Leonardo Da Vinci fun facts

November 30 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Approaches to learning: Information management and media literacy skills because I took the information that was given to me through the book and wrote what I thought was important in my very own words, I correctly referenced the book as well, meaning I did not commit plagiarism.

When I was in Florence, I went to a museum dedicated entirely to Leonardo Da Vinci and his inventions, at the gift shop, there were some very interesting books, one of them being about Leonardo´s thoughts on anatomy and experiments he did in order to have a further understanding of the human body. Regarding the brain, the book has two chapters, in one the brain and the eyes are both analyzed, and in the second one there is a study of the skull and the brain.

Chapter about the brain and the eyes 

- Leonardo wanted to find the centre of the senses, in other words, the seat of the soul.

- At the beginning of the 16th century he studied thoroughly the connection between the brain and the eyes. 

- He investigated the brain ventricles through a sculptural technique that involved injecting wax into the brain and allowing it to dry, once it dried it was removed and the prawn and its ventricles could be seen.

Chapter about the skull and the brain

- Leonardo drew his most advanced studies of the brain, it included a diagram of the ventricles of the brain based on his wax research, the cranial nerves and much more.

Reference of the book used:

Cianchi, M. (1998). Leonardo.Anatomy. (Pages 16-19 and 46-47). Florence: GIUNTI.

Book structure

November 28 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Approaches to learning: Transference skills and organization skills because I am following what my work plan said and transferring the knowledge I have and converting it into the structure of my book.

According to my work plan, today I am supposed to already have the organization for my book planned, meaning I should already know what I am going to be talking about and in what order. 

The final organization will be the following:

 Cover

Index
Hemispheres (right and left)

Lobes of the brain (frontal, temporal ...etc...) also known as cerebral cortex

The cerebellum

The brainstem and its parts

The limbic system (and the things that make a part of it such as the hypothalamus, amygdala...etc...)

The basal ganglia (and it´s parts such as the caudate, putamen...etc...)
Cranial nerves
Pituitary gland
Pituitary stalk
Meninges
Cells of the brain (including neurons and glia cells)

Glossary

References

Help from medical surgeon

November 27 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Approaches to learning: Communication skills because I was able to receive comments and recommendations about my blog in a proper way and canalize it into my project. 

Recently, I asked my friend Carolina for a very big favor, turns out her dad is a surgeon with a specialization in oncology, his name is Jose Gabriel Luque. Knowing that her father is very smart and knows a lot, I asked her if she would please show my blog and the information in it to him and see if he had any corrections or recommendations regarding the information I have mentioned. 

He was very nice about it and provided me with the following information:

Firstly, he said "the hippocampus is one of the most archaic structures of the human brain".

He then said "the hippocampus is capable of making you hallucinate with your olfactory memory because it bonds the olfactory sense with with the previous memories".

And finally he mentioned the hypothalamus "secretes melatonin, something that has an important role in the regulation of sleep".

Jose Gabriel was very nice and helpful in the planning stage of my project, the curious facts he provided are very interesting and I am sure they will help me very much in the redaction of my book. I am very thankful for his and my friend Carolina´s help. 😊

Modification to work plan

November 26 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Approaches to learning: Reflection skill because I am reflecting on the mistakes I have made and the way in which I will fix them.

It has been quite some time since I changed my theme and started working on this project about the brain, I can certainly say I have learned a lot of things about science and myself, way in which I work better and ways in which I don't, I have learned how to organize my time and be as efficient as possible as well as realizing situations that make me inefficient.

Things like the previously mentioned lessons helped me realize my work plan was badly planned because I planned it in a way in which I would plan and create something such a a final definition during the course of the week, I would have to plan the temporal lobe on thursday and have to hand in the final definition on tuesday, at the same time as I was planning the hippocampus on monday and handing it in on sunday. This situation had me constantly stressed out because I had no idea what to do first, and when the stressed kicked in, I ended up not working at all and being inefficient.

This situation led me to take the decision to first, plan every single part and corner of the human brain, and after I am done with the planning, I will then start writing and creating the final book. I believe this new way will result being very beneficial to me and my project because even though I will loosen up some strings, I will still continue working had on my project and my book.

In conclusion, I will still follow some aspects of my work plan excluding those of the definitions of the parts of the brain.

Planning occipital lobe

November 25 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Approaches to learning: Information management and media literacy skills because I took information that was given to me the the web and synthesized it into main ideas that are easy to understand.

According to my work plan, today I am supposed to research about the occipital lobe and the things I want to say about it in my book, I believe the information I found is quite useful and will help me very much in the development if my project. 

Occipital lobe: - Located in the forebrain at the back of the head

- It receives and interprets visual information

- It rests underneath the occipital bone

- It assess distance, size and depth

- Identifies visual stimuli such as faces and objects 

- Contributes to spatial reasoning and visual memory.

