For my observations, I attempted to gauge the class happiness, by tracking and analyzing smiles. I chose to observe the class in 15 minute intervals, and count the number of people that were smiling during each of these checkpoints. I also noted what the class activity currently was, to see if I could find any trends in my data.
Smiles on Tuesday, March 31
1:40- 3 (Lecture)
1:55- 0 (Lecture)
2:10-1 (Lecture)
2:25-9 (group work)
2:40-0 (death discussion)
2:55- 4 (legos)
Total- 17
Smiles on Thursday, April 2
1:40-0 (Lecture)
1:55- 3 (Lecture)
2:10- 7 (group work)
2:25- 3 (Lecture)
2:40- 4 (group work)
2:55-2 (presentation)
Total- 19
After analyzing my data, it was apparent that there were slightly more smiles on Thursday. However, there were trends that existed in my observed data. First, it became clear that there were more recorded smiles during group work periods than lecture periods. Given that we have no assigned seats, most people sit with there friends. Group work gives students a chance to interact with there friends, leading to more smiles occurring. We had more extensive group work time on Thursday, so this could be a reason for more Thursday smiles. Also, during a tuesday lecture, we spoke about the media mourning and death for about a twenty minute period. Given this somber subject, nobody smiled during this time interval, another reason that Tuesday smile counts were down. It is very evident that class activity and content affects smile count and potential happiness.