Myp Project: Enlightenment of Quantum and The Study of Life

Introduction

As part of finishing my Middle Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate, I must complete a self-conducted project named the Personal Project on Year 5. For this project, I have decided to inquire about the relations between two different aspects of learning; Quantum Mechanics and Biology and how far the society have been enlightened about this branch of knowledge. I have resolved this research as my project because, despite living in a modern era of technology and living, our understanding about life and world around or beyond us must be nourished to create an intelligent and developed civilization in the future.

I specifically chose this topic for the main component of my project because I truly believe that this branch of knowledge has its benefits and importance in our next generation's lifestyle. My project is focused on how we can acknowledge people about this phenomenon and about how even this two main element in Science which are Physics especially Quantum Mechanics and Biology are synchronized to make all of the things in this universe works. I developed this project within this specific community of MJSC Balik Pulau because I want all of the school members and among my peers can learn, at least have an overview of this topic. Also, since Quantum Mechanics are being learned by Year 4 students, this project may help them to get some basics knowledge about Quantum Mechanics.

This personal project, which I am developing, is related by the Global Context: 'Identities and Relationship' because this Global Context can bring us to the following question: How Quantum Mechanics and Biology can be related each other? This question or issue can bring us to a whole new exploration and understanding about how this Quantum Mechanics stuff can play a huge role to sustain the living of the biological organism like us; how Quantum Mechanics are giving the identities to the particle-particle in this world works and behave; what are the impacts of Quantum Biology in our life; how we can improve our lifestyles and advancement within this knowledge. With this project I can bring this society; indirectly to develop a new way of thinking among the community.

To fulfil the expectations of my supervisor and myself, coordinators and every single person that involved; directly or indirectly in this project, I must overcome any obstacles and difficulties that appear in the process of making this project, follow order and advice from the expert and other etc. All this will be explained later throughout this report.

For me, MYP Personal project is a self-conducted project by students that based on their interests or things they like. This project will evaluate various skills such as research skills or some other skill itself. This project also allowed students to brainstorm outside the box because they must choose a Global Context that can be related or synchronized with the topic that been chosen. This project can also lead to the next step of improvising person or society to develop a new culture of living and also may bring a spark of impact in modern knowledge nowadays.

Criterion A: Investigating

Prior Learning

In Physics, I had learned that all of the macroscopic object, even human itself are moving and interacting to each other while obeying with the principle called Classical Mechanics or sometimes been referred as 'Newtonian Mechanics' that has been proposed and acknowledged by Sir Isaac Newton in the 18th century. However, subatomic particles and quarks are 'living' with some different mechanics and thus, have a different behaviour that it should be if they obeying Classical Mechanics. After knowing this, it has already caught my attention to study more about this. And, when I read some articles and watch some videos, these subatomic particles and quarks are living with a dimension of Quantum Mechanics. Somehow I am very fascinated with the facts that 'they' are acting differently. Quantum Mechanics have been a spotlight for the physicist after experiments by experiment have been conducted by them. The foundation of quantum mechanics was established during the first half of 20th century with the name of Erwin Schrodinger, Max Planck, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein were highly involved in the foundation of quantum mechanics and leads to the new idea about how nature works.

When studying a lot about quantum mechanics, I began to realize that quantum mechanics also take part in biological structures as well. Even in our generation of cell and genes, quantum mechanics are heavy takes part. That factor makes it more interesting for me to continue to study Quantum Mechanics but this time, I improvised my study about Quantum Mechanics and mostly relate some of the biological phenomena that occur because of the principles in Quantum Mechanics. Although I keep focusing in doing some researches about Quantum Mechanics, I also learned about some of processes or phenomenon in my Biology class and from that, I discovered that some of the phenomenon and processes that takes places in the organisms such as plants, animals, and even humans, are having subatomic particles activities that can be related with Quantum Mechanics. From that, I eventually understand that even though Quantum Mechanics is the field of study of Physics that full of theories and uncertainty, it also occurs in the uniqueness of biological being like us.

Literature Review

A huge part of my Personal Project is investigating both of two main factors in my project which is about Quantum Mechanics and Biology. At the beginning of my researches, I just focus on reading related articles and watching video clips to increase my prior knowledge about both of this topic and the relations between them. After further investigations and researches, I began to realize that I have a lack of information about Quantum Mechanics that I can fully understand based on my current learning level. But, it would stop me from continuing my researches. I also start to learn some new thing that closely related to Quantum Mechanics so that I can at least boost my recent knowledge about it. I follow the online courses in Brilliant website and learn new things harvest new knowledge about something that related closes enough to Quantum Mechanics.

Criterion B: Planning

Product/Outcome Specifications

I will conduct an investigation and come out with a product. Since my project is purposely to give my audiences a fundamental knowledge about Quantum Biology, I planned to come out with a simple presentation that consists all of the foundation knowledge about the relations of both Quantum Mechanics and Biology. Also, since my last product and outcome is a presentation, my presentation must be in an excellent way of delivering message and knowledge. I have created a mind map as a guideline for the making of my product in the journal. Before my presentation can become a good and 'high quality' presentation, it must fulfil some criteria so that, I will successfully reach my goals with this product. I also must have a vast knowledge about this topic so that I can deliver all of the inputs to the audiences in a good condition. There are some specifications that I determined to help me in achieving my main goals.

To successfully give the information to my audiences and eventually achieve my goals, my product/outcome must match these specifications as shown below:

• The slideshows must fit in all of the information and basic knowledge that match up with Quantum Biology.
• The slideshows are informative enough to bring understanding to the beginners and audiences with zero knowledge about this topic of this discussion.
• The presentation by myself must be a simple but full of information and also provide with Question and Answer segment to give as much as input to the audiences when the showcase is held.

