Bot Res Volumn 1: Brain Development Overview:
VOLUME 1: Bot Brain Development
Languages
Finger skills
Learning Styles
Music
LITERATURE OVERVIEW:
Read the following overview of research hypotheses. Then go on to do
research
investigating these hypotheses as they might apply to Bots using StatCenter's
Virtual
Lab.
1. Small finger muscle exercises (stringing beads, knitting, working
clay) stimulate
brain growth.
2. Drinking more than 8 cups (8 ounces each ) of water per day increases
brain
function by purifying blood going to the brain. Fruit juice and carbonated
beverages won't help. The brain uses more fluids than any other organ
of the body.
3. The scent of peppermint increases "positive brain waves"
involved in learning.
4. Testing different ideas (exploration)--especially if many of the ideas
prove wrong--
builds the brain more than does knowing the right answer.
5. Foot massage (especially between the toes) nearly triples the blood
flow to the
brain.
6. Classical music (in contrast to white noise and pop music) produces
brain
development.
7. Learning multiple languages produces brain development.
8. Hearing music and language changes the structure of the brain.
9. Parts of the brain that are not used die.
BOTS
"Bot" is short for "robot," and is used in cyberspace
to refer to electronic entities.
We have simulated a cyberspace (called "StatLand") in which
some of the
hypotheses (about humans in the literature overview) apply to Bots and
some of them
don't.
META-PUZZLE AND FINAL PROJECT
In StatLand one of the most important jobs bots perform is to carry messages
from
one part of StatLand to another. A bot is best at this job when it can
input information
as quickly as possible and when it can output information as quickly as
possible. Input
speed and output speed are important to bot functioning.
Your Final Project is to set up the conditions so that a sample of 10
bots will have
the highest possible mean input speed and output speed. But how do you
do this?
That is the puzzle. We suggest that you proceed in three stages.
STAGE ONE: Research Assistant
First, discover what you can about bots by working as a research assistant
for Ann
and Frank in their labs. By doing so you will get various pieces of the
bot puzzle. Do
each of the research projects suggested by Ann and Frank. Keep a record
of your
data and conclusions to use in Stage Three.
STAGE TWO: Independent Research
Continue to study bots on your own. Explore the relationships and effects
of
variables not addressed by Ann or Frank.
STAGE THREE: Final project
Do your final project. Based on what you have learned by studying various
pieces
of the puzzle, enhance the mean information output performance of a group
of 10 bots. You will be competing with other members of the class to determine
who can get the highest mean from their group of bots.
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