For February my goals were:
So firstly, I had two ideas for the experiment as seen in the document below. One was a long term one and one is a short term one. After talking to my community connection, I realized that the long term goal idea would be very difficult to execute due to the tight schedules of the players, of me and the timing of everything. This idea was a bit too ambitious. So after further discussion, I decided to go with the short term idea. She also gave me the idea of measuring speech and timing how fast one can read it before and after the application of stimulus. With this, I am still able to study the effects of repeated impacts but just in a different manner. One more thing I learned from my community connection is that it is very difficult to measure long term impacts. With CTE, it can take many years for symptoms to appear so to actually study something long term, it would be impossible to do within a year's worth of time. One final note, I will still most likely make more minor adjustments to my experiment before carrying it out.
Applying the scientific method: Research Question: How can I prove that repeated sub-concussive impacts to the head in sports affect the brain’s cognitive functions using experiments, the engineering design cycle and the scientific method? Hypothesis: It will have an effect on cognitive functions due to the past studies I've looked at and the discussions I've had with my community connections. Experiment: Pre Post Design. Measuring impact of cognitive functions right after stimulus is applied. Performing the experiment, organizing results and making the report is what is left now. This will be my focus after February. Applying the engineering design cycle: With the design cycle, I used this to form experimentation ideas and finalize my idea. Identify the need and constraints: Brain damage in sports, effects on the youth population and lack of awareness with in the community. Research : The notes I've compiled over the past few months and the discussions I've had with my community connections. Imagine and develop possible solutions: The two ideas I developed for the experiment. Plan: select a promising solution: After discussing with my community connection, I chose the short term option. Create: I wrote the specifics down and exactly what I will be testing Test: I discussed the plan with my community connection. Improve and redesign: My community connection suggested that I add a speech section to the testing of the cognitive functions. Lastly my community connection also gave me some of her research papers and they were really helpful in terms of moving forward with my project. They helped with the research aspect.
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For my term 2 community connection I talked with Rebecca Kenney who is a colleague of my term 1 community connection. Her master’s thesis investigated the sub-concussive effects of soccer heading in practice on brain structure and function. Her PhD, in Rehabilitation Sciences, is divided into two sections: sub-concussive impacts and concussive impacts. She is continuing her investigation into soccer heading by looking at both practices and games over the course of an entire competitive season. I learned a lot from this community connection because she is doing something very similar to me so she was able to give me a lot of tips.
These are the notes from the discussion:
This my main goals were to :
I researched these and compiled notes in the file below:
One other thing I'm also currently working on is I am trying to set up a meeting with a professional who is actually looking at CTE and subconcussive impacts in sports. She is focusing on soccer and how heading affects the brain structure and cognitive domains so that relates to my project a lot.
These are the emails: For December my goals were to - Talk to a professional in this field and learn more about the issue (community connection) - Research, read articles and studies to educate me on this topic - Research about CTE For my community connection I talked to Ella Weik, a UBC PhD Neuroscience candidate. I posted about this earlier. I got to learn a lot about the experimentation process in brain studies during this meeting. She also helped further my understanding of the brain and the research steps taken. For the research portion of my goal, I took notes to learn about CTE and I watched a couple of videos about the personal experiences of the players. I also made a list of videos and documentaries to watch over the course of the year.
For my term 1 community connection, I interviewed Ella Weik, a UBC Neuroscience PhD Candidate. She was also nice enough to offer me guidance throughout the year by giving me the option to ask questions any time, look over my data, and look over my final report/presentation.
These are the questions I asked her and the information I collected. What is some advice you’d give and what are some things you would keep in mind while designing an experiment or research study?
Have you done any research studies related to brain damage? What about brain damage in sports and CTE?
Is there a lot of collaboration in your field or is most of the work divided up and then put together in the end for the final product?
Do you choose your own projects or does the university/organization assign you research projects?
What’s the most challenging part about your field/career?
What does your typical your work day look like and what are some of the day to day responsibilities?
Do you follow a design process or some sort of formula when working on projects?
1.One piece advice that i thought was helpful was that it's never too late to make a change. If you feel like you are heading down that wrong path and want to make a significant change in your career plan, don't be afraid to do it. I thought this was very helpful because it made me realize it was okay to make changes and that not everyone has a linear progression throughout life.
2. This is a hard question because this question generalizes all of us into just two categories. I think there is more to us that just being a specialist or a multipotentialite. You can be a specialist and still have the curiosity to learn about other fields and topics. So I would say, most people are a mix between the two. I am a mix between the two because I have a certain career I would like to pursue but I'm also open to other field of studies and I enjoy learning about other concepts. But if had to choose between the two, I would say specialist because I'd rather focus one topic and specialize in it because I believe that gives me a better chance of getting a job and making myself available in the job market. 3. IF YOU KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO DIE ONE YEAR FROM TODAY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO AND HOW WOULD YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED? If I knew I was going to die one year from today, I would drop out of school and travel the world. I would try new experiences that I have shied away from in the past. I would try to leave my comfort zone and seek discomfort. I'd think about the date of death as less as possible and just live every day like it is my last. Regarding how I want to be remembered, I just want to die as a respected human being. Other than that, there isn't really much else to it. |
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March 2020
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