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When I began this project, I felt like I had to jump right in and get working on it, because there was no way I was going to have enough time to figure out all these science terms and what they meant. I laughed out loud at the thought of carrying around a camera and snapping science as it happens. I thought to myself, "That will never work. How am I ever going to find Newtons laws of motion or the changes of phase happening in everyday life?" To say the least, I was extremely naïve to the ways of science.
By the time the first week had gone by, I had over 100 pictures that I could easily have fit into my photo journal. By the time I finished the whole two months, I had taken over 300 pictures on my digital camera. I had no problem at all finding things to take pictures of, in fact, I got so into the photography aspect that I forgot it was even a project for school. More importantly, I suddenly had more of an interest in the class itself.
At the beginning of the semester, I was confused and bewildered by the lectures. I had no idea why I needed to know any of the information that was being presented in the class. What did I care if some old dead dude came up with some theory about crumpled up paper and a weight falling to the earth at the same time? What did this have to do with anything I cared about? At the time, I honestly thought that it didn't.
As I progressed through my photo journal, I realized what it had to do with my life. Science is everywhere. It is simply inescapable. If you try to run from it, you are just proving Newtons laws right. Nothing in life is without science in some form. Suddenly, I was actually really into the lessons in class. I liked the hands on stuff a lot more than the lectures, because I was actually learning something, rather than being told something. I like to discover things on my own. I personally believe that this gives me the opportunity to find my own way and I learn a lot more than if I am just given some notes and forced to regurgitate the information on a quiz or test.
The more I got into my photo journal and deciding which pictures to use (I had a limited amount of space on the website, or they'd probably all be up here), the more I realized that science isn't evil after all. It's not all about some dead guys who came up with something, in fact, that part really doesn't matter nearly as much as whether or not I can fit the meaning of what they said into my life.
The most interesting part of the project to me was how often I found myself completely in awe of what I was seeing. I still am, and I'm almost done with the photo journal. Today, for example, I saw a purple-headed pigeon on campus, and I stood there and watched him as it grabbed sticks and took them up to the overhang on Old Main and constructed its nest. That would have never fascinated me before this project. I was hardly ever fascinated by science at all before this project.
The question before me now is what am I going to do with this new found information. To be completely truthful, I thought this would be a class I would go to for the semester, do my best to pass, and then move on. Instead, I find that I have actually been changed by what has occurred. I cannot wait to show my kids the joys of the little things I've learned on this project. When they come to me and say, "Why is the sky blue?" I won't have to say, "If it was green, we wouldn't know when to quit mowing." Instead, I can actually break it down and explain it to them. I can tell them why clouds are white, or why the rainbow usually appears only after a rainstorm. I feel that this project has enabled me to share something with my children that I would not have been able to share before.
I have always enjoyed being able to increase my knowledge of different subjects. Science has never come easily to me. This photo journal not only taught me more than I have learned in any other science class, it honestly made me care about science for the first time in my life.
This project showed me that I could use science at school...
... At work...
... At home...
... Anywhere...
So what am I going to do with this knowledge? I'm going to keep adding to it, and work really hard to make sure that my kids and all my future students know that science doesn't suck.
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