Neuroscience - Lifelong Learning Project

Project Outline

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.

We then plasticized our dissections to use for our physical Brain Displays.

Display

To finalize our work, we were to display the dissections along with a description of the section we cut; the functions and location for example.

Transitional Presentation of Learning - 2009

Perspective - Humanities

Supposition - Math/Chemistry

Payoff Matrix

Significance - Spanish

Spanish Podcasts

Intellectual Curiosity - Career Day

Dear Mr.Fozi - tPOL Questions and Answers

Questions from Mr. Fozi
Casino Night Project
How do casinos make money?
What is an expectation value?
How is it different from probability?
Casinos generally make money by charging the players more money than the expectation value. The expectation value of a game shows, on average, how much profit is gained or lost each time.
The casinos first find every possible event in a game. They then find the probability of each event happening. They then multiply the profit by each respective probability, giving them the expectation value of the game. This expectation value is different from the probability. The probability only tells the chance of something happening, while the expectation value factors in how much profit is gained or lost. To make money, casinos want to have players play games where they will generally lose money, and the casino profits.

Eden Architecture
What makes a livable house?
What are some patterns that you incorporated into your house to make it livable? How did you approach the problem of making a small house? What were the technical problems you had to overcome? What did you learn about three-dimensional thinking?

The main aspects that make a house "livable" is separate spaces for different purposes. For example, a space for sleeping, working, cooking, eating, etc. Another very important thing a house must have is ample living space. At the very minimum, a room's dimensions (length and width) should be be greater than that of a person's. Basically, a person should be able to lie on either side of a room and fit.
2 very important "patterns" that I used in my designed house were the rule of "Clustered Sleeping Spaces" and "Windows on 2 Sides". The former requires the sleeping quarters of a home to be close together in one general area, and the latter is self explanatory, requiring a room to have a window on 2 of its sides.
Making a small house was quite a challenge, especially when trying to implement these architectural patterns. One way to overcome this was to use as much space given, and be creative to find space for everything.
3 dimensional thinking as a very high hurdle to jump over. It was difficult to think in such a non-linear way, but after experimenting and constant trial and error, it became easier to gain the correct mindset.

Mole Project
Why do we need the concept of the mole?
What is a mole? Why do we use it in chemistry? How do we calculate the number of moles in a particular mass of atoms, or the mass of a number of atoms? What is stoichiometry?
The concept of the mole expresses the amount of molecules in a sample, rather than a sample's mass. This is useful to discover how much of a certain element is contained in a molecule.
The calculation of finding "the mole" of a molecule is very straightforward.

1 mole = 6.022 x 10^23
[insert picture of Mole Island]
The practice and study of these conversions is referred to as "stochiometry".

In General
How do you think your skills as a learner of math and science have improved? What have you done to prepare yourself for learning Math III and Biology next year?
Overall, I've noticed my understanding of Math and Science has increased significantly. Projects and labs have challenged me especially to encourage critical thinking and learning from experience.
To prepare myself for next year's courses, I hope to take more challenge options to broaden my knowledge overall. This will help me create better quality, well thought out work that will be up to my teacher's, and my own, standards.

Reactions and Collisions Lab Pt. 3

Questions from Mr. Fozi's DP

1) Is energy gained or lost by the molecules? Which molecules have more energy, the reactants or the products?

During the reaction, energy is gained by the products. Thus, the products (after) have more energy than the reactants (before).

2) Predict what will happen when 50 A’s are added to the box and 50 BC’s are added.

I predict that the BC's will create several collisions with the A's, changing the number of each periodically.

3) In the box labeled “current amounts,” enter 50 for A and 50 for BC.

4) Was your prediction correct? Describe and explain any differences.

Though there were reactions between the two, not all of them reacted the same; only a fraction created effective collisions.

5) Predict what will happen when the temperature is raised so it is NOT above the activation energy max but IS above the energy level of the products.

Due to the raised temperature, the molecules will move much quicker. The faster movement will possibly cause more reactions and effective collisions to occur.

6) Raise the temperature as described. Did your prediction come true? Describe and explain any differences.

Again, faster movement, more reactions, but only a fraction of them.

