20 Time Final Post: The Road Ahead

For this project, I completed half of a drawing book which documented the causes and warning signs of depression through a story about a teenage girl. I drew each scene on a piece of printer paper divided into quarters. Even though I am not very talented at drawing, I tried to make the storybook look decent. Here is one of the pictures I included in my presentation as part of my product: 

The protagonist is LGBTQ in an unsupportive environment, as I made her parents very religious and conservative. In addition, her parents are overloading her with work and difficult classes.
The story I wrote is about a teenage girl who initially has many friends and a balanced life but soon falls into the academic pressures coming from her parents and the pressure to fit in with everyone else at her high school. She is also LGBTQ in an unsupportive environment, as her parents are highly religious; the girl is aware that she cannot come out to her parents. Also, she is not performing as well academically as her peers, so she feels out of place and that she is slowly falling behind. Here is a screenshot of my storyline on a separate Google doc:

Screenshot of part of the story I wrote during 20 Time in class.
For my final, I conducted a presentation on my topic and learning process in a TED Talk format in front of the class. The video for this is at the top of my blog post. I thought my TED Talk could have gone better; I felt that I rushed through it and as a result, I was looking off of my notecards the majority of the time. Knowing that my presentation was barely inside the time limit, I tried to speak quickly in order to fit all of my presentation into the time constraints. I did practice the presentation a few times at home, so I thought that my delivery of the content was smooth, but I feel that I still could have slowed down to make the talk more natural. Watching my video, I would give myself the following scores:
Attention: 3/5
Voice: 5/5
Verbal Communication: 5/5
Purpose: 5/5
Examples: 5/5
Evidence: 5/5
Product: 5/5
Learning Process: 5/5
References: 4/5
Enthusiasm/Passion: 5/5
Awareness: 5/5
Timing: 5/5
Authenticity/Integrity: 5/5
Works Cited: 5/5
Images: 5/5

Preparing for the talk was quite nerve-wracking, since I have never delivered a TED Talk before, and I was scared that the story about my depressed friend at the beginning of my presentation would scare people. While making my "script" for the presentation, I again wrote too much content and when I timed myself, I went over the time limit by about 2 minutes! Because of this, I had to cut down comments that weren't completely pertinent or necessary to the presentation, and I was finally able to reduce my presentation time to within the time constraints. I also tried to practice presenting without looking at my notecards too many times, and I succeeded. However, during the actual presentation, I was nervous that I would forget something (which I did), so I was glued to my notecards. This project has made me realize a lot of issues that I have with time management, so it made me reflect on those problems and eventually try to fix them by the end of the project process. I also really enjoyed the creativity aspect of the project and how we were allowed to choose any topic we liked. It was very intriguing listening to other people's presentations and what they chose to give their presentations on; it made me realize that everyone has their own hobbies and interests that might not be apparent on the outside. Overall, this was an awesome project and it really allowed me to grow as a person and grow my knowledge as well!

Reflexes Lab

In this lab, my lab partner and I tested out each other's different reflexes, such as the blink and knee reflex to name a few. A reflex is an involuntary response to a stimulus; we have developed reflexes in order to protect us from harm. First, we tested the photopupillary reflex, which causes the contraction and dilation of the pupil when exposed to light. My lab partner covered one of her eyes and let her eye be exposed to the dark for a few minutes. After those few minutes, I had my lab partner uncover her eye and I shined a flashlight into her eye, observing the actions of the pupil; her pupil shrank very quickly.
- The reflex is the photopupillary reflex, in which the pupil contracts and dilates depending on how much light is entering the eye through the pupil. Although we did not take a video of the actual pupil contraction, the pupil did shrink when the flashlight was shone on the eye. This occurred because when light enters the eye, the photopupillary reflex is triggered and the ciliary body of the iris contracts, making the pupil smaller.
Next, we tested the knee jerk reflex, which is commonly tested at the doctor's office. In this reflex, the tap below the knee sends information back to the spinal cord that tells the muscle to contract, resulting in a leg kick. I observed this when I tapped below my lab partner's knee; her knee kicked up involuntarily and immediately after I tapped her. The fact that the knee kicks up so quickly after the knee is tapped is easily explained by the concept of reflexes themselves; reflexes happen so quickly and involuntarily because the information is sent from the muscle to the spinal cord instead of the brain, and the nerve impulse to make the muscle contract is sent back to the muscle. Then, my lab partner squatted until she was tired. However, when I tapped the area below her knees even after she exercised, her knee jerk was still quite vigorous, showing that she did not exercise to the point of exhaustion.
- The knee jerk reflex is the kicking up of the knee when the area right below the knee is tapped. Again, although we did not take a video of this happening, almost all of us have experienced this at the doctor's office before. This occurred because the stimulus of the instrument used to tap the area below the knee sends a signal to the spinal cord, which relays a nerve impulse back to the muscle for the muscle to contract, making the knee jerk. Here is a picture of that process:

