The purpose of my objective is to boost confidence in Pre-K and Kindergarten students so that they can grow up becoming used to participating.  Even though maybe sometimes, their answers might not be fully correct, implementing some sort of reward system or commentary will be good for these students because they will feel as if they accomplish something big.  At this age rewards or reinforcements is necessary for a child’s growing process because they are always looking to do good deeds in which they will get some sort of compliment or reinforcement.  If a child participates in class, a reward or some type of reinforcement should be given so that the child will feel comfortable to participate more.
Understanding the children at a very early age will assist them in their growing process.  A child will learn that participating is a good thing and be more incline to do so than not to participate if no reinforcements is given because to a child they will start to think at an early age that participating is not a good move when you are wrong.  In college they teach that no answer is wrong and that all participation is acceptable. However, in college, this is too late for students because some may be shut down at an early age which causes shyness, and social awkwardness.  This can be detrimental for them because these type of students might not want to participate in any event.
Handling this issue at an early age can save students from this distraught.  Students that are reinforced for participating at an early age will more likely participate later on in life in college courses.  Enabling these students to participate is a big part of classroom learning because you get to look at different perspectives and  views from other students.  Promoting reinforcements at an early age will be beneficial for students later on in life because the reinforcements that they will receive later on is recognition from their professors for always participating and continuing a discussion.  College students that do participate may encourage other students around them are shy to participate and become more engage in discussions.

The cognitive process I am studying is attention. I want to know the effect of music on attention. According to the department of education the graduation rate for high school students is very high. What could be the reason for this? What are students doing now that students before were not doing. There is no research being done on the new type of music that is out. For example, the artist Future brings a new meaning to the hip hop culture and music in general. There has been research done on how music affects performance. But I want to focus on one artist in particular. Future seems to be the only artist that young people seem to listen to. They listen to him when they are sad or happy. This artist has a great effect on people. I want to see if his music effects people’s performance. This project interests me because I also listen to future. He is all I listen to. When I listen to him I seem to be more focused on what I am doing. When talking among my peers recently one of them mentioned that they even walk differently when they listen to Future. I want to find out how much of an impact his music has on young people. It is very clear that Future has a big impact on music. Like people, say music is the key to mind. Music plays a huge role in the way we think and act. I want to see how Future’s music effects attention.

Thesis

In the upcoming weeks, I will be designing a game that will focus on a cognitive process and socially relevant.

The research project must relate to Psychology.
The cognitive process that I will be studying is perception.The only process that seems to be affected is perception. People with Body Dysmorphic Disorder have a distorted image of their own appearance. There is not a term for addiction but there is a psychological disorder that contributes to surgery addicts. There is not a term for the addiction, but there is a recognized psychological disorder that affects some surgery addicts. It is called “body dysmorphic disorder” (BDD), and sufferers have a distorted image of their own appearance. This is sometimes manifested as disapproval after surgery is performed, leading to another surgery to correct the apparent flaws. Because of the high costs of plastic surgery, this disorder is usually apparent only in the very wealthy.

The research project must be socially relevant.
There are a few people who are addicted to surgeries and are constantly going back into surgical rooms. Then there is a large population who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder. This study is socially relevant as I want to avoid that larger population of people to fall into those surgery addicted individuals.

The research project must be original work that has not been done in the field yet.
It will address the problem that teens are not content with their image and that they should learn to appreciate and accept their bodies so that they do not become surgery addicts. Journal articles such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder by Veale (2003) show that mirror gazing and constant comparisons are many of the forms of time consuming activities that these people face with. It also shows that they see their bodies as distorted. Many of these articles show that bullying and abuse can lead to this. I would want to properly inform these patients with BDD about the risks of falling into the category of those who go through many surgical procedures.

The research project must interest you.
I believe this research interests me because there are a lot of beauty standards in this generation that are affecting the way young children and adolescents perceive themselves. Many of them have low self esteem issues. I would like to see what affects people to become surgery addicts.

