End of the Semester Reflection Fall 2010

Here we are again expected to look back at a semester that flew by way too fast. I find this time of year refreshing. Taking a second to take a breath and realize just how much we did. It is shocking to think that next semester is the last one. Capstone is going well, we are starting to run trials on our tadpole experiment after the thanksgiving break. I am excited that all our work prepping for this experiment is finally going to pay off. It will be a ton of work running the trials and collecting data but I cannot wait to get going. I feel like a broken record thinking we will start trials any day now but there was so much prep work to get done in the lab I guess it makes sense that it took a semester to complete it all. My personal project, well in conjunction with another person, is making progress as well. We are still in the designing phase of the experiment and it seems to be coming along with few bumps. I am thrilled that next semester will be slightly less hectic so I will be able to devote all my time to the project (really what I was urning for all along but stupid classes that I had little interest in have been stealing my time and my sanity). I am looking forward to enjoying my last semester in college doing what I love, research. As for our Paideia discussions, they were fun and thought provoking as usual. I like how we always go off on some tangent that ultimately relates back to human behavior (hey that’s our groups topic, funny how that works!). Personally this semester I feel like I had a difficult time competing for speaking time (I promise I am working on that, its just a little annoying and frustrating when all my ideas are expressed by the slightly louder people, then when I actually get 2 seconds to speak I just sound like I am repeating what someone else already said). I am pleased by our discussion of animal research and analyzing a poorly executed article. I was struggling with a way I could talk about my capstone that would initiate some sort of conversation. I personally could talk about tortoises, tadpoles, learning and predatory reactions all day long if I have a listening ear, but I did not think the cohort would appreciate my ramblings. So the idea of animal research struck me as I was casually rambling and a friends friend scolded me for testing on animals. I was amused by her perception of what animal research was and the reasons why I am a careless soul for torturing a poor innocent being. Naturally I wanted to find how she came to such an absurd conclusion about research. I think it was very evident by the articles that I found on the web that most of the available articles are against the subject. Needless to say it was very difficult finding a non biased article about the subject. When I searched for an article to share with my cohort, I intended to find an article about animal research more aimed at learning about animal behaviors. However, when I stumbled on the current article I felt that it was right to share it. Unfortunately it was the only article I could find that at least attempted to be impartial (although poorly done so and only at the beginning). Anyways I knew that we had such a diverse group of opinionated people in our group that some sort of debate about animal research would begin. I hope everyone learned a little something about the issue even if they have no opinion on the matter. This semester was great even though it was a little more hectic than planned. I am looking forward to one last semester with my Paideia people.

Mid semester reflection...Happy half way!

I am transforming the age old saying “time flies when you’re having fun” to “time flies when deadlines are looming”. Don’t get me wrong, I am having a blast after all it is my senior year. But with projects, exams, lit reviews and the whole world sitting on your shoulders feeling you get being a typical college student has made this semester slip through my fingers. Needless to say I am surprised I am writing this blog right now but I am glad I finally get to take a minute to evaluate my progress thus far.

My capstone is well under way. Going from transforming the wet lab into suitable habitats for land animals was a rough and trying process but it is proving to be worth the labor. And we certainly are making up for the lack of luck/progress we had last year in the lab. We are diving right into two different research projects, one of which is counting as my capstone. I would be lying if I said I was not over whelmed by the work load but again once the results come in I’m sure that satisfactory accomplished feeling will make the months seem worth it. As for an update with the experiments, we are currently awaiting our IACUC Protocol to be approved. Once we get the go ahead we will be ordering our tadpoles and starting promptly 10 days after their arrival. We decided on 10 days because the transformation period of tadpoles lasts approximately 6 weeks. We have a delicate timeframe to work with to ensure proper adaptation to the new environment and to squeeze in a sufficient number of learning trials before they morph into frogs. My experiment with the tortoises is still in the research phase, however, I am editing my proposal currently. I want to focus on the predator perception in the tortoises. I am ready to design the experiment and get underway. We are also looking into doing a possible positive reinforcement (the giving of a reward) manipulation with the tortoises diet since they tend to prefer a certain grass that does not provide adequate nutrients. We also have the idea to do a vocalization analysis. I am very excited for all of our ideas in the lab and that our remaining animals are cooperating with us.