Developing Criteria in Product/Outcome

In the making of my product, I must consider all the guideline that I determined to produce a good presentation. I also conduct side research about how to produce informative slideshows and also how I can interestingly present data and information. All of these actions can help me to make a simple yet informative presentation.

Developing Planning in the Making of Product

In the process for finish up my product more easily, I have developed planning that shows all steps that I must go through before I can finish up my product in a fascinating way. This plan consists all of the steps from what kind of information that I must investigate and add-on into my slideshows to how can finish up my product, report and touch up my journal so that my project can be awarded higher bands level. I also have improvised my plan several times to give more detailed in the making of this project.

Criterion C: Taking Action

Creating My Product

After finished improvised all the detailed plan, I started on my work of creating my slideshow. For the first try, I have tried to use Canva website for my slideshows since I know that I can add some creativity in my slide with the use of this website but in the other side, I found some difficulties such as since Canva is an online website, I must have a strong Internet connection to keep using it. So, I moved from using Canva, I started to use basic software for making my Quantum Biology presentation slideshow which is Microsoft Office PowerPoint. Although the level of creativity is limited when it comes on using PowerPoint, I can still create informative slideshows for my audiences and it still fits with my guidelines and specifications that I put on. In the slideshows, I put all the information needed about Quantum Biology and make the slideshows fit with information as much as possible to give my audiences a maximum understanding of this kind of relations. From the introduction to the references I used, I tried to make it interesting and nice-looking.

After I finished up my slideshow, I still tried to put some 'wow' factors to make my slideshows look more interesting. And also, to make audiences feel attractive with the presentation, I prepared a way to make my presentation more catchy and interesting to listen when the showcase held. I tried to practice in presenting in a clear voice and a new yet effective way to present. I consider that this is important to catch audience attention and this also important because I want to deliver this kind of complicated information, so I must present in an excellent way to make it happens.

Criterion D: Reflecting

Evaluating My Product

I am very proud of myself after I finished up my slideshows. Even though it looks really simple, but it is easy to access and is used for learning tools. My slideshows are well organized, fit in with all information about the main topic of Quantum Biology and the application on living organisms that I have research throughout the period in the making processes in this project. However, there are some weaknesses in my slideshows. My slideshows are having a lack of creative input in it. I consider the creativity not to be the priority because I want to make my slideshow full of information and input to be delivered to the audiences. By the way, after all of the processes of making this outcome successfully produced, I feel so satisfied with my works with limited time, I can still finish it according to my guidelines and specifications that I expected. But still, I want to improve this product time by time so that I can publish it on the Internet so that, it can be used as a learning tool for others and let more people more understand about the beauty and uniqueness of Quantum Biology.

Reflections on Knowledge and Ideas

From this project, I can reflect myself about how I can improvise my recent knowledge and how well am I in generating brilliant ideas to make an excellent outcome or product. At first, I only see Quantum Biology is a field of knowledge that interesting to discover within its fascinating theories and probabilities that flew around it. But after conducting this project, it gives me a new vision about Quantum Biology and to be honest, it is a hard and complex knowledge to be discovered and understand by myself. But, I took this challenge and tried my best to overcome all of the obstacles to harvest all the concept of Quantum Biology and delivered it to others as well.

After that, I realized that I also must come out with a smooth execution to achieve my goals, which is how Quantum Mechanics and the concept of Biology itself are related. I must present all of the data and information that accurately comes from my research so that my audiences can receive my information without any mistakes. Eventually, I found some difficulties to make a good slideshow to increase the understanding of the audiences about this. It is difficult for me to make slideshows that simple yet full of information that needed. But then, I tried to overcome this problem by trying to filter the information that has priorities to be present in this topic and make it the only information to be put on in the slideshows. So now, my slideshows are still looked simple, but full with basic knowledge of Quantum Biology.

Reflections on IB Skills and Learner Profile

The ability to using different learning skill is one of the abilities that an International Baccalaureate student should master. Also, as an IB learner, we should demonstrate and imply 10 different aspects of learning which are Principled, Risk-Taker, Balanced, Caring, Knowledgeable, Inquirer, Communicator, Reflective, Open-Minded and Thinker (International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) 2014). This also included when this personal project is in the making process. In this project, I have improved and developed my thinking skills to produce a product that can give an impact to a person, at least so that my goals to acknowledge people about the relations between Quantum Mechanics and Biology is achieved. Also, I have become an inquirer and a risk-taker because of I always curious and keep asking in my mind, about how these fields of studies are related to each other and take a risk to make a research on it even this knowledge is above from my learning level and kind of hard to be understood well. When presenting this topic to my audiences, I am reflecting myself as a knowledgeable and deliver this information. I also improvised my communication on presenting, in particular, to make sure it can help me to ease my presentation. Overall from this project, I can see the potential beneath myself that is shown within 10 IB Learner Profile. All of these qualities are specifically important not only in the learning process but also to prepare all IB learners to face any problem and consequences that come to society in the future.

Reference List

1. Quantum mechanics. (2020, April 27). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics
2. Quantum biology. (2020, April 25). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_biology
3. McFadden, J., & Al-Khalili, J. (2018, December 12). The origins of quantum biology. Retrieved from https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2018.0674
4. Offord, C. (n.d.). Quantum Biology May Help Solve Some of Life's Greatest Mysteries. Retrieved from https://www.the-scientist.com/features/quantum-biology-may-help-solve-some-of-lifes-greatest-mysteries-65873
5. Classical mechanics. (2020, April 23). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_mechanics
6. 2011-2020, (c) C. skillsyouneed.com. (n.d.). Top Tips for Effective Presentations. Retrieved from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/present/presentation-tips.html