Thesis
It is predicted that the larger population who is affected with body image issues and BDD are less likely to fall into the category of small population who is addicted to surgical procedures if they are more aware of the cause of their body image issues.

A Critical Review of Parable of the Polygons

Parable of the Polygons is a web game developed by Nicky Case and Vi Hart.  This game is an explorable explanation of systemic bias and diversity. Game theory was used to explain how small individual biases can accumulate into large institutional biases. And also used cute shape-people. Segregation has never been so adorable!

LEARNING ELEMENTS
The game is trying to make us see how the choices we make can bring about harmful consequences. The learning experiences we face are relatable as we can see the results of moving from stable places to unstable places.  The dominant form of interaction would be that the player is moves the pieces from place to place. It supports the learning objective as you are seeing for yourself what your actions are constructing. The system that is most affected is the social factor because you are seeing that harmless choices can make harmful communities.

FORMAL ELEMENTS
There is only one player and it is yourself. There are a lot of other shapes in the game that make up the community. The objective is for the pieces to be cooperative but unfortunately they also compete with one another,
The objective of this game is to show us that our actions can have harmful consequences. Moving the game pieces and seeing how they react in the place you put them was a good reinforce to see the actions you commit.
The rules of the game change as there a lot of mini games within this one game. The rules are simple you have to create a community that the polygons are happy in. Some of the communities like being biased and other communities like being unbiased. There aren’t a lot of money related issues in this game. You do not have to spend anything or buy things within the game.
The conflict is explained within every mini game that you play. Before you begin the game it tells you that there are some polygons that like to be surrounded by other polygons like them. They are resolved if you effectively make a community based on those standards. They prevent the polygons from being placed next to each other as they frown and not be content. This limitation is fun because you have to keep looking for a place that will make the polygons happy. The end of the game is when you finished the last min game and you have experienced what it is like to make harmless choices and still create a chaotic community of polygons.

DRAMATIC ELEMENTS
The main character is us as we play and are in control of the polygons. We get to play as the polygons. The challenges are that some polygons do not get a long with each other. Under given circumstances they want to be in groups of polygons that are the same but they want to be surrounded by other groups of polygons. It takes place in a biased and unbiased community. The general premise of the world is that although our choices may not seem harmful they can turn into bad consequences. The story has an emergent narrative because they vary on the choices you make. The players interactions are what make up the story and the narrative. The game is playful as it challenges you to make choices. You do not know whether they will be right or wrong but it is fun. I think explorers would enjoy this game the most because you get to explore the consequences of placing the polygon in a wrong spot. Tension and resolution are controlled through the placement of the polygons. It creates conflict because you have to follow the rules that dictate where these polygons want to live.

SYSTEM DYNAMICS
The objects in the game are moved around from place to place.
There are no properties required because you are just moving game pieces.
You have to drag the unhappy polygons into a place when they are happy. You get to use your mouse and do so. The relationships are either happy or unhappy for the polygons and they get harder as each game goes on.
It does not exist as an economy because there are no economical factors.
The systems that emerge are that each action you make and the time you take to make the community happy are shown through a table. They are procedural generated as they are shown in the graph after you are done.
The mini games to come are hidden because you have to pass each game to get to the more advances ones. The exposed factors are the one’s that tell you what the community of polygons wants and how they want to live.

FUNCTIONALITY, COMPLETENESS, & BALANCE
The game is fully functional as it has a good working premise, conflict and learning objective. The game is complete because all the factors of choices and consequences are present. The game is very well balanced. There is dominant strategy as time is being imposed. You want to do well and in a short period of time.

FUN AND ACCESSIBILITY
The game is engaging because it enables you to see that the innocent choices we make can have a harmful consequences. The elements promote that you look at the consequences of your choices. The choices are meaningful because they show is the consequences we have to face with when we place the wrong polygon in the wrong places. There aren’t any parts that are boring. The community board however does get bigger and it can be tedious to complete but after a while it gets fun again. There are arbitrary windfalls are the polygons are not always content. The game is fairly easy to play as there is a story behind every game. It takes about 5 minutes top to learn the game. The players learn to play through the mini back stories before the game.