As for the Paideia discussions thus far, I am very impressed. I am finding everyone’s readings very interesting. I am slightly timid for my go around first of all because I will find it difficult to talk about one experiment over the others we are working on and second I am having trouble deciding on that perfect article to share that encapsulates my research in a cohesive fashion. I am slightly confident that perfect article that everyone in the cohort will enjoy will reveal itself to me in a timely fashion. I love how our conversations flow flawlessly into each other. We have and such a great diversity of topics this year and yet I feel like we can always tie it into something psychology related, and isn’t that what a liberal arts education is all about. My favorite article and discussion so far has been the intrinsic/extrinsic article. I learned a lot especially about myself. I always knew myself to be an intrinsic person but I never realized how much it has affected my relationships with other people (as a side note it is massively intimating to be surrounded by all those extrinsic people we have in our cohort). If I could change one thing about our discussions though, I would appreciate if we can give a brief synopsis on what the capstone/research is all about. We have been getting great articles but sometimes I find myself guessing what my fellow peers are pursuing with their studies. That has to be my only complaint about the year so far. I look forward to the remaining half of the semester and all the future amazing discussions we will be having.

Senior year!!

It’s our last year! I am very excited for this year as I always am at the beginning of a year. It must be something about the planning out of the next three months and the endless opportunities that waits that gets my motivation and adrenaline pumping. It is normally here when I suggest a cohort outing of some sort, either a bowling night or lake trip, but judging from the past few semesters I rule outside of schedule class time bonding next to impossible. However, I do suggest giving it the old hardy attempt, we never know, maybe this time we can all find a unanimously free weekend.

As some of you may know, I finally fulfilled my dream of studying in Australia. My trip this summer has changed my perspective on the world and on myself. I do thank my wonderful liberal arts education for sparking the drive to go the extra length to learn everything about the history and culture of the Aussies. For a lot of the time abroad we were immersed in our studies or secluded on islands far from civilization. But every town we came to, I would strike up a conversation with a local (way outside my shy comfort zone) or force my friends to a museum of some sort. It was a great experience and I cannot wait to apply my new mentality toward my life at SU.

As for my goals this semester... I plan to design and complete an entire research project at some point before I graduate (so mother nature kind of has her feathers in a ruffle. It just wouldn’t be as much fun if we didn’t have to improvise every step of the way). Currently the lab (me included) are working on a project temporally titled "Learning across metamorphosis in the African Clawed Frog (*Xenopus laevis*)". In the experiment the tadpoles are trained by pairing a stimulus (in the trial runs we used a light but believe a vibration or another type of stimulus would provide as a stronger signal) with a predatory stimulus (in this case a plastic blue heron). Ideally a connection will be made between the two stimulus resulting in a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus (the light or the vibration) is presented. When the tadpoles morph into frogs the learning will be tested again to determine if the stimulus bond remains intact through the metamorphosis stage. I am very hopeful for this project, however, I do not wish for this particular experiment to be my capstone. I am hoping to work with the tortoises we obtained last year. I have brainstormed many different possibilities for some indepth and possible groundbreaking (ok…maybe not groundbreaking, but I would like to believe it’s that important) work. We will see where it brings me in the next couple of months. I am ready to get the research party started.

I am not going to lie, when it comes to civic engagement projects I have hit a mental road block. I have been trying at least since I got back to the States to come up with a project that would help the community. I tried for myself and I tried to get the swim team involved in something. Everything I come up with just doesn’t strike my helping nerve, as if anything we will do will not be appreciated. Maybe it’s the personification that I gained while away that Americans are ungrateful. Maybe I am just not being creative enough in my brainstorming. Whatever it may be I have lost interest.

I am looking forward to learning about everyone’s research/ creative works. We all have been working hard over the past three years learning as much as we can in our respected fields, it is rewarding to see all of our hard work being applied into a cumulated project.

