How Do You Measure a Question?

Woodleigh’s Regenerative Futures Program (RFP) has had a few cycles to settle now, and the work simmering away up on the hill is quite something.

Two current Year 10 projects are working big conceptual ideas into real and measurable outcomes with a regenerative focus. Mieka is investigating boredom, or more specifically its disappearance, while Ava is investigating the effect that female hormonal cycles have on strength, energy, motivation and psychology. On paper, these projects could scarcely be more different, yet both have delved into something that quietly affects the everyday lives of their friends and peers. Significantly, both present an optimistic view and, with a structured approach, change is achievable.

The Death of Boredom
MIEKA, YEAR 10

Midway through her year in the Futures Studio, Mieka’s project is still in the centrifuge. It began with questions about boredom, not just for boredom’s sake, but about what happens to us without it. Us, being her own generation, thick in the middle of the digital minefield.

Waiting for a bus, sitting in class, standing in a queue, we reach for our phones. “People don’t always consciously decide to use their phones,” Mieka says. "They just automatically do it. It made me question whether we are becoming uncomfortable with boredom.” 

“I’m not literally saying that boredom has disappeared,” she says. “I’m using The Death of Boredom to describe how we’ve become much less willing to experience it.”
As part of her research, Mieka is tracking the disappearance of unstructured mental space and its effects on her generation.

Boredom and creativity are incredibly difficult to measure, but rather than ditch the idea, Mieka narrowed in on digital stimulation and behaviour. Her project now measures whether reducing digital stimulation improves creativity.
“When I resist the instinct to immediately reach for my phone, my mind begins to wander naturally, making connections between thoughts that I may not have considered otherwise." Is it possible that what looks like doing nothing turns out to be productive?

"I think there is a risk that we become less comfortable with simply being alone with our thoughts," she says. After years of telling teenagers to go do something, Mieka might flip it on its head. Teens, do nothing. Immediately. It's for your own good.
Outcomes? Results? How did the project finish up? Well, we'll have to wait and see at the Futures Exhibition in Term 4.

Strong, Not Skinny
AVA, YEAR 10

Ava’s project began with questions regarding her own experiences at the gym. “I noticed my strength and motivation can change throughout the month." She wanted to understand why and figured that other women would probably want to understand these things too, "so they don't feel like they are failing when their performance changes.” Ava began making enquiries.

Her Futures Project tracks the female hormonal cycle against the male, which turns over every twenty-four hours rather than the female cycle’s monthly pattern. Two different systems, as old as time, have one set of gym expectations – and spoiler, it’s not built around women’s bodies. “I was surprised by how much exercise science has historically focused on men and how this can influence the advice women receive.”

Reading Dr Stacy Sims on female physiology, the project evolved again. “It isn’t just about the menstrual cycle; it’s also about challenging the way women are represented in fitness.” The pressure for girls to be skinny rather than strong has prevailed for decades, and can create an unhealthy focus on appearance instead of what our bodies can actually do.

The research process has already changed Ava’s approach to her own training. “It has made me more aware that my strength and energy don’t have to be the same every day and I hope my project can contribute to a more supportive and inclusive fitness culture.”

And as for the student-led curriculum they are part of this year, “I think it's important because students can choose issues that actually matter to them,” Ava says.

The Regenerative Futures Program runs at Woodleigh’s Senior Campus in Langwarrin South, where Year 10 students spend a year in the Futures Studio. It is a good example of the progressive approach to learning at Woodleigh, where students shape the questions as well as the answers