Work log

Date Goals Reflection Sources

31/03/17 To come up On day 1, our group came up with research questions

with along with researching for some further information based
research on the questions. From the researching process we did, I
questions found out that the beginning was difficult because we
barely knew anything about the animal that we did not
know where to start. Nevertheless, once we got the basic
idea of the animal, the process began to flow better as we
now know how the research should be done. We mainly
focused on two types of food which are fresh food and
pellets. These two types will be fed on guinea pigs to see
how they cause different effects on them.

18/04/17 To start I gained some new knowledge about the guinea pigs [Link]
doing diet. The best type of food that is suitable for guinea pigs [Link]/vth/sac
background is grass hay due to the nourishing nutrients it contains p/documents/Car
research whether it is vitamins or fibers. The diet needs to be made eofGuineaPigs_0
sure that it contains proper amount of vitamins, fibers, [Link]
calcium, and proteins otherwise, it would give guinea pigs
negative effects. For example, the food that includes high [Link]
amount of calcium causes urolith (bladder stones) [Link]/guine
formation in some of them. Both fresh food and pellets a-pig-diet/
can be fed to the guinea pigs. However, pellets lose
Vitamin C as they are stored, therefore it is important to
ensure that the pellets are freshly milled. I found out that
it is difficult to research for certain information. Since
information that are provided on the internet are usually
only the general ideas, having good research questions is
helpful. The good questions will lead us to the deeper
information. We will be continuing doing the research in
the next class.

24/04/17 To continue Introduction, literature review 1 and 2 were done which [Link]
working included background information as supporting ideas. It is [Link]/pmc/
background a little difficult to find information that is deep into details articles/PMC2805
information about guinea pigs, due to the fact that not that many 706/
experiments have been done specifically about the
animal. Nevertheless, we found out some new facts about
 guinea pigs diets. The idea of consuming omega-3 fatty [Link]
acid, which is beneficial for humans brain and cognitive [Link]/book
system is also found in the article about guinea pigs. s/NBK231932/
Some research shown that omega-3 fatty acid is also one
important nutrient that should be fed to them. Even [Link]
though, the reason to that has not been answered yet, it edu/health/medic
could be predicted that the nutrient might also work al/altmed/supple
beneficially to their brain as it does in humans brain. ment/omega3-fatt
y-acids

25/04/17 To continue In todays class, we revised what we did last class and
working found out that there are still some mistakes in the
background proposal. I realized that the part I did, literature review 1
information and 2, still lacks of personal ideas. It needs more
personal thoughts about the reason of using these
information and the dates their experiments were
conducted. The literature review contains too small
portion of personal ideas, it mainly focuses on only the
fact that was concluded from the articles. These two
types of ideas should be combined together.

01/05/17 To discuss As we have not gotten the cage for guinea pigs yet, we
about guinea discussed about materials we need and the day that we
pigs cage will go buy it. The cage that we are thinking about buying
and maze is double layers cage. For the materials that will be used
as the maze is cardboard. From the discussion we had,
we decided to go buy the cage on Monday (07/05/17).
Also, we revised the proposal outline that is due by 9pm
tonight.

02/05/17 To discuss We thought about changing our animal to hamsters from

about buying guinea pigs. However, we ended up using guinea pigs for
guinea pigs the experiment. As we, now, have to buy our own animal,
and the cage we discussed about the budget that will be needed. We
looked up the cost for the animal finding out that they
usually cost around 800-2,000 baht. The shop that we are
thinking about buying from them is called KB rabbit rage.
Guinea pigs from their shop cost about 800 baht. Even
though, we could not find the price of the guinea pig cage,
we found out that the similar cage that is used for
hamster costs around 2,000-3,000 baht.

03/05/17 To discuss In todays class, [Link] came to talk to each group

about how to about the proposal outline and how to improve it. The
improve the proposal we did needs to be arranged in paragraphs
proposal better, especially information from sources and our
 with Ms. thoughts in literature review. For the overall work, it needs
Charlie to be more specific. For example, vegetables is one of the
materials we need but only putting the word vegetables
in is not enough. We need to specify which type of
vegetables will be used. Also the types of conditioning
and how we will make the guinea pigs used to humans
should be explained deep into more details. From all the
mistakes we made, we will improve our work and get it
ready to be turned in on May 8th.

