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Ants and Caterpillar Projects
Probably my earliest memory of science was doing a couple of units on insects in the first grade. I remember doing an assembly to for our parents about ants and also doing a project on caterpillars. These experiences were really fun and I was proud of myself as I presented them. I kept my caterpillar project for many years after. -
Nature Walk
In 1st grade I had to go on a nature walk with one of my parents for my science class. I remember looking at the tadpoles in a pond with my dad and learning about how they turn into frogs. It was a really fun walk where I felt that I was learning in a fun, natural way. -
Baking
I don't remember much about science in second grade except that we did baking in our science unit. I loved it. It also didn't feel like I was doing 'science' so it felt like I was just having fun, which I enjoyed. -
Ms Deline and Alien Doctors
I had a wonderful teacher in 4th grade, Ms Deline. I remember her being very supportive of me. Although I cannot remember what exactly the purpose of this was, I do remember doing a science activity over the course of about a week where we pretended to be doctors and operated on large paper cut-outs of aliens. I loved pretending to be a doctor. Ms Deline told my mother one of the funny things that I said while pretending to be a doctor and it made me feel like I was hilarious. -
Science Museum
I remember going to a science museum in 4th grade. I particularly remember rock climbing on a giant wall of zits at the museum and having Ms Deline cheer me on. I also remember an exhibit with a giant fly that you could pull down to land on a plastic sandwich. The museum was very hands on and helped us to explore the world around us. I remember having a great time at the museum because I was given the freedom to explore whatever I wanted. -
Family Genetics
As a kid I remember hearing about how of all of the many cousins I had, all of them had blue eyes like me with the exception of my younger brother and my cousins who were adopted. Knowing this fact laid a good foundation for me of the study of genetics and dominant and recessive genes. -
Cousin Cameron
I have a cousin named Cameron who has Cerebral Palsy. He is about my same age, and consequently we played together a lot as children. I remember learning a lot about his disease as a kid and being very interested about it because it was very personal to me, as his cousin. -
Concave and Convex Spoons
In 4th grade I was eating breakfast and my mom and I discovered that your reflection is upside down on one side of the spoon and not the other. I thought it was interesting. I think I even brought it as my show-and-tell object. -
Wood Lice
I got to go to the forrest and explore wood lice with my class. I enjoyed it because I got to leave the classroom and go outside. Exploring is a great way to learn science. -
Menus
In about the 7th grade we had to make menus of made-up foods and then put the nutritional information in them. I enjoyed the activity but I do particularly remember not having enough time to complete it. The activity was done in class but the time allotted was rather short. -
Plant Project
In 7th grade we had to do a project in small groups where we made a detailed book about a number of different plants at our school. We had to list the scientific plant names, draw a picture of the plant, and describe lot of other information about the plant. I didn't enjoy the project because in my opinion, there were few things more boring than studying a plant. -
Science Projects
Also in 7th grade I remember two projects that I did. Firstly, I did a project on friction where I had a few different Hot Wheels tracks covered in different materials. I then had some second graders race cars on the track and explained how friction can cause the car to go faster or slower. I also did a Science Fair project where I heard about the concept of a 'half life' for the first time and was really confused. -
7th grade and Roller Coaster Making
In 7th grade I had a science teacher who was very knowledgeable but not very supportive. I felt like I was really bad at science in her class because I worked more slowly than the other students. To her credit, however, I do remember a lot of what we did in her class. We made our own roller coasters out of tubing to learn about kinetic and potential energy which was really fun. -
Flute and Washing Dishes
In school I had learned about how atoms expand or contract when it is hot or cold. I remember seeing personal applications of this in my life when my flute would get really cold outside and I would then have to re-tune it. Similarly, I remember my parents teaching me not to rinse the plates in cold water before putting them in the dishwasher as it would cause them to crack. I found these topics interesting because I could see their relevance and application in my own life. -
Appendix Taken Out
In the 9th grade I had my appendix taken out. It was a very painful experience. I learned a lot related to science in this experience. Firstly, I learned about the effects of morphine on the body as I was given morphine for pain. I also remember having a personal application to what I had learned in school about evolution and how the human body has an appendix, some argue, as a result of how we have evolved from apes. Unfortunately for me, the appendix has no human use and I suffered a lot. -
Pearl Harbor Demonstration
After watching the movie 'Pearl Harbor' I expressed to my Dad how it didn't make sense to me that people could die under water. In my mind, I thought that the ship beams that fell during Pearl Harbor wouldn't have touched the people in the Ocean because the beam would have pushed the water, not the people (i.e. the water was a barrier between the beam and the person). My dad took a form and dropped it in a glass of water to demonstrate how objects pierce through water. -
Passing Out
In 6th grade I passed out after I had taken a hot shower and had not eaten breakfast. Some years later, in 9th grade, I learned about homeostasis and how our body faints when the blood is draining from our head and our body is trying to make it easy to pump the blood back up to the brain (hence you fat down and the heart doesn't have to work as hard to push the blood upwards). I was really fascinated when I learned about what the body does to take care of itself. -
Smelting Museum
In 9th grade we went on an overnight field trip to a victorian era smelting town. We went to a smelting museum and to a science museum. I remember not having a clue what was going on. I enjoyed the museum but did not understand what smelting was. To this day I couldn't tell you what it is. I learned here that it is really important to give explanations in more kid-friendly terms. -
Piglet Dissection
In my High School biology class I got to dissect a piglet. I actually found the experience very interesting. It was neat to see the organs in real life instead of just on a diagram. -
Group 4 Project
In IB Biology we had to do a group project on the topic of drinks. My group decided to test out the effect that certain drinks have on memory. I remember buying the chemical Ginkgo-Biloba and having a few of my teachers drink it. We tested their memory abilities before and after they drank the chemical. The project was stressful but it was exciting to do experiments on something with a real-world application and to decide the direction of the project with my group. -
Ms. Sharma
In 10th, 11th, and 12th grade I had Ms. Sharma for my biology teacher. She was amazing. I felt good at biology in her class because she explained things so well. She drew really good diagrams in class and would show short Youtube videos that demonstrated the process she was teaching. I did really well in her class and even earned an award for improvement and effort in her IB Standard Level biology class. -
DNA Replication
In biology class I had to learn to draw a diagram of the DNA replication process from memory. I drew that diagram so many times that I could still draw a decent diagram of it today. Actually, just a few days ago I randomly remembered the word 'topoisomerase' as I had to use the word as I described the replication process. This taught me how influential repetition and diagrams are to me when learning science. -
Physical Science at BYU
I took the physical science 100 class at BYU for a general education credit. I had an amazing professor. The class was very challenging but I worked really hard and earned an A in the class. I remember being so impressed with some of the experiments I witnessed in the class. In particular, I remember him flashing a strobe light on a dripping faucet to show how water 'falls faster' the further it drops. I also learned about Newton's laws and actually understood there real world examples. -
Lindsey is pregnant
My older sister Lindsey was pregnant when I got home from my mission. She had downloaded an app on her phone to tell her the relative size of the baby every week. I loved hearing about and asking her about what size the baby was at the different stages of her pregnancy. The everyday objects that were used to state the size of the baby (i.e. an olive, a clenched fist, etc.) were easy to envision and understand. -
Science Teaching
I am now in a science teaching class at BYU. I have found science to be very interesting at different points in my life, mostly when I can see the personal application to what science principle I am learning. I am bit apprehensive about teaching science to young children because there is so much that I do not understand about science. However, I do think that it is a fun subject to teach to activate the natural curiosities that young children have.