The knee jerk after my lab partner squatted was still vigorous because my partner had not exercised to the point of using up all of the ATP available for her muscles to contract; as a result, the muscles involved in the knee jerk reflex still contracted.
Next, we tested the blink reflex by having my lab partner hold plastic wrap in front of her face while I sporadically threw cotton balls at her face. Every time I threw the cotton balls, my lab partner blinked involuntarily. Humans have evolved this reflex throughout time in order to protect their eyes from foreign substances and other harm.
- The blink reflex is the blinking of the eye when it seems as if something will enter or harm the eye. When I threw the cotton balls toward my partner's face, she really did blink. This occurred because the body thinks that the cotton balls will hit/harm the eye, so we blink to prevent that harm from occurring.
We then tested the plantar reflex, which mainly tests neurological function. I performed this test by having my lab partner sit on a table and take off their shoe and sock, so as to leave their sole exposed. I then used a firm object and dragged it up the sole of their foot from the heel to the base of the big toe. When I did this, my partner's toes curled and plantar flexed, which is the reaction that people with normal neurological function have. However, if the person does not have normal neurological function, the toes spread apart and upward, known as Babinski's sign.
- The plantar reflex is the plantar flexion of the foot when the sole of the foot is stimulated; the toes are also supposed to curl. When I dragged a firm object across the sole of my partner's foot, my partner's foot did curl up, showing that she has normal neurological function. This reflex occurred because the stimulus of the firm object I used on the sole sent information to the spinal cord, which sent a nerve impulse back to the foot to make it flex.
Lastly, I tested reaction time by dropping a yard stick in front of my lab partner and marking the distance that it took for her to catch it, and therefore how long it took for her to catch it. For each person, we conducted three trials by dropping the yard sticks randomly three times. My average reaction time was 0.336 seconds. We also observed reaction times while texting. For this, I texted the message "Texting while driving is very dangerous because your reaction time is reduced" with one hand while looking at the phone. When my partner dropped the yard stick in my hand and I had to catch it while texting, my reaction time was significantly slower; my average time rose to 0.516 seconds.
- This last part is a bit different than the other four parts; it is testing reaction time, not reflex. For this reason, the time taken to catch the yardstick is much slower than the time for the pupil to contract or the knee to jerk; the information that the yard stick is falling has to reach all the way to the brain in order for me to catch the yardstick.
- While texting, for two of the three trials, I was so engrossed in texting that I did not even realize that my partner dropped the yardstick, so the point at which I caught the yardstick was very high up the yardstick. My trial 1 time was 0.32 seconds, my trial 2 time was 0.53 seconds, and my trial 3 time was 0.70 seconds; obviously, I did not even realize she dropped the yardstick for the last two trials. I think that my results were quite similar to the average times of everyone in the class. Here is a bar graph of the results:

As you can see, overall, females had slower reaction times than males, but everyone had slower reaction times while texting compared to when they were focused on the yardstick. This is significant evidence against texting and driving, since those few seconds and save your life.