- It determines color properties of objects

- It receives raw visual data from the retina

- It transmits visual information to other brain regions 

- Occipital lobe damage increases vulnerability to seizures

- Damage can case difficulty in recognizing familiar objects or faces.

- It aids in reading comprehension as well as the recognition of object movement

- The eyes transmit information via nerve impulses to the visual cortex where the information is processed, then, the information is sent to the temporal and parietal lobes for further processing.

https://www.spinalcord.com/occipital-lobe

https://www.thoughtco.com/occipital-lobes-anatomy-373224

Mistake in diary entries (reflection)

November 22 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Approaches to learning: Reflection and critical thinking skills because I am reflecting upon a mistake I made and developing solutions and ways to overcome that error.

Today, we had a regional Humanities class with Lizbeth, the personal project coordinator that happens to be my supervisor, she spoke to us about how the next stages of the personal project will be, she also mentioned something very important that had to be present in our diary entries that I have not been including, in every diary entry we have to mention the approach to learning we used during the making of that entry, until today I hadn't heard about anything regarding approaches to learning, but I can surely say that was entirely my fault because there is an entry in the personal project blog dedicated entirely to the different types of approaches to learning. 

This mistake I made will affect my personal project and my process in the way that I will lose information or arguments I could have used in my final report that I will be writing in February, as well as points to getting a good grade on the diary entries criterion.

In order to fix my mistake I will go back to the diary entries I think are most important and add the section of approaches to learning. As well as making sure from now one that they are always included in every diary entry I write.

I do not want mistakes like this to happen again, so in order for this situation not to repeat itself I will try to be very responsible regarding every single thing that should be included in my blog, or done in the process of the making of my personal project.

Planning midbrain, pons and medulla

November 19 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

The following parts to be mentioned are all part of the brain stem.

Midbrain: - It is also known as mesencephalon
- Plays an important role in communication
- It is above the two other regions of the brainstem, it is also the smallest.
- It travels through the opening in the tentorium cerebelli (the meninges)
- It can be divided into two main parts: the tectum and the paired cerebral puducles
- The Tectum is the house for four round prominences called colliculi
- It serves as a relay center for visual, auditory and motor system information
- It regulates autonomic functions such as digestion and heart rate.

http://www.innerbody.com/image_nerv01/nerv46.html
http://teachmeanatomy.info/neuro/structures/midbrain/
http://www.strokeeducation.info/brain/brainstem/

Pons: - It regulates breathing rate through a structure called the pneumotaxic center.
- Located between the midbrain and the medulla
- Involved in transmission of signals in the brain
- Involved in sensations such as hearing taste and balance.
- It regulates deep sleep

http://www.strokeeducation.info/brain/brainstem/

Medulla: - Also known as medulla oblongata
- Located at the bottom of the brain stem
- Responsible for involuntary controls such as sneezing or vomiting
- Brain stem strokes happen when blood supply is interrupted in this area.
- It also regulates sustaining life functions such as breathing, swallowing and heart rate.
- Damage to the medulla is the hardest to fix because of all the important functions it carries out.

http://www.strokeeducation.info/brain/brainstem/
http://brainmadesimple.com/medulla-oblongata.html

Planning frontal lobe and brain stem

November 19 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

Frontal lobe: - It controls important cognitive skills such as emotional expression, problem solving, sexual behavior, and language amongst others.

- It is responsible for basic motor function (the ability to move our muscles)

- It is largest and most developed in humans than in other organisms

- The right hemisphere of the frontal lobe controls the left part of the body and the left hemisphere controls the right part of the body.

- It is located at the front of the brain

- Damage can cause a change in personality, problems controlling facial expressions, and problems to properly asses risk and danger.

- In charge of intelligence, concentration, self awareness, personality, behavior and emotions

- Affects judgement, planning an problem solving.

- Broca´s area lies in the frontal lobe, if there are injuries to this area, the person might have difficulty in moving the tongue or facial muscles, leading to problems in generating the sounds of speech. 

- It is the last to develop in young adulthood.

-Its orbitofrontal circuit manages emotional impulses such as empathy, benevolence and interpretation of facial expressions amongst others.

https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/frontal-lobe/male

https://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-AnatBrain.htm

http://www.brainwaves.com

Brain stem: - It holds the midbrain, pons and medulla.

- It connects the cerebrum and cerebellum to the spinal cord.

- It performs automatic functions such as breathing, heart rate, body temperature, wake and sleep cycles and breathing amongst others.

- It is the most primitive area of the human brain.

- Located at the base of the brain, above the spinal cord and below the cerebrum.

- It consists of white matter that conducts nerve signals within the brain stem, spinal cord and throughout regions of the brain.

- 10 of the brain´s 12 cranial nerves originate from the brain stem.

