Genius Hour Reflection

The official Genius Hour website describes Genius Hour as a movement that allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom.  It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school. Our teacher let us take part in Genius Hour and gave us about 5 whole class periods dedicated only to us working on our projects. We started in August and gave our presentations at the beginning of November.   

For more information check out this website and perhaps you could partake in this wonderful opportunity:

http://www.geniushour.com/what-is-genius-hour/ 

What topic did you research in Genius Hour? Why did you choose it?

(Ape Thinking).

For my research in this first Genius Hour project I chose to look into sugar and why people manage to become addicted to it. It was different from the rest of the people in my class. Most of them looked into specific jobs, diseases, or material that we use for sports or entertainment. I was the only one in my period that looked into a substance. What attracted me to looking more into the effects of sugar is the fact that so many people get affected by sugar and too much of it could potentially lead to deadly diseases. Before looking more into it I couldn’t answer questions like where sugar came from, if it was or drug or not, and what made it so addictive. I’ll be completely honest I am a sugar addict and I wanted to know more about what it was doing to my body and why I liked it as much as I do.

What was your Research Question?

My main research question was “How does sugar affect the human body both physically and mentally?”. In other words, I was curious about how sugar could affect the brain but also one’s physical well being.

What did you learn?

From the different sources I consulted I learned so much about something that although I consumed every single day I knew so little about. From different TED talks I learned that sugar is short term to classify molecules called carbohydrates. Glucose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, and starch are all forms of sugars. These are found in all types of food and drinks that we eat everyday. Fact is sugar is in almost  everything from ketchup to cereal. Some foods have natural sugars such as fruits whilst others contain refined sugars that are processed like the ones in candy.

(Eye Sick).

I also was completely unaware of the psychological effect and the process sugar went through in our bodies. Believe it or not, sugar is a drug. A drug is namely a substance that has a psychological effect in our bodies. Similar to when one drinks or smokes sugar has the same effect and the body sends signals the cerebral cortex that has the ability to process different tastes. It later release dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that is release when pleasure or the extreme liking of a certain thing occurs. Although, sugar isn’t as harmful as illegal drugs it does release dopamine which causes you to want more and you could potentially be addicted.  It’s important to understand that meanwhile dopamine results in pleasure and well being, when too much of it is released you start to loose control. In fact it messes with your memory, impairs your learning skills, and may contribute to anxiety because sugar. More extreme consequences of sugar include diabetes and obesity. Yes we do all need sugar but it is important to balance it out because like a drug it is possible to overdose. Most of this information was new to me and I am thankful that I have learned more about sugar and my research question was mostly if not completely answered.

(Evolution Scheme).

How did that help you grow as a person or a student?

Often times we ignore some of the most important things and to me sugar is one of them. If my parents told me sugar was bad for you which they have over a thousand times because I eat too much of it, I wouldn’t listen. I would continue eating as much of it as I could. Yes I realized that it would wear me out and too much of it would make me sick after a while but as a kid I was stubborn and even if I was sick it simply did not stop me from buying more jolly ranchers from the store. Proof that I was an addict is the fact that I once put 5 sugar cubes in a cup of tea and ate an ice cream float for breakfast. Over the years I have reduced the amount of sugar I consume and now get my sugar from natural juices and fruits. However, researching more about the topic has opened my eyes. The potential consequences are very serious and now I am even more vigilant than I was before.

(Biscuit Bake).

How did what you learn help (the world, community, animals, etc.) in some way? Explain.

My goal was to raise awareness really. This Genius Hour did not really raise awareness on a large scale but I feel as though my classmates understood firstly why an individual could become addicted to sugar. That is because of the dopamine that is released and secondly, I managed to clearly express the potential short and long term effects of too much sugar. I truly hope that awareness about the effects of sugar continues to spread, especially to younger children that constantly want sweets and hide behind their parents backs to get them. I want them to be aware of potential consequences to prevent diseases before it is too late.

(India Slums Poor Brother Sister).

How will what you learn in the next Genius Hour help the world, community, yourself, animals, etc. in some way? Explain.

For my next genius hour project I plan to do research on poverty and the underdevelopment in different countries around the world. This will not only help me in getting a more explicit understanding of how governments and societies function because in the future I would like to study political science to help develop stronger governments for nations but, it will also benefit my community and people from all across the world. The people who I go to school with and most of the people if not all reading this blog are privileged with a home, an education, a well rounded family, and their biggest worries revolve around school because they don’t have to worry about eating 3 meals a day nor being evacuated at any moment and taken away from their families. Too many times we are stuck in our own bubble (including myself) and we cease look into what is going on in communities that are suffering. Hopefully this next project will open up a path where more students get out of their comfort zones and see what serious are going around the world.

Link to my slideshow presentation 🙂 – https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DWzON_tUGZU9HoiEOTEbwu822G-tTsAE3W_wFxSc_SA/edit?usp=sharing 

Works Cited

Holiho. “Biscuit Bake”. Pixabay, Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/en/biscuit-bake-christmas-cookies-2871223/ .

agnessliinnea. “Eye Sick”. Pixabay,

 Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/en/eye-sick-blue-red-pain-743409/.

Pexels. “Ape Thinking Primate”. Pexels,

    Pixabay, 2017,  https://www.pexels.com/photo/view-ape-thinking-primate-33535/.

Wikimedia Commons. “Evolution Scheme”. Wikimedia Commons,

   Wikimedia, October 16th 2015, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Human_evolution_scheme.svg/2000px-Human_evolution_scheme.svg.png.  

billycm. “India Slums Poot Brother Sister”. Pixabay,

    Pixabay, 2017, https://pixabay.com/en/india-slums-poor-brother-sister-2507482/.