Final Student Reflections

 Student 1: Making Macaroons

Reflection

To start, I’m thankful that my teacher helped us make a project that connected us to a certain topic because in all honesty I never in million years felt a strong connection with a research project. When I first presented my project, I felt confident because I had every piece of information that I needed to have a successful presentation.

After I finish the whole project, I felt a sense of relief, that I was finally done with quarter 3 of this school year and there is more to come for quarter 4, hopefully, I end the year on a positive note. I did love the idea of the project, I think it shows how much interest on your topic and there are going to be obstacles that you would want to get done along the way but in the end, it is worth it.

The most difficult part of my research project would be the work cited and just trying to organize everything together to know where everything is. In my opinion, when it came to the point of citing the sources there was so much to cite and sometimes, I just got lost to the point where I started to question myself, for example, I would say “Wait didn’t I already cite that source”, that’s where organization came into the picture. One tip for the next incoming class is that they should stay organized because it will truly help them along their research journey.

 

What I learned during my project was learning new techniques and new ways to recreate macarons, in fact, my macarons finally came out the way I wanted them to, if it wasn’t for the research project, I wouldn’t have a better outcome if I decided to make macrons on a random day.

 In general, I learned some more information on the background of a macaron, what caught my eye was where they originated from, originally, I thought they came from France but that was not true. I learned more details and they were so specific since I thought I knew everything about a macaron.

Something I learned about myself through this process was that I always stayed on point, and I focused more on getting it done since I like getting things done, I have always told myself if I start a project or a worksheet, I need to make that my priority and finish it on that day. I also expanded more on my vocabulary more during this project.

I would recommend this project for the incoming honors language art classes because there is something about this project that brought me closer to my topic, for example, I now want to make more macarons because the process of it is so entertaining. I think this project was also interesting by listening to my classmate’s research projects, some even made me giggle because normally school is boring its not something to have fun but when the class puts something fun to learn about it can change the whole perspective of what school should look like, It should be fun and not boring.  It is also better to do something fun and something that you love doing. In conclusion, I would rate this project assignment a 10/10, and if I were to do this all over again on a different topic I would for the fun of it.

Student 2: The Fermi Paradox

Final Reflection

            When the research project was first presented, I was both excited and nervous. I feel like the idea of thoroughly researching an interesting topic was great, but it was hard for me to come up with a topic. After the first week, I was still deciding between two topics, and I had not yet decided by the next week. I knew I needed to be confirming my topic soon, but I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Later, I found a TV series which was based off a book series that I had read. Since a book component was part of the research project, and I was also interested in the topic of the book, which was on the Fermi Paradox, I decided to drop the two original topics and start researching the Fermi Paradox. Also, the idea of presenting in front of the whole class made me fairly nervous as well. However, by the end of the project, I found that researching the topic was still very fun and interesting, even if I did take a little long to determine the topic. Presenting in front of the class was also not as bad as I expected it to be.

            The most difficult part of the research project is firstly deciding the topic, and after deciding the topic it was getting information. As I have mentioned int the previous paragraph, it was difficult for me to come up with a topic, because I had quite a few things I was interested in. After deciding the topic was going to be on the Fermi Paradox, the hard part was getting information. Or rather, it was sorting through the information, not getting it. There was a lot of information for such an ambiguous topic, which I was grateful for. However, many of the websites I could find were not the most reliable, and sometimes I found two different interpretations of the same theory in different sources. The best I could do was determine which one had the most information supporting it, or seemed less like it had no evidence, and use that for my project.

            I’ve learned a lot about the Fermi Paradox. Because of the book series, the Three-Body Problem, I was already introduced to it. I knew what it was, and I knew a few theories like the Dark Forest, which was introduced in the book, as well as the Zoo Scenario and the Shadow Biosphere theories. But there was so much I didn’t know, which included the Drake Equation, some terms related to the Fermi Paradox (like the Kardashev Scale), as well as the Fermi Paradox’s connection to multiple other fields of study, including biology, astrology, astrobiology, physics, and chemistry. It was really interesting seeing the different theories and what field of study they tied into. I also learned to consider the biases or limits that constrain humanity’s search for extraterrestrial life. Here, I learned the term “modernity bias,” as well as learning that our local group has a cosmic horizon beyond us that we will likely never leave.

            I’ve learned that researching is a lot about being able to sift through vast amounts of information to what you deem important to your project/paper. I’m admittedly not the best at seeing the main point in a large amount of information, but I feel this project has led me to become better at it, as it introduces different forms of information besides websites, and many of these different forms of information, like the documentary, already have relatively well-condensed information (at least for my topic). Comparing what I had already found to the documentary and podcasts really helped me to be able to delete unnecessary information, as well as compare what different sources say about the same topic.

What I’ve learned about myself is that I tend to have bursts of inspiration, which leads me to get a lot done. For example, finishing the assignments for the project like the podcast review or book review the week before, and turning it in after. Sometimes, I feel that it was hard for me to find information, and so the information for my project would remain the same for days.

Finally, I’d definitely recommend the project for future honors classes. Though the project did have challenging aspects to it, I feel that these challenges are exactly what people will need to face as they get older, and are a great learning experience. It also gives one a feeling of accomplishment when they finish the project despite all these challenges. In addition, at least for me, I think that the project is also really fun. Since the topic is of your choosing, and so you’re more likely to be interested in it, the project feels less like a chore but more like an actual fun project on something you’re passionate about.

Student 3: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)

Student 3 has not turned in the Final Reflection.