20 Time Individual Reflection

This past semester doing 20 Time has been a new experience for me. When given a long period of time to complete one big project, it is usually hard to plan one's time and make sure that one finishes what one planned to do from the very beginning. For this reason, I wish I had made checkpoints/goals to have finished by certain times throughout the semester; this way, I could make sure that I was keeping track of my work on staying on task. However, because I did not make checkpoints for myself, the end of the year approached quicker than I expected, and I still have more work that I want to accomplish.
This challenged me because I usually have pretty bad time management even on short-term projects, so I wanted to see how a long-term project would play out. I also chose a difficult topic to focus on, depression, because it is very relevant in society and especially with teenagers right now; however, it is a hard topic to talk about because it is glorified in the media. This project's goal was mainly to help people who may be going through depression; I was hoping that it would weaken the stigma surrounding depression so that people would not be as scared to ask for help. Furthermore, I was hoping that this project would help people recognize the warning signs for depression in order to nip it in the bud.
My plan to achieve this goal was to make a simple and short drawing book in which I drew a story revolving around a teenager who was battling depression. I would make this drawing book simple enough for younger people to understand, but I would also include statistics to make the book and point I make legitimate.
Honestly, I did not get as much work done as I planned to. However, I did accomplish a reasonable amount of work. I researched lots of statistics to add into my story as well as personal memoirs of people who have had depression to make my story more realistic. I finished writing my story completely but realized that I did not have a lot of time left to finish the actual book anymore; I plan to finish by my presentation because I am almost done. I think the reason why writing the story took so long is because I thought that the story was the most essential part; it was the part from which people were supposed to take the most and learn a lot from. In addition, I originally made the story too long and detailed because I was trying to perfect it too much, so I had to take time to cut down a lot of details and decide what was really important in my story; my story probably would have continued for a long time if I hadn't realized that the end of the semester was quickly approaching. Furthermore, because we only had computers during class, I used class time to alter my story and add in more statistics and facts while making the physical book at home, although I did sketch out pages during class as well. Although I have not finished my book yet, I am very close, just a few more pages left, so I plan to finish those up throughout this week.
From this experience, I learned that planning time is much harder than it seems. I also learned that being given the freedom to explore and do a project about one's own interests may be a double-edged sword; although this topic is something I am interested in, sometimes I research other topics related to this issue and watch videos about it, going off track.
If I had the chance to do this project again, I would choose to do something that is mostly done online or on a computer, because most of the 20 Time time I used was on the computer during class. Because I chose something with a physical finished product, I also had to continue working on 20 Time at home; I thought that it would have been smarter if I worked on something on the computer, like something with graphic design or animation instead. However, I do not regret choosing this type of topic at all, because it is so relevant in society right now.
I still have a few more pages to complete, but I would also be okay with sharing the work that I have done right now, because I have finished most of the drawing book at home. I plan to finish the last few pages of the book by my TED Talk, since I still have a week or so. After I finish this book, I can share it with my family and maybe bring it to school to show friends and other classmates. I may also share the story I wrote up on social media, since most teenagers use it nowadays.
Overall, this project was a very new experience for me and gave me many insights on how to manage my time and workload over a long period of time.

Outline for TED Talk:
- I will probably begin my story with a personal interaction with someone with depression or my thoughts and opinions on Speak Up For Change Week; probably something like: "Growing up I never really heard of depression...."
- In order to enhance my story, I could add in some humor and some pictures on a slideshow to add to the presentation. I could also describe a story of someone with depression who is well-known, so as to bring across my point that depression should be destigmatized.
- I will conclude my story by stating what my goals of this project were and what this project was supposed to bring to people.

My Brain Map

For this blog post, I primarily used the information from the Your Brain Map activity from Open Colleges:



An interactive infographic by Open Colleges

Cerebral Cortex:
1. The frontal lobes are basically the brain's main command center, and controls personality, memory, problem solving, language, and many other complex functions. This part of the brain deals with a person's behavior and critical thinking skills.

2. Evidence has shown that selective learning is most helpful, because the brain slows down significantly when it switches from task to task. Furthermore, the prefrontal cortex has to be trained in the same thing several times in order for it to become proficient in doing this; therefore, it is most helpful to learn one topic at once instead of switching topics.

3. The frontal lobe is the last part of the brain to develop and also the first part to deteriorate. In order to prevent it from deteriorating, people can try to stop themselves from zoning out, engage themselves with their environment, and transform the information they receive.

4. The neo cortex controls spatial awareness, the senses, and motor skills. Because of its control, we are allowed to navigate our bodies and the world, and the neocortex is also stimulated by one's environment.

5. The pre frontal cortex controls one's personality and how she/he deals with certain social situations and also allows people to have the determination to do things, because the pre frontal cortex connects goals with action. This part of the brain is also associated with memory and will.

6. The pre frontal cortex does not deal well with multitasking because it loses speed significantly when someone switches from task to task; however, the pre frontal cortex works very well with deliberate practice and discipline to master a certain task.

7. Broca's Area is the part of the brain associated with speech and language development; this area of the brain can receive a "workout" by learning a second language, even if the second language is learned as an adult.

8. The somatosensory cortex is responsible for thinking: "Is it hot in here or is it just me?" because it controls sense of temperature, amongst other things.

