Science has always been a big part of my life, both inside and outside the classroom. My earliest memories with nature were in my backyard, either playing with ants with my brother, or eating leafs off the lilac bush. As I got older, I was introduced to science formally in school. Playing with ants in the yard turned into class pets and food chain lessons; eating leafs turned into growing bean sprouts to learn about photosynthesis. But this, too, changed as I got older. However, the wonder and curiosity of the natural world never faded, and I strongly believe that is why I am studying to be a science teacher now.
Over the years, I have done a lot of science lessons, but one stands out to me in particular. …show more content…
In high school, I went to an upper level math-science academy. This school was similar to college, with set lecture/lab times, research days, and small class sizes with informal assessments. During research days, we divided into our small research groups to work on our year-long research project. We wrote scientific papers and presented our findings to the whole academy at the end of the year, which was quite the educational experience. For my senior year project, my group and I developed an ethanol- hydrogen peroxide alternative fuel. I was in charge of writing the results section of the paper, which thrilled me. My joy for science shined through in my paper, and as a result it was “the best result’s section the school has ever seen.” Hearing those words from my research mentor really furthered my love for science. It was not so much that I was “the best” but that I was recognized for my hard work and my …show more content…
I will not say it has always been positive, I’ve had my fair share of boring lessons and bad test scores. However, I think the positive experiences outweighed the negative experiences. Looking deeper, I think what made these experiences so positive was that I was engaged in learning. With the cookie dig, the lesson clicked because I was having fun with learning. Although my experience in high school was not necessarily fun, my research project interested me and I wanted to put forth the extra effort for my results section. I was engaged in learning, so as a result, I wanted to learn more.
Science has largely been a positive experience for me, both inside and outside of the classroom, and I look forward to continuing that trend in the future. Even after my formal science education, I will still be learning and engaged in the world around me. Not only do I hope to keep this passion alive for myself, but I hope one day I can use my passion for science and learning in my future classroom, so my future students can have the same positive experience with science that I have