08/05/17 To discuss In todays class, we planned to go buy cages and food for
about the the animal on Saturday, as well as to pick up the guinea
budget and pigs we ordered. We were going to buy cages today but
the guinea because not that many people in the group are available.
pigs that we Also, as we still have to go pick the guinea pigs at the
order online market that sells the cages and food, we decided to
change our plan. Our goal for this week is to finish
making the maze by Friday. We are going to make the
maze on Thursday and if we cannot finish it by at the end
of that day, we will continue working on it on Friday that
we are off.

09/05/17 To start We started the period off by putting cardboard papers

making the together as a base of the maze. Then, we sketched out
maze the picture of the maze as we wanted it to be. The overall
look of the maze was planned out on a smaller paper first,
then we drew them on the base of the maze, we made
earlier. What we planned to work on this Thursday when
we have our next class is to stick other cardboard papers
on the maze to be as the walls that separate each
section. Also, the scale of the section of the maze was
not drawn right, so we will fix it next time we have class.

11/05/17 Finishing the In class today, we finished making the maze. The maze is
maze made out of cardboard papers. They are sticked together
with hot glue and duct tape. However, there is an extra
part of the maze that we could not finish on that day. We
decided to continue working on that on the next day,
which we are off of school.

17/05/17 Start As we got our guinea pigs on 13/05/17, when we are

conducting back at school on Monday, we brought them to the lab.
the We have been putting them on special diets since we got
experiment them, one only eats fresh vegetables, while the other one
only eats pellets. When we let the 2 guinea pigs in the
maze for the first time, both of them did not seem to get
used to it yet. The reason is that, as we observed, they
 did not move that much. We ended up taking them out of
the maze because we were scared it would stress them
out too much.

18/05/17 Continue In todays class, we spent the whole hour letting our
letting guinea pigs experience the environment in the maze. One
guinea pigs guinea pig seemed to get used to the maze easier than
run the maze the other. He ran more quickly and was able to reach the
exit of the maze. Unfortunately, the one that did not get
used to the maze that much barely moved. He tended to
stay in one corner. We tried to help him be more
comfortable staying in the maze and get him to walk by
giving him food. At the end of the hour, he finally moved a
little bit. The distance he walked was about a quarter of
the maze.

19/05/17 - Learned In this quarter we first learned about classical

about conditioning. Next, we first learned about another type of
operant conditioning, operant conditioning, today. The difference
conditioning is that operant deals with reinforcement and punishment
- Continue (a relationship between a behavior and a consequence),
letting while classical conditioning associates with stimulus. We
guinea pigs let both guinea pigs experience the maze today. One of
run in the the two was really active that he was able to get out of the
maze maze, but he still had to take a long time to figure the
maze out. However, the other one barely walked when he
was put into the maze. We let him stay in there for almost
the whole hour. We thought about the reasons that he
only stayed in the same area. The reason is that it might
be because of his own personality that he gets afraid
easily, especially when he meets many humans. If we
were given more time, we would let him experience the
maze alone for a longer time to let him realize that there
is nothing to be afraid of. That way he will eventually get
used to being in the maze.

24/05/17 - Continue In todays class, we continued to learn more about the

learning operant conditioning we left off last Friday. We focused
about on the difference of positive and negative punishment and
operant reinforcement. The most effective way to condition animal
conditioning. to do something is to give them positive reinforcement
- Continue according to Skinners experiment (The rat in a box
letting experiment). We let our guinea pigs experience in a new
guinea pigs maze, which has smaller width in the hallways of the
run in the maze. Both of the guinea pigs were able to run in this
maze maze easier. The reason to that might be the smaller
width the hallways this maze had. It prohibited them from
going back from where they were, which made them have
to keep moving forward. They might have not felt
comfortable staying in the maze as the path in the maze
was tight, which made them feel like they needed to get
out. Because of that, it encouraged them to move faster
to find the way out.