This week i research a couple of articles based on my research study for this game that I will be designing. Initially I wanted to focus on music therapy and autism disorder and examine how heavy stimulated verses lightly stimulated music will be more effective in treating this disorder. But a recent debate of the uses of marijuana pushed me to focus on this. The benefits as well as the negative aspect of marijuana use in adolescents.

Today in our society there are many negative perceptions of marijuana. This cannabis drug is studied to be a suppressant, it provides users with a temporary high and negatively affects ones ability to focus. Its taught to to be viewed as a gateway drug , yet in some countries this drug is used to treat cancer patients and also for other medical treatments. In my overall study I want to develop a game which will explain both the pros and the cons of this drug.

One thing that stood out to me in the process of my research was the effects that marijuana plays on a persons attention and impulsive behaviors. This study will focus on examining how marijuana affects the cognitive and behavioral process.  It can be said that when smoking marijuana one my display high impulsive behaviors despite hazy or low attention quality. I don’t have an exact thesis yet, but i’m hoping that with more research I will be able to determine and take an exact stance.

For this week i played a game endorsed by icivics.com, the name of the game is We are the Jury: Do I have a right?.  The general purpose of the game is to help students learn their rights . The uses an emergent story line to aid to the progression of this game. In this game the player is allowed to pick an avatar that will represent them and a partner that will initially work along side them. Here in this game i played a lawyer who was starting her own law firm, my avatars name was Lisa Lee and her associate was a man named Chuck Freepress. In this game each lawyer that is hired to work in this firm specializes in a certain number of amendments, so all the player has to do is match a potential client with a lawyer whose specialty meets the need of their case.

“We are the Jury: Do I have right?”, promotes learning through its general use of match skills. Here the player must first determine if the customers issue is debatable and then they must pair it to the corresponding lawyer who specializes in that certain amendment. For example my first associate Chuck Freepress , was an expert of the first amendment  freedom of speech. If a client comes in with a scenario that corresponds to this amendment then the case is given to Mr. Freepress. The game required the player to win cases in order to build prestige. Prestige helps promote the firm and the firm begins to gain popularity. By doing this your able to gain more coins in order to unlock new character who specializes in several different amendments, some faster than others.

This game is deemed playful. It was by far the best out of the 3 different games that I’ve played in this class. The makers really did a good job at stimulating player and game interaction, the story line was engaging and stimulated a great learning environment. For the player it evokes both the cognitive and physiological processes; where the player may feel a little pressured by the sudden surplus of clients entering the law firm. We try not to get them to leave and in the cognitive aspect players are memorizing amendments and their functions. Over all i think this game is really interesting . For players  who enjoy sims , farm animals or anything where you’re in charge and can reign over your own community, this will definitely be the game for you.

Hallucinogenic Drugs 

RELATES TO PSYCHOLOGY.

The cognitive process that I will be studying is perception. How the perception of the person who consumes the hallucinogenic drugs are affected. The combinations of the processes that I will be studying are the effects of attention on perception.

http://https://youtu.be/tVgOLWVYytM

SOCIALLY RELEVANT.

My study is socially relevant because according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse drug use between individuals who are between the ages of 18-25 years old is higher than any other demographic who use hallucinogenic drugs. The ages 18-25 are aimed between college students and those who are fresh out of high school. At the age of 18 a person is trying to figure out whether they want to attend a university or seek other opportunities to better themselves.

ORIGINAL WORK.

The unsolved problem my study will address is are the effects these hallucinogenic drugs have on attention and perception on the individual who consumes them. It’s to help educate people who take them besides from reading a pamphlet, possibly by playing a game they would understand the consequences from the actions they take. People can just read information and not really take it into consideration but actually letting them play a game will give them a visual aid to show them how their attention and perception will be altered while on drugs.