Semester Reflection Spring 2010

This semester (Number 4!!!) was pretty similar to last semester. The discussions were fun as always. We actually got together at the beginning of this semester, which is major progress. And I think everyone got along this semester, which is a step up from the first year. I deem this semester a success. Next year, I think we should focus more on our topics for our student works symposium projects. It is nice to get an outsiders perspective on a topic you have been slaving over for a while. It is easy to over look something minuscule if you have been studying a subject for a while. It could arise several good explanations or questions that can be addressed in the presentations. I also find it helpful for me to learn by explaining the topic to someone else. As for my study abroad, I am officially going to Australia this summer. I have my ticket and everything. I also received my itinerary. As I stated in an earlier blog, the program will consist of a lot of traveling (up the coast of Queensland) and a research project. Time in Queensland will be spent at conservation zoos, snorkeling off the coast, a stay at the research center of the Great Barrier Reef, and plenty of time admiring the beauty of one of the wonders of the world (the reef). Excitement doesn’t encapsulate the feelings I have about the trip. I am nervous about being on the other side of the world with a group of people I have never met before. But I keep reassuring myself that I will make friends quickly and will not wont the experience to end. Now talking about capstone, my plans have almost completely changed from last time I discussed my awesome research ideas in a blog. We had a very unfortunate semester in the lab (lesson learned: you can’t fight science). So previously I believed I was going to do my research on fish-predator relations using video clips to test various aspects of behaviors of prey fish. Well as I said unfortunate circumstances has led to the wonderful idea of learning about tortoises!! I have found several articles experimenting with tortoises’ spatial learning. I have not quite decided on an experimental process but I am sure it will follow along the lines of comparing our two different species in the field of spatial learning. One of our species is a burrowing species. I predicted that the burrowing system might have evolved an increase in spatial memory of these tortoises compared to our non burrowing species. The idea still needs research on previous literature and fine toning but I am very excited to get started on the experiment to see if my predictions are right. Unfortunately, I must wait until next semester to find out. I am looking forward to our last year together, and learning about everyone else’s research/ creative works that have results from four hard years of studying. Until next time, peace out my peeps.

Discussion Reflections Spring 2010

The discussions this year were thought provoking and intriguing. We had a wide variety of topics to talk about and each one prove to be worth while. The topic I choose to talk about was the highly controversial soda tax. The article compared the new soda tax to the taxes placed on tobacco products a few years back. It debated whether soda was as detrimental to health as the ever so obvious “cancer sticks”. One point that came across in the discussion was defining a soda product and why just limit the tax to soda? Technically humans only form of liquid needed is water, so why not tax fruit drinks, chocolate milk, sports drinks, and all the other sugar ridden drinks? The research explained that the rising of the price of the sugary drinks will cause a decrease in purchase and consumption. Researchers have also found a correlation to childhood obesity and increase rates of consumption of soda drinks. So by raising the prices of the drinks should ultimately lower the instances of childhood obesity. I agree that some legal action must be taken place in order to help the epidemic but at what point is it effective and how will it ever be regulated?

I also enjoyed other people’s discussions. I always enjoy learning new things even if I can’t quite understand it completely. I also found it cool that Laurel picked the article that she did, about human connections to animals. I am very interested in how humans view animals and if caring for animals do have a therapeutic property to it. I was actually contemplating between two articles when I was going to lead discussions. The one that I did not choose was one about therapeutic animals (such as dolphins). Before I decided to go into research in animal behavior I was planning on being a physical therapist with a specialty in animal interactions. When I lived in Florida I spend most of my free time at a research center that performed many of those types of therapy sessions with dolphins. I was to young to really understand but I enjoyed helping the adults take care of the animals. Overall, I was very pleased with the discussions this year because there never seemed to be a dull moment. Discussions never got out of hand like previous semesters but at the same time my quite nature would seem to show its ugly head and I keep my comments to myself(mostly because some one else already expressed a similar opinion, and I didn’t want to be that dumb kid that sits and the corner and just agrees with everything). I know that in this blog I mainly focus on just one of the discussions, but I really did like everyone’s topics. There were a few that I received late so I only had time to skim through the articles. This semester worked better in the past by getting articles in a timely fashion. Well anyways I am looking forward to our continued discussions in our remaining two semesters.