7) Predict what will happen when the temperature is raised so it is above the activation energy max.

The temperature will be even higher, meaning a potentially higher rate of reaction due to the faster movement.

8) Raise the temperature as described. Again, was your prediction correct? Describe and explain any differences.

The molecules did in fact move quicker, and there were more effective collisions.

9) What did you notice about the rate at which reactants/products fluctuated between the three different temperatures? If you didn’t notice anything, hit “reset all” and test it again.

The amounts of each varied by very little (mostly by 1) and change much more often when the temperature was increased.

10) Did temperature affect equilibrium position? Did it affect it in the way you expected? Explain.

Higher temperature caused a closer equilibrium, while a lower temperature offset the equilibrium slightly.

11) Did temperature affect reaction rate? Did it affect it in the way you expected? Explain.

As aforementioned, higher temperature causes faster molecule movement, and I predicted that the faster movement will cause more frequent reactions.

Reactions and Collisions Lab Pt. 2

Questions from Mr. Fozi's DP

a. Predict what will happen to the rate of the reaction for each variable: increased temperature, decreased temperature, increased concentration (number of particles), decreased concentration (number of particles). Explain your predictions in terms of effective collisions.

Increased temperature: Increasing the temperature will cause the Reactants to move quicker, which will allow more effective reactions.

Decreased temperature: Decreasing the temperature will make the Reactants move slower, causing less effective reactions.

Increased concentration: Increasing the concentration (more reactants) will provide a higher probability of collisions, causing more effective reactions.

Decreased concentration: Increasing the concentration (less reactants) will provide a lesser probability of collisions, causing less effective reactions.

b. Test your prediction with the simulation and record observations.

c. Explain your observations. Were all of your predictions correct? Which tests changed your thinking about reaction rates? How did the simulation change your prediction?

Our predictions were correct, though the high speed and movement on some tests proved difficult to determine.

Reactions and Collisions Lab Pt. 1

Questions from Mr. Fozi's DP

1. See if you can reproduce each of the scenarios from the pre-lab. What did you have to do to make each unsuccessful collision happen? What did you have to do to make an effective collision happen?

To create an unsuccessful reaction, we used the Angled Shooter to shoot away from the second reactant. This caused Reactant A to completely miss Reactant B, causing an unsuccessful reaction. To create an effective collision, we used the straight shooter, shooting Reactant A directly into Reactant B with the most force possible.

2. Use the “design your own reaction” tab to change the energy levels of the “before” and “after” molecules. You can create a huge potential energy hump to represent a particularly difficult reaction. Where do you need to move the “total energy” to create an effective collision?

The total energy can be anywhere, as long as you shoot the first reactant hard enough to cause an effective reaction.

3. What is the effect of raising or lowering the temperature? The effect of raising the temperature will become clearer as you make the “potential energy hump” bigger. The effect of lowering the temperature will become clear if you choose the fourth reaction from the list on the right.

When the temperature is lowered (colder), the reactants move slower.

When the temperature is raised (warmer), the reactants move faster.

Reactions and Collisions Pre-Lab

1. A reaction did not occur between Reactant A and B in scenario 1. For a reaction to occur, the atoms or molecules must collide and hit each other. In scenario 1, there was no contact between the two reactants.

2. In scenario 2, a reaction did occur between the two reactants. It was a minor reaction, for the two reactants did not hit each other, and didn't make much contact.

3. In scenario 3, a similar reaction to scenario 2 occurred. The two reactants did not collide with much force, but they did make contact.

4. In scenario 4, a large, effective reaction occurred. The two reactants collided with a great amount of force and created a larger reaction.

5. The term "effective collision" probably refers to a reaction between two reactants where the reactants collide with a great amount of force, creating a large reaction.

6. Collision theory states that a reaction is most likely to occur if the two reactants collide with each other with generally large amounts of force, hitting each other almost directly/head-on.

7. An infant cannibalistic vampire shark with a lazer on it's head is being catapulted over a crystal mountain at 130 miles per hour. On the other side a Peter was being catapulted at exactly the same speed.They meet at the peek of the mountain and morphed into an infant cannibalistic vampire Peter shark with lazers on his head, *giggle*