- Some of the connections it forms between the brain and the spinal cord include; the corticospinal tract for motor signals, the spinothalamic tract for pain, pitch and other signals, and the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway for senses such as fine touch.

https://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-AnatBrain.htm

http://www.brainwaves.com

http://www.innerbody.com/image_nerv01/nerv46.html

Planning hippocampus

November 18 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

In this entry, I was supposed to write small facts about the hippocampus that I will later expand in further entries. I always try to make at least 10 facts, however, I did not find much information about the hippocampus either online or in books, the information I got was always the same thing in different words, which made my list of facts significantly small (6 facts). The consequences of this situation will be the fact that I will not have much to write about the hippocampus in my book. I will try and solve this situation through looking answers and different definitions for the hippocampus elsewhere, such as interviewing doctors.

Hippocampus: - In charge of the storage of long-term memory

- Plays a role in declarative memory (which consists of facts or events that are consciously recalled)

- It is located in the limbic system (in the middle of the brain)

- In schizophrenia and some severe depressions the hippocampus appears to shrink, however studies reveal the shrinking can be reversed.

- It is part of the innermost fold of the temporal lobe

- It is directly affected by estrogen (estrogen increases synaptic density) 

https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/hippocampus

https://www.livescience.com/43153-declarative-memory.html

http://psycheducation.org/brain-tours/memory-learning-and-emotion-the-hippocampus/

Product specifications

November 17 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

This entry is meant to help me realize some aspects I need to take into account during the process of creating my final product. At first, I didn't know if I should do this entry or not, because to me, it wasn't a set assignment present in the steps to carry out stage b in my supervisor´s blog, however, a friend of mine, Jessica, thought it was an assignment, meaning we were both confused regarding what had to be done, so we went and asked Lizbeth about it and she told us we should do it if we wanted to have supplementary specifications about our final product. So, I decided to answer to the questions and have a further development on the planning of my final product.

Aesthetics: consider appearance, size, style, color, shape/form, texture, pattern, layout.
The book will have an attractive design, with a great variety of colors that complement each other and don't make the book look disorganized. It will have a rectangular shape with measurements of 29x23 centimeters. The texture of the cover and the pages will be plain and smooth. I want my book to portray elegance and delicacy and at the same time to look alluring and fascinating to the reader.

Cost: Is there a maximum cost? Do you need to keep this project within a budget?
The maximum cost may be 300,000 pesos, but I do not have to keep it within a budget because I want the book to be perfect, meaning I will do anything for it to be at its best.

Customer: Who is your project for? What is the target user´s age, socio-ecomomic background?
My project is for people that have an interest in learning about the human brain and it’s parts. There is no specifical targeted age because people from 12+ may have a desire to learn about the most important part of the body. In my opinion the socio-economic background does not have an influence on determining the customers of the book, however the reader must at least understand english in order to be able to read my book.

Resources: What resources are available? Are there limitations as to how this can be created?

Basically my resources are what is available at the “Comercial Papelera” because that is the place where the book will be printed. The limitations are that some materials I want to use may not be present at the “Comercial Papelera”.

Function: What must your product do? What is the purpose of your project? How easily can it be stored?

My product will be a book that explains the parts that make up the human brain and their role. The purpose is to entirely teach the reader about the brain and the different parts that make it function the way it does. The book will be very easy to store taking into account it has a favorable shape that makes it very simple to just place inside a library, a table, or wherever the reader wants to place it.

Materials: What materials are available? What properties will the materials have?

The materials, as I mentioned earlier, are the ones present at the "Comercial Papelera", I am thinking satin pages and a hard cover made or cardboard. I want the materials to be strong and able to last for a long time, I also want them to look pleasing to the eye, in other words, pretty.

Size: Are there any specific sizes that need to be considered? What "human factors" need to be considered?
The book will have a rectangular shape and the measurements will be of 29x23 centimeters. I guess the one human factor to be considered is that, taking into account my targeted audience is 12+, the font used should come in a medium size in order for the individuals with eye problems to be able to read it easily.

Planning cerebellum and hypothalamus

November 16 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

This entry is about the main ideas about the cerebellum and hypothalamus, personally, I found this parts of the brain to be very interesting, I would never have guessed the brain had so many parts with that big quantity of different and vital functions.

This investigating and planning part of my project has ben very challenging because I have found a lot of information about the parts of the brain, which means I have had to synthesize the information in a clear and organized way, and if I am being honest, it has not been very easy.

Cerebellum: - Located behind the top part of the brain stem.

- It coordinates voluntary movements such as balance, coordination, speech and muscle functions such as maintaining posture.

- It receives information from sensory systems and then regulates motor movements.

- It is about 10% of the total weight of the brain.

- Contains about half of the brain’s neurons.

