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Students, the cornerstone
of all education. Without you, the students, there can be no learning process,
and so this is for you. Here are a few responses as to why and how this site
was created.
| Entry
Description: Please provide a brief description of your Entry. This description
will be used in the ThinkQuest library to direct users to your site. |
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Functionally,
it can be split into two distinct categories that complement each other in
all activities of your day. The Brain that powers you, that mesh of flesh
is one of the most complex organs in your body, and also one of the most responsive.
It is a thing that can be weighed, measured, looked at, and studied. On the
surface, most human brains look pretty much the same: light-pink-and-grayish-white,
wrinkled, and squishy. Alternatively, your mind is open and free. It is a
window into all that is thought, and uses the physical attributes of your
brain to function. You can't pick up a mind, toss it into a jar, and label
it. Humans are conscious beings. We share a common experience of a sense of
self, of conscious awareness - a trait some believe is uniquely human - yet
the quest to explain consciousness is one of the last remaining great adventures
of science, philosophy, and religion. Here on The Brain Explorer, as humans,
we explore the Brain, the Mind, physical & psychological, in an interactive
method using a wide range of resources. And of course, as a human yourself,
you're fully entitled to explore with others, even those who are over 13,500
miles away. Just be sure to check out the Interactive section of the site,
because with over 20 activities you can participate in with other brain-holders,
your brain will never get dull.
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| Team
Formation: How did you work together to form the team, develop the idea and
create the pages. |
| Robert initiated
the formation of the team due to his interest in both the Internet and brain
study. He contacted numerous Thinkquest participants who also demonstrated
a very obvious interest in the brain, and all of them were interviewed through
the ICQ chat protocol. Two respondents stood out, and were asked to further
demonstrate their writing and research skills. Both of them exceded expectations.
However, their unique senses of humour and serious dedication proved that they
had everything that it took to complement Robert's style, knowledge, and computer
expertise.
The initial
idea of brain exploration branched into two divisons, the physical and mental
aspects. And the site eventually developed outwards from the two branches,
into 16 separate topics. All of the pages were created using the PHP web language,
were pulled together with numerous internal joints, and finally were collected
to form a solid and consistent appearance across the entire site. Numerous
days and nights were spent going through the intricaies of the internal coding
to sort out bugs, inconsistencies, and other problems that showed up on the
site. But after everything was completed, including the entire content section,
which required its own internal system to have each page work with another,
the site was transformed into a unified whole.
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| Challenges:
What were the challenges in creating and testing the Entry? How did the team
solve them? |
The challenges
were found in the differences between the computer systems that all three of
the team members used. Over different systems, the site periodically rearranged
itself into a hodgepodge of content and images. Over the course of the last
two months, extensive testing and debugging have been done to ensure that the
site works in almost every possible situation. By using the infamous guess
and check routine, Robert was able to pin down most every inconsistency and
deliver the content in a consistently reliable fashion. Tina and Ivy used this
time to scan the site, of over 250 pages, and dig down deep into every single
function as to be completely positive that the entry had not suffered from
any harm in the transition from the old coding server, Robert's home computer,
to the new Thinkquest Debian server. Also facing the team as a difficult challenge
was the enourmas differences in time zones, as Ivy was situated in Hong Kong,
Tina in Alberta, and Robert in the eastern United States. But by using the
ICQ messaging protocol, an entire flux of messages were passed every night
to be read the morning/afternoon by the other team mates. This went on for
the entire duration of the contest.
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| Entry's
Learning Objective: Tell us about your Entry and what users will learn from
visiting the site. |
The best way
to learn is through an interactive process that functions as a tool for students
who access the site to communicate and delve into the entire model with other
students from around the world. We harnessed the Internet's ability to create
such a model, and integrated such topics as the brain's physical and mental
divisions. Students can also partake in learning activities such as brain dominance
tests, that measure the user's ability to take in from the site. The students
will also have the unique ability to form discussions on particular topics
and take in more information from other users than generally allowed through
the Internet medium. After interacting with our site, students will be able
to identify parts of the brain, understand how the brian fucntions, be aware
of brain functions, have a sense of the history of brain research, and feel
excitement of the power of the brain that they currently possess.
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| Collaborative
Efforts: How does your Entry create collaboration among other users by allowing
them to share ideas, views, experiences and data via the Entry? How does this
sharing help others learn from your Entry? |
| Through this site, other users collaborate by taking tests, sharing results, discussing through both the specific topic boards and the general discussion board. We have two major tests, one for the physical side, and one for the mental side. The brain dominance test is a questionare that all users can collaborate on, learn from, and reveal more about themselves from. And on the other side of the same coin is the creativity test, the same type of test, but with a modified redeeming value. The electronic postcards, page views, page recommendations, account system, bookmarking system, dreambank, essay contributions page, glossary, related links pages, and discussion board all alow for the user to add directly to the site. The more personally involved a person gets in information and learning, and the more connections that a person makes between the content that they learn, and themselves, the more lasting the learning. When users engage in dialogue with the site designers, everyone learns and modifications can be made to the site that benefit all new users. |
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"Sleep affords the opportunity, within certain limits, for the brain to act of itself, and dreams are the result.
" -- Edward Clarke (from Vision: A Study of False Sight, 1878)
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Last updated:
Thursday, September 6, 2001 5:03 PM
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