I wanted to study this by looking at sports teams at my school and comparing them to possibly the drama department. I wanted to collect data looking at why the students playing sports loved it and why the drama students found it repulsive. I, however, decided that there were too many variables that could come into play and it would be difficult to get student participation
Still wanting to look at happiness, I discovered a new route. I found Brand and Flow, a program specifically designed to study what makes people happy and what they can do to fix their mindsets to make themselves happier and more confident in life. This was originally designed for adults, to help them in the workforce. It has never been tested on kids, specifically teenagers.
Going off of this, I decided I wanted to find a way to implement Brand and Flow into Rock Canyon High School. My first idea was to incorporate it into a mindfulness class, taught by Chrissie Marcilliat, a teacher at the school. I discussed this idea with her and she was on board, but had many concerns. Using this class created a potential risk for the students. Many of them are already suffering from serious mental health issues and bringing this idea into their lives could be too much for them. I was working on a way to make it safer for them, but it was complicated. We eventually decided it wasn't a risk we were willing to take.
The final decision was to use Ms. Marcilliat's health class instead. The conditions for the students aren't as extreme and the class already focuses on happiness and changing the students' mindsets in a more positive direction. The study will be conducted on both of her classes, which are period 2 and 4. We decided that we would begin the study in January, replacing Ms. Marcilliat's curriculum with Brand and Flow. That way, the students are starting fresh with no previous knowledge of how to change their mindsets. The creators of the program, Brian Fuller and Michele Carter, will come in for two days to teach Brand and Flow to the students. After the lectures, the students will have a month to absorb and apply Brand and Flow. Once the month is over, I will have the students reflect how Brand and Flow has impacted their lives, if at all. I will collect the data and complete my final report.