INTEREST.

The reason why this topic interests me is because I’m between the age group who is at risk to use the drug frequently. I’m also interested in anything that alters the mind hallucinogenic drugs put you in a fantasy and dream state. The increased rate of the drug use is very alarming since as a college student I understand the want to escape sometimes from reality. But I understand to not use those type of drugs so I can have a clearer mind and to not be in a daze and that I must deal with my issues head on. Yeah there’s always temptation to try something new but I think it’s all about a person’s state of mind and how they perceive things. I can say for this project educating people through video games is more fun I love playing games.

• Relate to Psychology

1. Does the gene mutation MTHFR causes depression?
2. Since I am studying 2 processes, I have realized that migraines and depression are connected. Migraines are so painful and suffering from frequent migraines can lead to someone being depressed.

• This is a very important study that the public should educate themselves about. There is little research on this gene mutation. I was completely unaware about it until I was recently diagnosed with it. You have to refrain from eating folic acid (gluten) because the body cannot break it down. If I eat gluten products I get a headache. According to Samaan et, al. “A common polymorphism from the MTHFR gene, the C677T, has been reported to be associated with both migraine and depression independently”. So what I want to do is create a game that addresses this and educates people about this issue.
• New research

1. I am still trying to figure out what exactly I want to focus on. Some ideas I have is again does this lead to depression or lead to becoming an alcoholic
2. I am still looking for some research articles to help me gain a better understanding.

United States has implemented the common core standards, which will aim to better prepare students from K-12 for higher education. Children in Elementary school are required to learn to add, subtract,multiply and divide. Children in Middle school have to learn ratios, rates and proportional relationship. Meanwhile in high school children are required to solve equations. Not only are students required to learn and practice for common core in school, but making the learning environment more fun and engaging for students to learn may help them be encourage in practicing for common core test. A digital educational game is a great way to improve students memory and critical thinking in problem solving.
The cognitive process am studying is memory and critical thinking. I want to see if designing an educational math common core digital game can help improve a student memory and critical thinking by playing a game. When building memory, it goes through a series of 3 components; attention, storage and memory. Each of these components will have an affect in a student’s learning.

Socially Relevant and Unsolved Problem:

My study is socially relevant, because it may help teachers and parents have social interactions and collaboration with the student. Students will also be able to build social skills, this will lead to thinking critically and working on their memory as they get involved in an educational math game. This will help children enhance their performance in state test.
The unsolved problem my study will address is whether a math common core game will enhance a child’s memory and critical thinking. Will teachers be able to use an education game to improve a student’s performance in Math common core?. I believe there has not been a lot of games in the industry that may have been related to a state test, that students can use at school and from home.

Career, Goals & Interest:
This project relates to my career, goals and interest. I am pursuing to become a childhood education teacher, I believe often children get unengage during class after a while of teachers teaching. There has been many new ways to engage and improve a student learning. Recently New York State has contributed a Math Common Core exam, that students are required to take to in order to be considered for the next grade level. Teachers in school put a lot of effort to help students improve their performance. Not only teachers but also parents. Often students are contributed Coach or Kaplan workbooks, students are to go over it and practice. I believe a current way to improve a student learning is by playing educational games. An educational game can help improve a student’s performance in the Math Common Core test and keep them in engaged.
In United States the Common Core Math test has been one of the exams that many children are not doing so well in. Having the opportunity to be able to design an educational game for children is a great way to help and improve their performance. Teachers, parents and students will be able to have full access. Especially parents, they will be able to use an educational game from home, to help their child. I have a great interest in a game design that will help students memory and think critically in problem solving. I currently have a little brother who has taken the common core test and often I have seen there has been a lack of interest in working with workbooks for a period of time.
My goal is to design a game that will help not only my brother but other students to improve their memory and critical thinking through a math game. It will be a great way to overcome their struggle. Pursuing a degree in childhood education, I have had an interest in using technology within a classroom setting , such as educational games.