Reflection

1. Reflection of Process of Learning

In this project, we were assigned to do an experiment of learning behavior of an animal
which my group chose guinea pig because it is very cute and some sources said that it is easy to
train. Since the teacher changed the way of learning and teaching to be focussing more on the
learning process rather than a final product, I have learned and found out many things throughout
this project, not only the learning behavior of an animal but also about myself. In this reflection, I
would like to summarize all these things including my development, my successes, my mistakes
that I have learned.
The things that I considered as successes are I and my group could finish the project in a
given time. At first, we think that training animal requires a lot of time to do. So, we put a lot of
effort to make it finished in time. Moreover, we build a good teamwork (ESLO: LEADER FOR
THE FUTURE.) I and my friend separated the task equally and everyone has a responsibility which
makes the process of the project went fast. Furthermore, I can improve my editing skill because we
need to create the video at the end of the project (ESLO:ARTICULATE COMMUNICATORS.)
Above all else, the important thing in this project that I think it is my success is I have a better
understanding of learning behavior of the animals. It can adapt not only with other animal but also
with the human (ESLO: ALTRUISTIC GLOBAL CITIZENS.) I can understand an animal's
characteristic and personality. I can apply the knowledge that I have learned in the class into this
experiment such as counter conditioning and operant conditioning(ESLO:INNOVATIVE
THINKERS.) Moreover, I know how to take care the animal in the correct way from this project
since my family quite not interested in a pet, therefore I have a less experience with animals. This
project gave me an opportunity to learn them. In this project, I put my effort a lot on taking care the
animal since working with an animal is very hard. We have to consider its life as the most important
thing during the project.
However, we also faced many problems during the project. When we started creating the
maze, we didn't have enough material to complete it in one time so, we need to wait for someone to
buy it first which made the process became slower. Furthermore, we didn't control the environment
of the location that we used for doing the experiment therefore, the result might not be accurate
enough.From these mistakes, we can learn that we need to be the well-prepared person. We need to
plan the task carefully. Also, we need to control the control variable in the same way every time we
do the experiment (ESLO: STRATEGIC LEARNERS).

2. Reflection of Results and Discussion Section

According to the information that we researched, we knew that male guinea pig has the
ability to learn faster than female so we predicted that the male one can run the maze completely
faster than female. However, the experiment came out that male guinea pig couldn't run the maze
completely. And during the experiment, we did it in the lab because there were lots of people and it
was noisy. It also showed the sign of fear while there were people walking around the lab. So, we
needed to stop doing the experiment first. However, when we did the experiment in the place that is
very quiet, he could run the maze but didn't finish in the given time. And it is very interesting
because the one who could run the maze completely is female which contrasts with the literature
review and our expectation. The literature review, however, stated that if the female has the
hormone which is estrogen that will appear when she grows enough she will learn faster but for my
female guinea pig, she is too young to have that hormone. Moreover, the factor that might cause the
result came out differently from the research might be because how we treat the animals are
different. For the female guinea pig, I am the one who took her home and took care her during the
weekend. I did open the song for her in order to make her feels relax. It is the song which people
claimed that it helps their guinea pig to feel relax. On the other hand, the male guinea pig was taken
by Milly and she didnt open the song for him but other than that we treat them the same. And we
think that music helps in improving guinea pigs brain. Another factor is the smell, during the
experiment, our guinea pigs did excrete their feces and urine which cause some smell. They usually
excreted at the dead end. So, this might affect how guinea pig run the maze, they smelled these odor
and followed to that way and didnt move anymore. I think that the way they excreted is to tell other
guinea pigs that this place belonged to them. And after we repeated using this maze, they first run to
the place that they excreted, and after that, they would run out to find the food that we put which
made the process became longer.
As a conclusion, according to the result, the factors that might affect the guinea pigs
learning are the environment around them such as sound, smell and light and also the music. So, if
other people interested in this experiment, I suggested that researching the information about how
guinea pigs brain can be improved because of the music might be helpful also, controlling the
environment during the experiment is very important. The result will come up more accurate.

3. Reflection as an individual learner.

For my strength as a learner, in my opinion, I think I am a creative person. Since I always
think about new ideas. In this project, I have a responsible for making a video. So, I try to make the
video the best as I can and it came out the way I expected. Also, I think I am the person who always
observes guinea pigs condition. I always look for their abnormal sign. Because in the lab there is
the URI disease that can be spread to the guinea pig as well as I always observed the sign of stress
during the experiment because we have to consider the guinea pigs condition is the most important
thing.
For my weaknesses, as I have said that this experiment contains some of the mistakes such
as we didnt control the environment around the guinea pig. These mistakes came from my
weaknesses which are my neglectful. Also, sometimes I couldn't concentrate on my work.
In order to improve myself, next time, I will be more careful about my work.