9. The visual cortex helps people differentiate colors and recognize complex things such as faces; we are able to distinguish between different things.

10. One interesting fact about the occipital lobe is that the differentiation between the real and imaginary is less in children, so that might explain the fantasies that they create. Another interesting fact is that one can imagine he/she actually doing something, and if imagined and practiced a lot, performance of that task could improve in real life. Another interesting fact is that because short and long term memories are stored here, the occipital lobe allows to know our place in time.

11. If my temporal lobes were damaged, I would be unable to have long term memories, because the temporal lobes help retain visual memories. I would also be unable to take tests or things that required even short term memory, because new information is stored here.

12. My "fast brain" is basically when someone can control the information they have much easier than someone who does not have a fast brain, and therefore the person can seem more intelligent; the fast brain helps someone process information quicker.

Neurons:
1. One thing I could do to influence my synapses and have a positive effect on my life and health would be to exercise. Another thing would be to eat a healthy diet, especially one high in omega fatty acids. Another thing would be to socialize with other people outside.

2. Dendrites control the basics of learning, and mutli-sensory or multi-modal learning has been shown to benefit the dendrites and increase proficiency in a certain task. In order to study a subject efficiently, one should study from real experiences and use personal, humorous, or spatial information to remember a topic.

3. "Big picture thinking" help people to fully comprehend a subject because it allows the learner to put into context what they have learned. Mnemonics are also used to recall information, because it allows people to recall information in a humorous or spatial way instead of just memorizing abstract facts.

4. A neurotransmitter that I feel is very important is oxytocin because it plays a large role in both positive and negative moments. Oxytocin's nickname is the "love hormone," and helps people to connect and make lasting relationships. However, oxytocin also plays a role in negative social cues. For example, in a bad relationship, oxytocin's levels will still be high so the person will still seek affection and care from other people.

Limbic System:
1. The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain and controls cognitive, motor, and sensory functions. The corpus callosum is also involved in language development and reading, especially since we use our eyes to read.

2. Studies have shown that studying music can strengthen the connection between the two hemispheres of the brain through the corpus callosum, but the person must practice frequently for there to be long term benefits.

3. The thalamus is important because it is responsible for motor control, sensory information, and consciousness. The thalamus relays information from the senses and sends it to the cortex for interpretation.

Relate and Review:
- Through this interactive activity, I have learned about the anatomy and functions of the major parts of the brain. The pre frontal cortex controls behavior and how someone deals with social situations; I have always heard that teenagers are more vulnerable because their pre frontal cortex is still developing, so I feel like teenagers have to work harder to have more self-control. The visual cortex helps us recognize and differentiate between different faces, so it helps us distinguish between things in our life. The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain and is involved in language development and reading. However, I did not know that studying music could benefit the corpus callosum in the long-term; I will probably aim to practice more after learning this piece of information, because only practicing frequently will yield long-term benefits. The temporal lobes store and take care of both short-term and long-term memory; newly learned information is also stored here. The thalamus is responsible for motor control, sensory information, and consciousness, and is nicknamed the "librarian" of the brain because it receives raw sensory input and relays this information to the cortex.

Brain Dissection

1.

 

This is a drawing of the external surface of the brain; I labeled the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem.

Red: brain stem
Green: cerebellum
Yellow: cerebrum

 

Structure	Function
Cerebrum	Integrates information that it receives and is responsible for complex sensory and neural functions
Cerebellum	Motor control and coordination
Brain Stem	Necessary functions, like heart rate and breathing

3. In a neuron, the fatty myelin provides insulation that increases the speed of impulses through these myelinated neurons.

4.

This is a drawing of the inside of the brain (if the brain is cut longitudinally). The pons, hypothalamus, optic nerve, thalamus, medulla oblongata, midbrain, and corpus callosum are labeled.

Blue: hypothalamus
Red: medulla oblongata
Green: pons
Yellow: thalamus

Red: corpus callosum

Green: optic nerve

5. 

Structure	Function
Thalamus	Sorts data and sends it where it needs to go; “post office”
Optic Nerve	Receives nerve impulses from retina and sends to brain for interpretation
Medulla Oblongata	Part of the brain stem that controls heart and lung functions
Pons	Controls respiration, sleep, swallowing, and other functions
Midbrain	Controls vision, motor control, hearing, and sleep
Corpus Callosum	Nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain and relay information between the two
Hypothalamus	Controls regulation and homeostasis

6. 

