This week, I arrived at the senior center with another activity I had prepared. Sometimes it is a new game, a Sudoku page, or a flyer I worked on earlier in the week. Bringing something in and pulling up a chair now feels normal. That is very different from how the project started. The emergency […]
What Months of Weekly Visits Have Shown Me Read More »
Before writing, you should have the main work from Part 1 in front of you: the selected papers, inclusion and exclusion rules, PRISMA information, notes or a table for every paper, and an organized Zotero library. That preparation matters because a literature review is not a series of book reports. It should not read, “Paper […]
How to Write a Literature Review Part 2: Actually Writing the Review Read More »
When I played cognitive games from the podium, only about half of the cafeteria participated. The people who joined brought a lot of energy, but many others stayed quiet. By August, I was less focused on creating one activity for everyone and more focused on how I presented it. The whole-room games worked for seniors […]
Finding Better Ways to Get Seniors Involved Read More »
A literature review does not involve running a new experiment. Instead, you find research that already exists, decide which studies are relevant and trustworthy, and put the evidence together. The hardest part often happens before you write a single paragraph. If the search is disorganized or the rules keep changing, the review becomes difficult to […]
How to Write a Literature Review Part 1: Finding, Screening, and Organizing Research Read More »
By July, I had been seeing many of the same seniors week after week. The visits still included games, but I was thinking less about scores and more about how familiar the room had become. I no longer approached every table without knowing what to expect. I knew that Mr. and Mrs. Li enjoyed the […]
The Relationships Forming Around Weekly Visits Read More »
The Results section answers, “Here is what I found.” The Discussion answers, “Here is how I interpret it, how it compares with other research, and what I still cannot conclude.” That difference matters because the Discussion is where you are finally allowed to explain what the findings might mean. It is also where it becomes […]
Writing a Research Paper: Discussion and Limitations Read More »
Each week, I still come to the senior center with a new activity or a variation of an older one. By June, making the games had become its own part of the project. I was not just finding a worksheet and handing it out. I was trying to design something for the specific seniors I […]
Learning to Design Better Cognitive Games Read More »
The Results section should tell the reader what you found. That sounds obvious, but it is very easy to start explaining why a result happened while you are still reporting it. That explanation belongs in the Discussion. In the Results, the goal is to present the findings in a clear order and let the numbers […]
Writing a Research Paper: Results Read More »
By May, the cognitive games were no longer one-time activities. I had been coming back every week, designing something new, and working with some of the same seniors repeatedly. I had played with Mrs. Zhu and Mrs. Peng for well over a month, so I finally had something to compare with our first sessions. I […]
Progress After Weeks of Cognitive Games Read More »
After going to the senior center every week, I started noticing things that I probably would have missed during one visit. The differences between groups were especially hard to ignore. One group would talk, play the games, and join activities. Another group sat in a corner, barely spoke, and rarely interacted with anyone. I tried […]
What Repeated Visits Let Me Notice Read More »
