Looking Back at the Inner Scientific Me

Looking Back at the Inner Scientific Me

       Whenever I hear the word "Science", I always think about my time spent in Elementary, Middle, and High school classrooms. Science has been one of my favorite subjects in school ever since I can remember. It was a time in which I was able to engage into learning kinesthetically which is my primary choice of learning. I have not taught science before, but that is one of my goals by the end of this semester. I want to be able to successfully teach science with complete confidence in explaining factual information to students through the use of creative, eye-catching experiments. 

       In Elementary School is where I gained the love for science experiments. Whenever we had the opportunity to engage into an experiment, my teacher used to reinforce classroom management and focus with regards to the science experiment by saying "Put on your thinking caps" or "Are your thinking caps on?" As children, we were overly excited to put on our imaginary thinking caps and I truly believed that it helped for us to think outside of the box. One science experiment that I remember adoring was the butterfly life cycle. In third grade, my teacher had purchased larva caterpillars and gave one to every student in the class. We raised the caterpillars and recorded our data every day of the caterpillars life in a journal. Once that caterpillars had become butterflies, we even had a celebration in which we went outside and one by one our teacher let us release our butterflies to venture on their journey. I also liked doing the basic battery, wire, and light bulb circuit to see how many light bulbs we could actual manage to get to turn on. 

         In Middle School, I remember working primarily with microscopes for the majority of my science experiments. Most of the experiments revolved around examining cells up close. The first experiment had to do with the parts of a cell in an onion skin. This experiment made it easy for students to identify the parts of the cell and what they look like. The second microscope experiment was when the students had to pluck a strand of their own hair to look at the root of the hair particle. It was pretty interesting to see the exact components of one single strand of hair. The last experiment was when we put foot dye in the stem of a white carnation than examined the discoloring in the petals and stem using the microscope. By using the microscope, we were able to look at the world different. Below is a video that briefly shows what the first experiment looked like:

Onion Cell Microscope Slide Experiment

          High School is where science became more complicated in subjects like biology and chemistry. I hated dissecting things in high school. It was very disturbing for me and it made me nauseous, but I enjoyed working with chemicals and looking at chromosomes in High School. It was interesting to see how everything folded together to transform into something new in the world. My favorite experiment in High School was when I helped replant the school garden and we recycled water bottles by using them as a chain system for flower pots along the school windows. We did this activity for Earth Day and it was a relieving feeling to know that we can recycle something as easy as water bottles for a different purpose. Below is a video of how we created the hanging bottle garden:

How to Make a Hanging Disposable Bottle Garden

         With that said, I look forward to learning more about science and how to teach science effectively to students while gaining their attention and interest into the subject. Let's see what types of science experiences that await in the future!