John Torres: December 2009

This was the first major project done in Biology class Junior year. There were many different portions to this project to learn how the brain works.

Life Thoughts

A routine part of Mr. Leaders class, many of the Life Thoughts during the duration of this project were intended to help us think about the brain's inner workings. (Mostly in notes-format, rather than essay format)

Some examples:

September 16

What is the brain? What does it do?

-central nervous system - spinal cord

-neuron-brain cells

-hippocampus-memory

motor control-movement-cerebellum

-learning-brain can "learn" and retain new information

perception-senses

synapses-between neurons

drugs-effect on brain, eats away

September 18, 2009

How does mindset affect learning?

The article portrayed two different mindsets, FIXED vs. GROWTH. Although very biased towards the latter being better than the former, it was very insightful. Learning can be very highly affected by the person's mindset. One with a fixed mindset has less potential than growth mindsets. (more on mindsets below)

Stream of Consciousness

One of the first steps in learning about our brain was a 5 minute long stream of consciousness.

Mr. Leader prompted us to right down/type whatever was going on in our minds for 5 minutes straight.

birthday life ephraim ross typing advice stories learning growing becoming a man knowing whats right and wrong school the future tomorrow people friends hunger food eating burritos sleep relaxation napping world of warcraft spanish honors homework stress pro in procrastination spelling correctly advice wise learning experience touch regret hope decision chair knowledge desire party worry whats the other word for worry? apprehensive stomach growling what time is it pokemon song notes playing song piano tribe island your tribe their tribe petty love

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset

We learned about the two main mindsets that people are classified under. It's very paralleled to nature vs. nurture, where the Fixed mindset is focused on the mind having a nature; it has only a certain amount of abilities and cannot be changed. A growth mindset has the ability to grow, one with this mindset knows that hard work and initiative will allow one to learn anything. A life thought regarding the topic was written.

My general outlook on mindset and learning is that if one enjoys what they’re learning or has a general interest towards it, they will learn much more efficiently and effectively.

A fixed mindset is much more limited than a growth mindset. A fixed mindset focuses on appearing smart, while growth is set on really learning. Having an intent to learn is more important and effective than just trying to get a good grade. A desire to learn creates much more potential. One with a fixed mindset will only bother attempting to learn concepts and knowledge that gives them short term satisfaction. Growth mindset people learn for the long run.

For a long time, my mindset has been very fixed. I focus on the short term, what could help me now. I was only looking towards the grade. I am slowly trying my best to convert to a growth mindset. Lately especially, grades have been higher priority than learning. This has always seemed so far from my nature.

Having desire to learn and finding enjoyment in it also plays a major role in learning. I’m certain that subjects I was fond of were much easier to learn and more enjoyable to work with. It did not matter the difficulty or abstractness of the concepts, the fact that I did not dread the subject matter made me want to learn it. In a way, it almost tricked my mind into having a growth mindset. Having this drive and motivation to learn could change my learning altogether.

Neuron Display

The neuron is the most essential substance within the brain. It makes all brain function possible. We were to create a digital display conveying the inner workings of the neuron. My team's idea was to animate information being propagated across a neuron.

Neuron Display

Brain Dissection Display

Possibly the most enjoyable part of the project was the dissection of the sheep brain. The sheep brain has many similarities to human brains, thus, we explored.