FINAL PROPOSAL
| Name: | Sophie Kielian |
You have already written versions of your responses to many of these questions in previous assignments for Senior Project; you may reuse prior writing in completing your Senior Project Plan although edits will be required. For each question, respond thoroughly (paragraphs rather than single sentences should be the standard) with attention to grammar and punctuation.
| Project Name: | How to Maintain Physical and Mental Health During a Pandemic |
Essential Question
This should be the current, clearest version of your essential question.
| How are the limitations on exercise and physical activity during the coronavirus pandemic impacting mental health? |
Statement of Definition
This 1-2 sentence description is your elevator pitch; it’s the short, easy to explain description of what you will do for your project.
For my Senior Project, I will…
| For my senior project, I will research the links between physical fitness and mental health and how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting both of these. I will read scientific articles, conduct interviews, and test different types of exercise from home. |
Overview: Describe your topic and project to the committee.
Describe your project in detail, with attention to the reason why this project appeals to you and how you believe it will allow you to answer your essential question. What is the academic or intellectual scope of this project? How will this project challenge you? How does this project build on your prior learning or knowledge? How will you incorporate any or all of the 4Cs of the LREI education (courage, citizenship, critical thinking, creativity) or connect to the LREI mission statement (LINK)?
| Exercise is often used as a form of stress relief, however with gym closures and orders to stay at home, the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult for individuals to keep up with their workout routines. I have personally felt how this has negatively impacted my stress levels and mental health, so for my senior project I want to learn about the science behind exercise and mental health. This project would build on my knowledge from an honors project that I completed with Daniel on the impacts of stress on the brain. This would be a research based project. Some of the specific topics I would like to research are what happens in the brain and muscles when you work out, the differences between outdoor and indoor exercise, the differences between group and individual exercise, and the impacts of different types of workouts, such as yoga, weight training, cardio, etc. I will use articles from scientific databases, videos, digital science museums, and books if I am able to get access to them. Alongside this, I will be conducting a series of interviews with people in my life on their usual exercise routines, if/how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting their exercise routine, and how this is affecting their mental health. This will include individuals in my family and in our school community. I would like to be involved in and interview participants in the y-block exercise classes that are being offered by the school to learn about how high school students are adapting and staying active and the impact this has had on their mental health. I will also hopefully be able to interview a few fitness instructors who are now teaching classes from home through Jess Prohias Gardiner. I will check in a few times with the individuals I interviewed on how/if they are staying active and the impact this has been having on their mental health over time. In addition to my research, I will compile different ways that people are staying active while quarantining/social distancing and try a different one each week. I will keep a log of the different exercises that I try and write about how they impact my mood, energy levels, etc. By the end of the project, I will examine the patterns in the data I have collected, and hopefully be able to provide effective recommendations on ways to stay active during the pandemic. This project will challenge me to hold myself accountable, even when my work schedule is more flexible than I am used to. It will incorporate ideas of critical thinking by helping me improve my research skills and collect and analyze data. Additionally, learning about how individuals in my life and in the school community are maintaining their mental health, and then giving them recommendations of how to stay active and positive, will help me incorporate citizenship into my project. |
How will you measure your success?
Success should not be measured by product but by process and learning. What outcome from your project will indicate to you that your experience has been a success? What personal goals or achievements will indicate success? If you have a product-based project, what is that product, and how will you measure the success of that product?
| At the end of my senior project, I would feel successful if I had a better understanding of the impacts of exercise on mental health both on a personal and scientific level. I would like to create some sort of final product to present my research. This might be a presentation, booklet, or scientific poster that would display my findings, and thus the understanding of the topics that I researched. I will also have a journal that documents the different workouts I tried. This will serve as a compilation of my thoughts and impressions of a variety of at home workout options which will help me provide recommendations of effective, quarantine-friendly workouts. Since the goal of this project is to learn about the ways that exercise can have a positive effect on mental health, I would hope that by the end of this project I would see improvements in my stress and anxiety levels as a result of the workouts that I will be trying. |
Resource List
Consider this the bibliography of Senior Project. What resources have you identified to push your understanding? List publications, institutions, media, books, websites, people with whom you have connected, etc that relate to your project. Include the book you will be reading.
From Databases:
Websites/Videos:
|
Daily Plan & Schedule
Describe, in as much detail as possible, what you will be doing day to day or through the course of a week. This schedule needs to make it clear how you will spend your 30 hours each week. LREI classes, clubs, and ensembles should be noted; cohort groups will likely meet first and second periods on Mondays and Thursdays. (You will also complete a log of hours worked and tasks accomplished for each week of the project).
| I would like to spend about an hour every day (Monday-Friday) trying different workouts and writing about them in my journal. I would spend the other 2.5 hours each day doing research and interviews. Towards the end of the project, I will also be working on my final research product during this time. I would like to organize my time more specifically by focusing on a different research subtopic each week or every few days to ensure that I am doing specific and effective research. |
Documentation Plan
Explain why this is the appropriate documentation for you and your project and how this plan fits your project. Include the platform or medium (blog, journal, Google Doc), intended frequency of updates, general description of the content (reflective writing, photos, essays, etc), the URL for digital documentation or the sharing plan for analog documentation. (Documentation must be updated at least twice per week and be accessible to the committee.)
| I will have two forms of documentation for my senior project. First, I will have a google doc that I will update twice a week regarding my research progress. This document would be more reflective writing of my impressions of what I am learning rather than a document of notes or facts. I will also be keeping a physical journal where I will write about the different workouts I try, my reactions to them, and the physical and mental effect that they have for me. |
Material Needs
Note the material needs you are requesting from school (including work space & monetary needs) and the needs you are filling outside of school, including materials you already own.
| I will not need any materials from the school. |
Backup Plan
If something goes wrong – an internship falls through, an outside circumstance makes your project no longer feasible, you find that your project is not answering your essential question – what will you do? Ideal backup plans rely on known resources and only a single essential question.
| Since this project is research based, can be done from my home, and is mostly self sufficient (other than the participants in my interviews who I will be able to contact over zoom, email, facetime, etc.) I can’t think of any outside circumstance that would make this project no longer feasible. |