Alas, we are on the downswing and can count the days before the curtain falls and we’re all back to our respective homes. Troubleshooting has been going very well. I can always appreciate when things go my way, but I have learned to have a growth mindset when it comes to the samples that give me difficulty. Was it the way I mixed the solution? Could I have possibly contaminated the sample? Was it the right temperature/primer set? What should be the next step for me? Although at first it was frustrating to not get a band that I wanted or figuring out why the reaction was not working, I learned to appreciate that it’s adding to my skillset. Throughout this week, I have also begun to work on my poster and really think of the collective knowledge that I have been gaining from my time here. At first it felt very daunting to try to boil down everything that I have done so far, but little by little I’ve been able to piece together a solid start. It really wasn’t until that I had to write about my experiment that I began to connect the dots to make the bigger picture clearer to not only myself, but to a broader audience. This has been particularly beneficial given that we will be presenting our research on Saturday at the Coastal Marine Life Center (CMLC). Being that a broad spectrum of people visit the CMLC it offers the challenge of being able to showcase our research in a more palatable format. One thing that may not come across many undergraduates, or at least be emphasized enough, is the obligation to be able to share our breadth of knowledge to the general mass. It’s great that what we are learning is enriching our own individual lives, but it will remain in an echo chamber unless we are able to dispense that knowledge to the community. That is not to say that I did not have my fair share of fun this week. I was able to go jellyfishing several times, along with being able to catch a very good low tide that gave us an opportune time to venture out into some very remote areas. Ultimately, I think what this week has really shown me is the value of being able to digest the research. Not only for our own interest (e.g., making a poster), but also to enrich the general society.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI’m a first-generation college student. I like enjoying the outdoors and finding new hiking trails. Archives
August 2019
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly