Cherie's Reflection

This project was really difficult but fun for me. I found it difficult to keep on track while working online and therefore was quite anxious for a portion of the task. However, I think I took a lot from this experience: researching papers written all over the globe, learning how to ask insightful questions and think about the grey areas of the world.

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I think I collaborated really well with my group, considering we had never worked together in the past. We managed to figure things out in an online environment and create a great website. I think we were all very understanding of each other if we had struggles because we were all in the same boat. The ideas that were shared were so insightful and well thought out, and I learnt a lot from my two partners.

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Although our question ‘How will overpopulation affect our ability to feed the world in developing countries? What areas of improvement have to be focused on to sustain them?’ was highly interesting and well talked about, the researching process was the most difficult for me. I had to trial and error a few times before I found that I learned best reading from books written by researchers. The books that I read were so useful and so much more detailed and thorough than websites. I specifically gained interest in Dr Stefaan Blancke’s work with Dr Johan De Smedt on the ‘Evolutionary and cognitive foundations of pseudosciences’. Dr Blancke also wrote an article about why people do not support GMOs because of religion and intuition, which I found interesting, especially because I have an interest in psychology.

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Speaking and listening to the experts was definitely my highlights of my ‘Science of Life’ journey. I came up with a question I was interested in regarding the switch from agricultural diets to post-industrial diets. I asked Dr Monika Doblin from La Trobe University if encouraging the preservation of agricultural diets would reduce the number of undernourished people. She answered it in much detail and did for all other questions students had to ask. I really enjoyed listening to questions the other groups had, and I think it gave me more ideas and pushed me to ask myself more questions. Going to both Monika and Kim’s forums allowed us to ask at least a question each, and definitely drove us in the right direction in answering our big question.

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Overall, this unit taught me that online books are extremely helpful and that I should not avoid them just because they are long. I also learned how to ask and answer questions about global issues, and how to collaborate in an online environment. I had to face a few obstacles, but I found this project to be fun and informative despite it all.