My topic
My topic was on the psychology of serial killers. I analyzed things such as their behaviors, mental disorders, and other things that contribute to their actions. Most serial killers have experienced childhood trauma such as abuse, sexual assault, and/or a parent leaving them when they were young. Many also have mental illnesses such as depression, psychotic disorders, etc.. I also analyzed the punishments of serial killers and how their actions and sanity determine where they will go to be punished.
English: For my English product, I focused on the psychology of serial killers. To start, I analyzed their life before killing, behaviors, and some of the reasons they may have killed. Then, I wrote journal entries from three different killers' perspectives. These processes showed contextualization by showing how many different things contribute to serial killers' actions such as their childhood, mental illnesses, and their behaviors.
History: For civics, I focused on how the government handles serial killer cases. There are many details that go into how a serial killer will be punished. I analyzed things such as prisoner rights, the hierarchy of prisons, and capital punishment vs. life in prison. I then created a mind map for my product. I used the mind map to show the connections between crimes, punishments, and rights. I showed contextualization through these processes by showing how these things contribute to one another. For example, if someone commits a crime that isn't serious like fraud, they won't get as bad of a punishment as someone who was charged with assault. Those two crimes would be sent to two completely different prisons, and these prisons would have different rules and rights within them.
Art: For art, I made a product inspired by Mark Bradford. An artist who glues down many layers of paper, and rips up the layers when he is done laying them down. For my art piece, I laid down multiple layers of pictures down and then ripped them up when I was done. At first, I painted a brain scan over the collage to show how serial killers have very different brains from normal people. However, the painting took away from a lot of the collage so I ended up laying more layers down and ripping them up again. Through this piece I showed contextualization by showing the many contributions to killers' behavior such as their mental illnesses and their brain itself.