Blog for this week 10/24/14

What was the first research assignment you remember ever having? Were you in elementary school, middle school, or high school? Exactly what grade were you in? What do you remember learning about the research process? What did you choose to write about or was a topic assigned to you? Did the teacher who gave you the assignment teach you about the research process? Or was it the school librarian? Or both? What sources do you remember using? Encyclopedias? Books? Articles? The Internet? Other sources? As you did with the last writing prompt, describe the research process you went through. Did you enjoy it? Hate it? Find it fun? Find it boring? Find it tedious? 

        The first research project I was ever assigned was in middle school, I believe it was the 6th grade. I had to pick three different colors and survey up to twenty people to determine what the most popular color was. I think the research project was more so I would be interactive with my classmates and maybe make friends to feel more comfortable within a new school, then just to determine what is the most popular color. Everyone had about three days to complete the project and chart their findings. However, I soon found that a lot of kids were not really going around asking people what their favorite color was. Most kids were just putting tally marks in each section for each color, making sure it added up to twenty so they would get credit for the assignment without truly doing any of the work.
         I found it to be frustrating that these kids would take such an easy way out. I did not see the the problem in asking people what their favorite color was, I really did not find the assignment as unfair, just a little time consuming. I wondered if the teacher knew that almost no one really did the assignment, but just made random marks on their sheet, or if she actually cared, or if the assignment was just busy work. The people of the assignment was to research what color people liked the most, and there was no true research process except to survey people and find out what they thought. I was upset because I felt like our survey was not accurate because the kids in my class did not really ask people what their favorite color was.
         Though I feel the research project was pointless, in-accurate and a complete waste of time the experience was surprisingly a lot of fun; and taught me a few things. The research project helped me come out of my shell and find the courage to meet and talk to new people, even if at first it was to just ask them what their favorite color was. This being said, this project taught me an even deeper lesson that stuck with me to this day. This project taught me that, in life people with always try to cheat, conieve, and find the easiest way out of things, which is not always a good thing.