- It is responsible for coordinating eye movement

- It helps the body learn movements that require practice

- Symptoms of a cerebellum disorder are headaches, difficulty in walking, talking properly and in muscle coordination.

https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/cerebellum

http://www.dummies.com/education/science/biology/how-the-human-brain-works/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/313265.php

Hypothalamus: - It is responsible for the production of many esencial hormones such as oxytocin.

- The hormones from the hypothalamus are responsible for temperature regulation, hunger, thirst, sleep and mood amongst others.

- It houses glands such as the pituitary gland.

- Involved in endocrine functions.

- One of it’s primary functions is to contribute in homeostasis.

- It is responsible for apettite, blood pressure, heart rate and weight control amongst others.

- Most common causes for hypothalamic diseases are

https://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/hypothalamus

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/312628.php

Book cover ideas

November 12 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

The following are three design ideas I developed for the cover of my book. I came up with them myself and created them in notability.

Planning temporal and parietal lobes

November 11 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

According to my work plan, today I an supposed to plan what I want to say about the temporal and parietal lobes, basically this entry is about the main ideas about said lobes that I will later expand in further entries.

Parietal lobes: - Located at the top of the cerebrum
- It crosses both hemispheres of the brain (right and left)
- Vital for management of senses (taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight)
- It helps localize touch.
- Influences in body coordination.
- Very important for reasoning and orientation
- Helps asses numerical relations
- Helps coordinate attention.

https://www.spinalcord.com/parietal-lobe

Temporal lobe: - It crosses both hemispheres of the brain (left and right).
- Located in the forebrain
- It is only present in vertebrates
- Every person´s experiences on the temporal lobe are unique.
- It has a great influence in perceiving sounds (auditory processing)
- It is very important for the formation of conscious memories.
- It interprets the meaning of visual stimuli, in other words, recognizing things or persons.
- It aids in the production of speech
- It helps you understand and recognize languages
- Like many other parts of the brain, it helps maintain homeostasis in the body.
- Sends and receives signals from and to the spinal cord.
- It influences heart rate, anxiety, arousal...etc...

https://www.spinalcord.com/temporal-lobe

Template for criteria

November 10 / 2017

Stage: b) planning

During the process of creating my template for criteria I came to the conclusion that one column (environmental considerations) and my project had nothing in common, my project would not help nor damage the environment, meaning I would not have anything to write for that column. What I did was ask my supervisor (Lizbeth) on what I should do about my dilema, she told me not to do that column and erase it from the template for criteria and just carry on with the other columns, and that is exactly what I did.

Reflection on OPVL chart

November 8 / 2017

Stage: a) investigation

Due to the fact that I changed my whole theme and personal project, I had to do everything I had done before all over again, if I am completely honest I will say I did not like at all doing everything again, however it was not that bad because I do love my new topic.

When creating my second OPVL chart I can say I was able to do it under a shorter period of time and the process was sort of automatic because I had already done it before. However this time some things changed, such as the fact that in this chart every source spoke about something different, either the temporal lobe, or the brain in a whole, but there was a wider variety of information to be analyzed in comparison to the old chart that had a large portion of sources just talking about symptoms an treatments for gout.

I liked analyzing sources such as crash course and WebMd because firstly, I really enjoy watching crash course videos because they entertain you and teach you at the same time, and WebMD because it is a web page that even before this project I used to visit constantly whenever I had any sort of doubt regarding the human body.

In conclusion, it was not great to repeat the OPVL chart but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Fourth meeting with my supervisor

November 8 / 2017

Stage: a) investigation

Today was my fourth meeting with Lizbeth (my supervisor), she first checked my blog and told me I was up to date except for the criterion table which she asked me to hand in over the weekend, she acknowledged the fact that I have been able to work well and catch up (taking into account I changed theme).

I was asked to include in my blog small reflections of what my process has been like, and to mainly describe everything that has been going on with the development of my project due to the fact that good and analytical reflections are an influential contribution to a good grade.

She also said the next phase of the personal project is mainly about developing your product (which is great because it means we are almost done with the boring tables).

Finally she told me she was going to take a detailed look into my blog and look for any assignments or diary entries that could use some improvements in order for my blog to be presented in the best way possible.

How will MYP subjects help? (improvement)

November 1 / 2017

Stage: a) investigation

Work plan

October 28 / 2017

Stage: a) investigation

OPVL chart

October 20 / 2017

Stage: a) investigation

Third meeting with my supervisor

 

October 4 / 2017

Stage: a) investigation 

Today was my third meeting with Lizbeth (my supervisor), she took a look at my blog and told me everything was fine with my project except for the fact that I still do not have my OPVL chart, which is why asked me to try and catch up as soon as possible. She also told me that my step 6 should not be about how all subjects help my project, but instead how some of them do, she asked me instead to pick specific subjects and analyze them more.

I will try and catch up as soon as possible in order to carry on with my project and be able to finish it on time.