or even, half do the same writing task as in the original research and half do a factual writing task.
再或者，我们可以让一半学生做和原本研究中同样的写作任务，剩下的一半以真实事情为题写一篇文章。
Then we'd see if it really is the topic that made the difference, or something else.
这样我们就能知道是否真的是那个话题导致的成绩差异，还是其他事情。
That's it. Good. So at our meeting with the supervisor on Monday we can tell him we've decided on our project.
就是这样，太棒了。那我们星期一和导师见面的时候，就可以跟他说我们已经决定好做什么项目了。
We should have our aims ready by then.
在那之前我们应该把目标确定好。
I suppose we need to read the original study — the article's just a summary.
我想我们需要把原本的研究看一遍，那篇文章只是个总结。
And there was another article I read, by Smolinsky.
我还读到过另一篇文章，是Smolinsky写的。
It was about her research on how women and men perform in mixed teams in class, compared with single-sex teams and on their own.
这篇文章研究的是，和在单一性别小组以及自己独自学习时的表现相比，女生和男生在班上的混合性别小组的表现有什么不同。
Let me guess...the women were better at teamwork.
让我猜猜......女生在团队合作时表现更好。
That's what I expected, but actually the men and the women got the same results whether they were working in teams or on their own.
我也是这么想的，但是事实是，男生和女生无论是在团队合作还是独自一人时，表现都是一样的。
But I guess it's not that relevant to us.
不过我想这个和我们的项目没什么关系。
What worries me anyway is how we're going to get everything done in the time.
我真正担心的是，要如何按时完成所有的事情。
We'll be OK now we know what we're doing.
现在我们已经知道要做什么了就没问题了。
Though I'm not clear how we assess whether the students in our experiment actually make any progress or not...
不过我不是很清楚要怎么知道参与我们实验的学生是否真的取得了进步......
No. We may need some advice on that.
对啊，我们在这个问题上也许需要一些建议。
The main thing's to make sure we have the right size sample, not too big or too small.
主要的事情是，我们要确保试样规模正确，不能太大，也不能太小。
That shouldn't be difficult.
这应该不难。
Right, what do we need to do next?
那我们接下来需要做什么呢？
We could have a look at the time table for the science classes...
我们可以看看科学系班级的课程表，
or perhaps we should just make an appointment to see one of the science professors. That'd be better.
或者我们也许应该跟一位科学系教授约个时间见一面。这样也许更好。
Great. And we could even get to observe one of the classes.
很好，这样也许还有机会观察其中一个班级。
What for?
观察什么？
Well...OK maybe let's just go with your idea. Right, well...
嗯...好吧，也许我们还是直接按照你的想法来吧。