Work logs

Date: 31 March 2017

Goal : Find some basic information about the different types of rodent and decide
which types of them we are going to use in this project. Also, think about the research
questions.

Reflection : After we research the information about different types of rodents, we

decide to choose the Guinea pig. Moreover, I find the information about the
characteristic and personality of Guinea pig, food that they eat and how to treat them
correctly. Next, we think about the research question that we are going to use in this
experiment. We want to know about the different between the genders, or ages but we
think that the differences of genders are easier to determine. So, at last, we came up
with the research question Which gender of guinea pig can learn faster to get out of
the maze. Because we have a short period of time to do so, this question might need
to reconsider. Next period we will think, research about the differences of each
gender and finalize our research question again in order to get the best one for our
project.

Source : https://www.petfinder.com/pet-care/small-and-furry-care/care-guinea-pigs/
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/all-other-pets/guinea-pigs/description-and-physical-
characteristics-of-guinea-pigs

Date: 18 April 2017

Goal : Finalize the research question and research more about the basic differences of
each gender of guinea pig.

Reflection : We finally decide the research question as a group which is Which

gender of guinea pig can learn to run the maze faster? Next, we find the information
about the differences of the genders but we dont actually find about it. There is no
information such as the different of brain activity, personality or learning behavior
between male and female. The only thing that I can found is how to determine the sex
of guinea pig. So, we decide to find about the other types of rodents to compare with
the guinea pig next time.

Source : http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120518/entlife/705189975/
http://jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigbehaviour.html
http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm
Date : April 24, 2017

Goal : Research about the equipments and materials that we will use for petting the
guinea pig as well as for making the maze.

Reflection : At first, we planed to research about the other types of rodent to compare
with guinea pig since last week but the teacher need the information about our group
decision of what type of rodent we are going to use and also the materials and
equipment that we will use in the project in order to give this information to the
school. So, instead of following our last week plan, we decided to research about the
material and equipment, list down these important things for example cave, food, or
sawdust and give it to the teacher. And next time, we will start to outline our proposal

Source: http://www.theanimalfiles.com/pets/guinea_pigs/guinea_pig_care/
guinea_pig_equipment.html
https://www.thespruce.com/basic-guinea-pig-supplies-2662208
https://twootz.com/article/Equipment-for-your-Guinea-Pig

Date : April 25, 2017

Goal : Start outlining our proposal

Reflection : Our group started to distribute our work to find the topic that will be
included in the proposal. For me, I have to find the background research that will be
used. Such as the types of learning behavior of animal for example habituation,
sensitization or conditioning, innate behavior of the animal. So, I listed down theses
topic. Moreover, Ive already found the basic information of the guinea pig, for
example, the species name, its personality, its characteristic, or where does it come
from. So, I start to read, understand and paraphrase this information. Some
information about animal behavior, however, is hard to understand hence I still need
more time to finish reading it and I plan to continue doing it next class.

Source : https://global.britannica.com/topic/animal-learning
http://www.sparknotes.com/biology/animalbehavior/learning/
Date : March, 1 2017

Goal : Finish the outline of proposal

Reflection : Today our group plan to finish the outline proposal in time. I listed down
all the topic of background research such as animal behavior, sexual dimorphism,
foraging behavior and the information about the guinea pig. Moreover, I wrote the
Ethical/ Humane Considerations part of the proposal. Which is about the message to
make sure that this experiment will be safe and humane for animal. After that, we
analyzed all the information that weve written and submit it on the edmodo. So, next
class I will try the

Source
https://global.britannica.com/topic/animal-learning
http://www.sparknotes.com/biology/animalbehavior/learning/
http://www.theanimalfiles.com/pets/guinea_pigs/guinea_pig_care/
guinea_pig_equipment.html
https://www.thespruce.com/basic-guinea-pig-supplies-2662208
https://twootz.com/article/Equipment-for-your-Guinea-Pig

Date : March, 2 2017

Goal : Decide what type of animal to use.

Reflection : As school cant provide guinea pigs for our experiment due to the cost of
guinea pig however, the teacher also gave us the alternative option to use hamster
instead of guinea pig which school will provide or we have to buy the guinea pigs
ourselves. So, in this period, we talked about the advantage and disadvantage of
changing the animal in the experiment because we already finish the outline of
proposal. We also compare the behavior of these two of rodents and at last we still
decided to choose the guinea pig. So, next class we will talk about when will we buy
the guinea pig.