Art off campus

My off campus experience was completely random. As I was driving home for spring break I noticed a sign for an art show. Not ever interested in art and in a hurry to get home I ignored it. Then I saw another sign then another. The constant reminders and a convincing line to the park entrance, made me stop by the show just to see what it was all about (as a side note, I never stop when I am heading home, when I am on a mission to be somewhere, I get there as soon as possible). The art show/fair consisted of people from all over the state and this very nice couple from Louisiana, wanting to show off their latest creations and sell them to interested buyers. They had everything from masterful paintings to abstract sculptures. I had a really good time (even though it put me off schedule). When I was younger my mom encouraged me to craft as a creative out put. I did not enjoy it that much because I had too much pint up energy to sit still and I had a slight case of obsessive compulsive disorder so I would give up on the first sign of failure of perfection. I never really understood why someone would want to waste their days away creating cutesy crafts that just end up getting thrown away at some point down the road. After meeting some of the artist I was very much impressed by their passion. Last semester I went to an art show on Southwestern’s campus. It was a completely different experience for me as was this. I felt more comfortable at this art fair because it seemed a lot more casual. I talked to some of the artists and asked them what there inspiration was for the pieces of work they created. It seemed like a lot of the artist there were the starving artist type. They either recently got laid off or have been out of work for a while and decided to pursue a dream that ultimately makes them happy regardless if they are successful. I thought it was interesting how many of the artist I talked to, mentioned their recent departure from a job of ten to fifteen years (an obvious sign of the economy). One artist that really stuck out in my mind was one that has suffered from depression after a family member passed away. She quit her “pointless” job to find meaning in life. She said that after feeling helpless, the only way she could express her emotions was through her art work. She felt like art was a calling so she started selling to friends and family and before she knew it she was coming to art fairs to share with the world. The people I meet all seemed so different but yet they had a common trait. Art is amazing in how it can provide so many people with pleasure. It just reminded me that art is important to the wirings of the brain and can be beneficial to people of all types.

On campus with LU

This year was particularly difficult for me to determine an on campus event to attend. I was not satisfied by just stretching my normal habits by going to a concert or musicale or some lecture that I ultimately will find interesting. So I spent the better half of the past semester about how I could really stretch myself (practically on campus) to see college opportunities through a different light. While I was talking to one of my friends about my dilemma she asked me what kind of things interested me. We started talking about the different organizations on campus. We talked about how great organizations were for finding friends with similar interests. Soon after the conversation, I expressed interest in attending one of her meetings, for the organization of Latinos Unitos. I choose that organization because it seemed the most different from the groups I am involved with. The meeting I attended was the first meeting of the semester so the members spent the time planning out events for the year. They talked about three main events that they wanted to see happen during the year. Looking back on the year it was cool to see the events materialize. One of the events that was discussed was the Cesar Chavez dinner. The dinner was taken place on the national Cesar Chavez day. Cesar Chavez is a legacy for promoting civil rights. He was also and educator and an environmentalist. The national holiday was the perfect opportunity for the students to inform other students about a person that has been so influential in their culture. It was cool to see students that are so passionate about their culture and so willing to expand their culture to other students at the university. I thought of the organizations that I am involved with. The closest organization I am involved in that could compare is fellowship of christen athletes (FCA). We try to inform others about what we believe in just how LU tries to inform others how their culture was developed. We also take advantage of our meetings to freely talk about what we believe in. I think that in today’s society Christens have several stereotypes just like how other cultures have stereotypes. It is nice to see fellow students reaching out to not necessarily break the stereotypes but to just inform others what their culture is all about and what makes it special. It seems to be human nature to have a place where you fit in. Having these organizations helps students find other students with similar passions. It is nice to live in a country where an expression for ones culture is allowed. I was just talking to my FCA group about how privileged we are to be allowed to fully express our beliefs in Christ without being thrown into jail or shunned from society. Many people take these privileges for granted and some just don’t take advantages of the privilege. I used to be one, a “closet Christen” I now refer to my days of private worship and prayer. This group meeting I went to showed me just how many people are not taking anything in their past for granted and are proud of their background.

I also couldn’t help but note on the group dynamics. When volunteering for tasks I picked up on certain people volunteering together. I guess “cliques” exist everywhere. I want to see if I could sit in some other organizations meetings, just to see how different groups on campus interact with each other.