Reflective Letter

                After lots of time thinking about a potential research topic, I finally came upon the idea of looking into learning styles of children and which one was most affective. I threw around ideas of this topic and I began my research to see if I could find and answer to my on research question. I used all the new ways of doing research to narrow down my research question and I found that hands-on-learning is an important style of learning that kids pick up at an early age and then use it all throughout their lives. I then was able to use some of the research methods I learned in my English 102 class to keep researching my topic and finding sources that dealt directly with my research question.  This new researching method was lateral research, a very reliable way of doing research that makes it easier to find credible sources. After finding these sources I was able to use the writing skills that I achieved in class to cite my sources and allow my research letters to flow clearly and make a lot more since. All of the new stuff that I have learned in English class has allowed me to better express my idea and thoughts directly onto my papers.

                For our “final project” for Unit 2 we have to create a website, so I have done a lot of thinking about what would be an appropriate subject to use that directly relates with both my research, and the Discovery Center of Idaho. I also had to make sure that it pertains to the particular audience that I want to write for and that all my research makes sense and goes along with the two factors I mentioned above. Writing towards a vast audience like I did in classes before was very simple, but making sure that all your information focuses towards on particular audience and it doesn’t lose their attention or bore them. I created my website to look very clean, clear and colorful, and tried to make it look as professional as possible but still make it fun and entertaining. When I put pictures onto my website, I tried to make everything very clean and crisp in order to not take my viewers’ attention from my writing and research. Having very flashy and overpowering pictures could easily direct the viewers’ attention away from the particular parts that you want them to focus the most on. After looking at the website we looked at in class, I knew right away that didn’t want to have the little scrolling paragraphs, because it was very difficult to keep focused on this part of it instead of just having the whole page scroll. Having the whole page scroll would also make the page look less jumbled together and easier to focus your attention on the parts that had important information in it.

                I chose to make my website on hands-on-learning because I thought that it was very interesting that this learning style is so much more productive to so many young people around the world. It is also much more entertaining and easier to stay focused when using this learning style compared to the “traditional” lecture type. I have found for myself, that it is much easier to learn something that you can work with and repeat the process over and over while collaborating with other peers, than it is when you are having to read, listen to lectures, or do some type of writing exercise to learn. The learning process is also so much easier to understand and it is a lot less complicating than the original style of learning that is practiced by so many of the teacher today.