Source. https://www.cuteness.com/blog/content/should-i-get-a-hamster-or-a-guinea-
pig
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-guinea-pigs-and-hamsters
Date : March 3, 2017

Goal : Fix the proposal

Reflection : As we have to submit the proposal on May 8 so, our group decided to
finalize the information in the proposal including fix some mistakes that teacher has
pointed out. I helped my friend research more about the information that will be used
in background research such as conditioning, classical conditioning and operant
conditioning. Moreover, I helped my friends to check all the mistakes that might
happen.

Source :http://www.animalsciencecollege.com.au/administration/modexcerpts/
Animalbehaviourexcerpt.pdf

Date : March 8, 2017

Goal : build the cage for guinea pigs.

Reflection : We already brought the guinea pigs to school. So, we built the cage for
guinea pigs to live. Furthermore, we also researched how to give the proper amount
of guinea pigs food in the cage, water, as well as vitamin C that is required for
guinea pig. We also play with the guinea pigs in order to make them get used to us
but it is really hard because they are still young and they need adjust themselves as
they just moved to new place.

source : http://www.theanimalfiles.com/pets/guinea_pigs/guinea_pig_care/
guinea_pig_equipment.html

Date : March 9, 2017

Goal : play with guinea pigs to make them get used to us

Reflection : I and my friends tried to play with guinea pigs to make them happy. I
watch the video in youtube about how to tame the guinea pigs and make them trust us
as an illustration. I knew that it might take time for guinea pigs to get used to the
owner. So, me and my friends decide to watch them with the furthest distance that
they wont get scared of us. Moreover, I cleaned up their toilet and prepare the food
for feeding them at home since we have to bring them back and take care during the
weekend.

Source :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A98CFliJbvg
March 17 2017

Goal : Clean up the Guinea pigs cage

Reflection : We planed to clean up the guinea pigs cage. So, we carefully caught
them and put them in the safe place while we were cleaning their cages. We used a
non-toxic cleaner to clean their cages after that we put the new hay, saw dust, and
bedding sand in the cages for the guinea pigs. We changed the water, remove the old
food and add the new food instead. After we finished preparing the cage, we
carefully put them inside the cages. We watched their actions after cleaning the cage.
We found that they seemed to be happy and comfortable.

Source : https://www.guineapigcages.com/cleaning.htm

March 18, 2017

Goal : Finish the maze

Reflection : Our own maze was collapsed because the cardboards that we used were
too weak. So, we bought new ones and start to do it again. We measured the length of
guinea pigs in order to make sure that the maze is wide enough for their bodies. I also
try to put the guinea pigs on the other group maze to see our guinea pigs reaction to
the maze. And we found out that they could run the maze without fear. But the guinea
pigs still couldnt find the way out.

Source :https://prezi.com/mbficq70gwmz/guinea-pig-maze-running-science-
experiment/

Maze 19, 2017

Goal : Teach guinea pigs running a maze

Reflection : We put the hay and pellet food at the corner of the right way in the maze
before we put the guinea pig on it. We found out that both of them could run a maze
by follow the smell of the food. However, it also depended on the environment
around them. If we moved, the guinea pig would stop walking and also if someone
made a loud noise, they wouldnt walk too. Moreover, the female guinea pig could
walk faster than male one which is very interesting since the literature review said
that male has ability to memorize more than female.

Source : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699937/

March 24, 2017

Goal : Continue doing the experiment

Reflection : We redo the experiment but we change the room when we were doing.
We found out that, guinea pigs would walk better when we turned off the light. The
female guinea pig could run the maze successfully. The male, however, couldnt run
the maze successfully and he also showed the sign of fear which is freezing. So, we
decided to take him out immediately. We think that it might be because we change the
location for doing the experiment. First day of experiment, we used the hall way on
the second floor to do the experiment and it was very calm since it was Friday and
everyone go home early. Also, there was only a little bit light but the second day of
experiment we preferred doing the experiment in Lab which many people also did
their experiment so, it was noisy. This factor might caused the male guinea pig to
become stress.

Source : http://www.animalbehavior.net/LIBRARY/GuineaPig/EFGPR/
GuineaPig_fearfulness.htm

March 25, 2017

Goal : Continue doing the experiment

Reflection: Since, we already finished the experiment of female guinea. We focussed

on the male guinea pig. However, it was still the same. It could run trough the middle
of the maze but we set the time only for 5 minutes and it couldnt finish in the given
time. After that we cleared all the things in the lab and prepared to take them back to
the house.