EQ: How does the infant brain structure work?

During these six weeks, I have learned quite a bit about the brain and its complexities, but I think the most learning has come from observing myself throughout the process. Being stuck at home with my own thoughts was nothing close to what I initially had in mind when visualizing my project (which was, of course, being surrounded by babies in constant awe by their adorableness and sponge-like brains). Though I can’t physically conduct and examine experiments on children, this project has truly been one big baby lab experiment that I’ve subconsciously conducted on myself. I’ve been thinking about the way I think while thinking about how the brain thinks. Or I guess practicing “metacognition” as a researcher. I value what I’ve learned so far and I don’t think I would’ve been able to learn this much if I wasn’t trapped at home. At the beginning of my studies, I grew anxious about the final result, and if what I had set out to do was enough to be considered the “fundamentals” of neuroscience. As time went on, I realized that I learn best when I allow my curiosity to steer my studying and research. This realization led me to change my routines and goals for the week. Instead of assigning myself three lessons to finish in the afternoon, I would instead give myself an hour to work on the online course and challenge myself to get through as much as I could. I also changed the way I was studying. Hours of textbook readings and research papers slowly became replaced with puzzles, Youtube videos, and a Netflix series. These changes allowed my approach to learning to be more realistic because I was able to evaluate what I was learning in a more engaging way. I also grew comfortable knowing that it’s okay to not fully know everything about infant brain development. No one does. What I know that I do not know is that research is a long process, but an incredibly fulfilling one too. I know that science is always changing and that every day a new discovery is made. I’ve only been doing this project for a little over a month and I guess the biggest thing I’ve learned is that the best way to learn when it comes to scientific research is through constant questioning. I hope to keep practicing this in my future studies and beyond.