Half of the cerebrum (cut hamburger-style).

The gray and white matter of the brain are labeled.

Relate and Review:
- In this lab, we identified the structures of the brain through several simple cuts and also learned their functions. First, we identified the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem from just looking at the outside of the brain. Next, we cut the brain longitudinally in half and saw the gray and white matter. Then, we identified the thalamus, optic nerve, medulla oblongata, pons, midbrain, corpus callosum, and hypothalamus from looking at the medial plane of the brain. Next, we then made a cross sectional cut of the cerebrum, which allowed us to see the gray and white matter more clearly. In this lab, I thought that the dissection actually was very similar to the diagrams in textbooks. Something that surprised me was that although the hypothalamus is so small in real life, it controls something very important, like homeostasis.

Sheep Eye Dissection

Today in class, my lab partner and I dissected a sheep eye in order to fully understand the anatomy and physiology of the eye, although some features on the sheep eye are different from those of a human eye. First, we looked at the external surface of the eye, identifying fatty and muscle tissue that we had to remove.

Excess tissue is the white around the eye; we stopped cutting once we reached tough tissue (sclera).

After cutting away the excess tissue, we identified the cornea and sclera. We did not take a picture of this step, so here is a picture from online:

1. cornea

2. sclera

The cornea is the layer that forms the front of the eye and allows light to come in; the cornea is slightly cloudy because the eye is not in a living state.

We also identified the optic nerve, which is directly behind the eye:

1. optic nerve

The optic nerve transmits the signals to the brain so the brain can interpret the light coming in.

Then, we made an incision between the sclera and the optic nerve and cut the eyeball in half all the way around. When we separated the two hemispheres of the eye, we discovered the retina on the posterior hemisphere and the vitreous humor on the anterior hemisphere. The vitreous humor and the aqueous humor (fluid) maintains the shape of the eye. Underneath the retina was the thin, black choroid layer, which also contained a shiny, bluish structure called the tapetum lucidum. 

Lifting up the choroid layer from the sclera.

The choroid layer contains a network of blood vessels that bring nourishment and oxygen to itself and the other two layers.

Shiny, bluish material is the tapetum lucidum.

In order to fully expose the tapetum lucidum like in the picture above, we removed most of the retina, but kept the retina attached at its one point of attachment, which is the blind spot. The retina uses photoreceptors to send signals from the light to the brain through the optic nerve. The tapetum lucidum reflects light onto the retina, which helps animals with night vision; humans do not have this feature. 

Next, we removed the vitreous humor from the anterior hemisphere of the eye, revealing the lens, ciliary body, and suspensory ligaments. 

The small opening through all the black (iris) is the pupil, through which light enters the eye. The circular structure to the very right is the lens. Around the pupil, there is also the ciliary body, which is muscle fibers that contract and relax to increase or reduce the bending of the light rays. 

We then removed the lens and noted that it was slightly cloudy. When we removed the lens, the suspensory ligaments were still somewhat attached to the lens:

The suspensory ligaments are the black bits around the lens. These ligaments hold the lens in place and join with the smooth muscle containing the ciliary body.

We observed that the shape of the pupil was not completely circular like it is in humans, which is another difference between the sheep and human eye. After observing the iris and cornea, we removed the cornea from the front of the eye and noticed that it was tough, but definitely not as thick as the sclera. 

This lab was simple but offered many insights into the anatomy and physiology of the human eye!

Update #3: Moving Along...

In these past two weeks, I have almost finished my story and I have also begun on the first few pages of my book. While trying to finish up my story, I have discovered that many of the main character's experiences, excluding the LGBT experiences, are similar to problems I had earlier in my life, although mine were definitely not so severe. For example, the main character in my story has difficulty keeping up with her honor and AP courses, as she feels she needs to maintain very high grades in order to succeed. Last year, I had a similar situation, except I did not fall into depression, but instead tried to manage my stress through other outlets.
My setbacks have not really changed over the past few weeks. As I am trying to finish up my story, I am trying to leave out as many details as possible and simply keep the main events, because my story is already a decent length. However, I feel that if I leave out details, then the reader will miss out on all of the factors that truly cause depression; I am in quite the dilemma.
Although I said this in my previous blog post, I plan to make more progress with my physical book and make a final copy of my story to base my book off of for the next two weeks. I also plan to first draw everything in pencil before outlining and coloring my drawings, so I will finish a decent number of pages by the next two week check-in, hopefully.