What expectations did you have of biology/environmental science class at the start of the year? When was the last time you had biology or earth science?
At the start of the year, I expected this class to be a lot about the earth, like plants, water, etc. A few weeks into the class, we were doing drawings, so I was very confused, but then I learned that in order to understand Biology, we needed to learn how to observe. The last time I had biology class was in 7th grade. That means that I really didn't remember much.
Describe a memorable event when your perspective of what it means to be a scientist changed or was challenged. Why was this moment important for you?
A memorable event when my perspective of being a scientist was changed was when we started doing the observation assignments. At first, I was very confused as to why we were doing this. Why were we drawing things instead of looking at plants or stuff like that? As weeks went by, I understood why. We were doing this in order to be prepared to observe, understand plants, and dissecting pigs.
How have you evolved as a scientist this semester?
I have evolved as a scientist by learning how to observe things more closely and to ask more questions. At the beginning of the year, I noticed that I felt like I was staying behind. I realized why a few months ago. It was because I wasn’t asking enough questions when I was lost.
One example is the pig dissection. I feel like I was able to learn how to observe by all of the assignments that we did before this. For example, the game and the drawings. These assignments really helped me be able to understand the pig dissection. If we hadn’t done them, I feel like we wouldn’t have been able to done it correctly. Also, my ability to ask questions and speaking up more really helped me stay on track on what was going on. I know if I hadn’t asked questions to my group, I would’ve been lost and left behind.
In my peer group, it has happened to me a few times when I’ve felt lost. This is all because of not asking questions and observing them closely. Sometimes I would notice that something was off in our “little group” but I didn’t exactly know why. When I realized that I wasn’t really paying attention to them, like asking them questions, I knew I needed to start doing so. Once I started doing so, I started to notice when things were off or when a friend of mine was feeling down.
After starting The Power Within project, I realized how much I had distanced myself from them, and how much was going on. Believe it or not, I connected what I had learned from Biology, observing, to my family. Even though we were observing things in another perspective, I started paying more attention to the little things in my family, and I started to notice how much we had going on.
One example is the pig dissection. I feel like I was able to learn how to observe by all of the assignments that we did before this. For example, the game and the drawings. These assignments really helped me be able to understand the pig dissection. If we hadn’t done them, I feel like we wouldn’t have been able to done it correctly. Also, my ability to ask questions and speaking up more really helped me stay on track on what was going on. I know if I hadn’t asked questions to my group, I would’ve been lost and left behind.
In my peer group, it has happened to me a few times when I’ve felt lost. This is all because of not asking questions and observing them closely. Sometimes I would notice that something was off in our “little group” but I didn’t exactly know why. When I realized that I wasn’t really paying attention to them, like asking them questions, I knew I needed to start doing so. Once I started doing so, I started to notice when things were off or when a friend of mine was feeling down.
After starting The Power Within project, I realized how much I had distanced myself from them, and how much was going on. Believe it or not, I connected what I had learned from Biology, observing, to my family. Even though we were observing things in another perspective, I started paying more attention to the little things in my family, and I started to notice how much we had going on.