The project was incredibly challenging because they are organisms that has its own personality, thoughts and feelings. Which these are the factors that could often disrupt their learning abilities, navigational and spatial skills because sometimes if they are scared, they won't be able to learn. However, one of the most important factors we must consider throughout the experiment is the rodent's stress levels and that it must remain in an acceptable level. We do not want the rodent to be extremely scared or be so fearful that there could be damages. Therefore, we would help them overcome the fear of the owners by providing it a safe habitat, provide it with food and water, let them get used to their cages for a few days, after a while we would try to play with it. Take them out of the cage and let them rest on our hands so they would get used to the scent and the voice, therefore, it could understand that we are not trying to harm it in anyway. Also, the first few tries of letting it become comfortable with us, we left food on our hands so that it would try eating the food whilst in our hand, it is somewhat a type of counterconditioning because we are providing the hamster with food as a sign that we are friendly! There were many challenges, the female Hamster took around a week to get used to us, therefore, it was hard to work with her, we could actually work with her for just a week. Also, the male Hamster was more territorial and would often bite if handled incorrectly. But eventually we managed to calm them and so they would start learning the maze. It was wonderful to encounter the fact that the Hamsters are learning the maze because they gradually run faster than the first few trials. But as we tested more and more, the Hamster’s got used to the maze and so often they would just hang around and not run the maze, so we excluded those times and only counted the time they were moving (we excluded their time eating as well). The project concerns the well being on the rodent and how we must treat them just how we wanted to be treated, we must try to decrease its amount of stress. The experiment taught me how to understand organisms and that it is not really different from humans. It reflected on how I am a learner, learning from others such as the Hamster when they are learning themselves. It also allows us to be extremely patient and understand that learning is a costly process and is often endless. The information learned about learning such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning could be used to understand how rodents would learn and distinguish between what would harm them and what would not, and where they must go if they have identified with a particular object (such as food) before. As Hamsters are good at identifying objects and memorizing the objects, the would be able to learn and follow the path and exit the maze. The learning process such as counter conditioning and desensitization helps decrease the fear in the rodent’s behavior, on the first few encounters, the Hamster was extremely jumpy and would often run in our hands, trying to get away but after giving it food and playing with it, after a while the exposure caused the Hamster to become familiar and it did not quickly run away once it was in our hands, it remained much calmer. This experience helped us understand that learning requires so much time and that it is different to individuals. By working on the experiment we were able to see that we are being classical conditioned or sometimes operant conditioned as well because this is the ultimate ways we can learn, we are capable of learning and the feeling of fear is often limiting us from learning at our full abilities. The results show that the female hamsters are able to memorize and have better spatial navigation that male hamsters. The time recorded (excluding the time they stopped), shows that both male and female hamsters have a decrease in the time to complete the maze, they got better as the number of trials increased. However, the female hamster showed more substantial improvement. But the universal factor that might have affected this is the difference in the care giving between the Hamsters, female hamster was taken out of it’s cage more regularly and was played with where the male hamster was not taken out to play as often because it was often sleeping during the day and could be a little aggressive if we woke him up. Also, the number of trials show similar trends but if there are greater and more variety in the number of trials, it could be that the male hamster might run faster and complete the maze in a shorter amount of time than the female Hamster. Which is because the time decrease for the male Hamster was larger meaning that, through time, from 9 minutes in the first trial, in the last trial it’s time only remained as 2.32 minutes. Whereas the female started with 6 minutes and the last trial was 2.12 minutes. The hypothesis was incorrect, the female Hamster completed the maze faster and shows that it has better spatial navigation and memorization rates. However, the experiment could potentially contain some errors because the personality of the Hamsters are different, we could not determine on just the factor of how the Hamsters are processed according to their spatial navigation and memorization skills. The observations between the male and female Hamsters show that the Hamster that is active and is curious would likely to complete the maze faster, if the Hamster is not excited it might not want to move. So this is hard to determine the spatial and navigation abilities, it could just be the results from the Hamsters individual personalities and their personal interests. In the future, we should have more subjects in the experiment so that the results could be averaged and so the data's are more accurate. With more subjects there could be changes that we know are common for more than 1 subject, with the only male and only female in the experiment, we do not know if their behaviors is because they have developed it as in a personality trait or that it is the differences in genders.
The experiments contained all aspects of the ESLOS because we are working as a group and this shows the team working skills as well as being group leaders. It shows that we have collaborated as a group, distribution of work was done equally and that we listen to each other throughout the whole experiment. Also, we have used technology to do research and video document our processes which is using technology to it's good use. Not only that we are able to expand on our ideas and implement new ones with reason. We also show behaviors that are modest and appropriate, to ensure that our experiments are conducted safely for our rodent as well as concerning the well being of our team members and staffs. ESLOS 1) STRATEGIC LEARNERS How do we learn? We can a) Recognize what is important to know and understand b) Reflect on our learning and how our mistakes help us to improve c) Plan how to learn without wasting time d) Use technology to do research and to work 2) INNOVATIVE THINKERS What new ideas and ways of thinking are possible? We can a) Build on the ideas, explanations, and reasons of others b) Apply what we know to analyze, evaluate, and solve problems, c) Be creative and original d) Use technology to create high quality products 3) ARTICULATE COMMUNICATORS How do we communicate with others? We can a) Listen, read, write, and speak for different purposes and using different methods b) Tell what we understand and how we understand to different social groups c) Use technology and media to clarify, explain, and state our ideas 4) MORALLY INTELLIGENT PERSONS In what ways do we show we make the right choices? We can a) Show behavior that is moral, honest, and correct according to our society’s rules b) Encourage honesty, justice and peace in the community c) Show we are hardworking and caring d) Use technology in ways that do no harm 5) ALTRUISTIC GLOBAL CITIZENS How do we show we are good citizens of the world? We can a) Live a healthy lifestyle and be responsible citizens c) Show concern and responsibility for the well-being of the community d) Use technology to promote community service 6) LEADERS FOR THE FUTURE What do good leaders do? We can a) Build teamwork and leadership to achieve common goals b) Work through our differences and accept group decisions c) Evaluate how well we work together and give one another helpful feedback d) Use technology to solve our problems and do our work together |
TeacherMs. Charlene Cunningham Archives |