Learning and Unlearnings
Writing scientific research paper is something I have not done all my years in university, so this is my first experience and it was full of important lessons:
- Great way for learning: I have been reading about composting before, mostly searching for advices to improve my experiment, however after doing this paper I learned much more than I expected, became more confident about my knowledge, and more capable of conveying this information to others.
- It takes time! A lot more than I expected..
The power of relationships
According to system thinking resources: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, however it is the relationships between the parts that make the whole so much greater.
When a research is not necessarily producing a new piece of knowledge, would it make its added value by reconstructing pieces and elements of already existing knowledge and establish new relationships to provide a new understanding of the research subject?
I have in hand a clear framework for doing similar work, comprises of the following steps:
- Planning: research paper structure, headlines, audience, goals, all should be clear from the beginning
- Assessment of situation, networking, rapid prototype
- Compile and file resources and supporting evidence (foraging)
- Going through the new resources (reading for information)
- Revisit the plan based on new findings
- Fill in the information according to the plan (being an active learner: deconstruct, reconstruct in a framework of your own)
- Revisit the plan based on results
- Keeping notes, learning journal, insights all along
The re-construction part was the most challenging for me in terms of putting the knowledge I gained in my own wording in a way that is clear, neat, and easy. The challenge doubles (triples even) when using English. In some cases I could simply copy/paste whole paragraphs, however in other cases I needed to re-word the information to deliver my message accurately.
Creating my own visual aid was also something new for me. I could picture in my head the graphic needed to express a certain thought, and this creates the need for me to learn more on infography. My learning path on this issue is in its very beginnings