Daily Archives: August 29, 2016

No science, no problem

Hi, SC200! My name is Meredith Herndon and I am a freshman at PSU.  I’m from Pittsburgh, PA, and am currently in DUS… AKA I don’t know what I want to do with my life.  What I do know, though, is that I am not a science person.  Biology was alright but it would have been better if my teacher liked teenagers; chemistry and all the elements made my head spin; the calculations and equations in physics were too confusing to remember; and lastly, environmental science was the only science I liked but I still wasn’t great at it.  I wish I liked science, I find it extremely interesting, but I’ve never found myself to be able to enjoy studying it.  I would be reading my textbook and zone out because of how bored I got.  Facebook and YouTube videos, such as this one, blow my mind and I love hearing about science, and reading about the new discoveries that are occurring in the world around us, but I couldn’t see myself dedicating my life to these topics.

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It is for these reasons that I am taking this course. When I was at NSO, scheduling my courses, I told my adviser that I was not interested in a lab science of any kind.  She told me to search around LionPath, and see if I could find anything.  After about 20 minutes of opening links and reading course descriptions, I found this class.  A second adviser came over to see my schedule and raved about this class. I quickly added it my schedule, and now I’m here: writing a blog post for “the most interesting course I will take” while very excited to see what this semester will entail!

 

Science is eh

Hello everyone, I’m MacKenzie French. I’m a freshman from Manhattan Beach, California. Yes, I came 2,590 miles from home to go to this landlocked school. But, so far it has been the best decision of my life. I am currently undecided, but thinking of heading towards a business and psychology major; both of which have not much to do with science. When I was planning my schedule with my advisor at NSO she gave me a few suggestions for Gen Ed classes. After reading the description for this class, I decided it was the most interesting.

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I have grown up taking science classes, did well and never really minded them, although I don’t see my future career as a science major. Senior year I took AP environmental science, which was intriguing to learn about the effects of the natural and unnatural processes that occur in our environment, but it was mainly memorizing facts and being tested on vocabulary instead of a class that engaged me in a meaningful way. I appreciate scientists and all that they accomplish, and I feel that this class will do a good job furthering that. I love to think about how the world was created, how our mind and medicines work, and just about every single topic on the possible blog topics list. I am excited to analyze and discuss science in a controversial way and challenge myself to think harder and more critically.

Why can’t science just leave me alone?

Science 200 I hope you’re not like all my past science courses. I’m Max Kesner and I would say I have a love/hate relationship with science, except for the fact that there is no love involved at all. I went to a high school ran by religious brothers named Marianists. Classes were almost always excruciatingly boring. Freshman year I took an oceanography course. Teaching said course was a Marianist brother who had the most monotone voice ever, which created a bit of a problem for me. I’m not in this picture, but this is what everyday for four years looked like for me.

Bro Joe Chaminade Lecture

I got detention a couple of times for falling asleep and so did my peers. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the class. Sophomore year biology I had a teacher with a great personality who just couldn’t teach to save his life. He was new to the school and couldn’t really adapt to the way things worked there, so the all the students ended up teaching themselves from the textbook. My junior year chemistry class was different. Instead of getting detention for sleeping, I got detention for using a match inappropriately. I had lit a match, but my lab partner never turned the gas for the Bunsen burner on, so I blew the match out and we tried again.

This would have helped me out a lot.

My teacher didn’t care about the reason I wasted a match, he was dead set on giving me detention. Also, I just really never understood chemistry. Senior year physics was the only science class I can say I ever enjoyed. The entire class was formula based, which was great for me because I’m more math oriented.  Except for physics, I don’t like science and majoring in it seems like an absolute nightmare.

Anyways, the reason I’m taking SC 200 is because I didn’t want to take any other general education classes. I was stuck between SC 200 and a meteorology course. Luckily, I picked SC 200. I say luckily because after sitting through two lectures I can tell it’s going to be an interesting class. I won’t fall asleep because Andrew’s voice is not in the least monotone and the class doesn’t have labs so it seems like I have no reason to get into trouble.  I’m looking forward to the rest of the semester, and the fact that science can’t get me detention anymore.

Science… You Suck

Hi, my name is Jackson Hope and I am currently a freshman from Northern New Jersey.  I am entering Penn State as an undecided student with hopes to pursue a career in the field of business.  I have a huge passion for sports as I was a three sport athlete in high school. I participated in baseball, basketball, and football.  I am a huge fan of the New York Giants and Yankees and I was even lucky enough to play a game at MetLife stadium and get the same turf on my cleats as Odell Beckham Jr. I also have a passion for food, especially a nice medium rare steak.

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My sister is a pre med major at Syracuse University and every time she gets into a conversation with my parents about Organic Chemistry or the charge of Magnesium, I ultimately end up leaving the room in a worse mood. I understand that there are scientists out there inventing new medicine to cure diseases and I am extremely fortunate for that, however, I get bored to tears when thinking about the periodic table, looking through microscopes, and I find it gross pulling out the small intestine of a cow. IT’S JUST NOT FOR ME!

Although some parts of science make me want to gouge my eyes out, there are other pieces that interest me.  For example, the exit speed of a ball departing the bat of Josh Donaldson, a slugger for the Toronto Blue Jays. Or, how fast LeBron James sprints down the court to block a shot click here. These are the sort of things I find interest in, and I am hoping this course will open up my mind to a completely different kind of thinking. I want to think critically and as the years goes on I want to start creating conversations and raising questions about new topics.  I have extremely high expectations for myself and this course and am excited to expand my critical thinking ability.

Frustrating High School Science Teachers

Hello SC200, my name is Kyle Finnerty.  I am from Ridgewood, NJ and I’m a freshman here at Penn State.  Both of my parents attended Penn State so it was an easy decision for me to come here.  I’m currently undecided on my intended major, but I am leaning towards something in business.  I’ve never really had a serious problem with science and enjoyed biology freshman year of high school.  However, my sophomore and junior year of high school I was stuck taking Chemistry and Physics with two teachers who were extremely frustrating to be in class with.  They did the bare minimum teaching by the book and never created any interest in the actual content of the class for us students.  I would venture to guess that there many other students in this SC200 class that had a similar experience in high school.

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I am taking this course because it seemed like a good fit for me.  My advisor told me at orientation that this was a class where a non-science loving student could still be interested and enjoy going to class everyday.  She also mentioned that students really enjoy the teacher and after a couple of classes I can see why.  I am really interested in sports and how science is a factor in aspects of each game.  I often view ESPN’s sports science segments because they are short and interesting.  The one I chose to paste in this blog breaks down the differences between LeBron James and Steph Curry.  This is especially relevant now after this years thrilling 7 game NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cavs; here is the link.  I am not majoring in anything related to science, but I am looking forward to doing some abstract thinking about interesting topics in this course.

 

Science Blows My Mind

Hi Everyone! My name is Summer Carson and I am currently a junior here at Penn State. I was born and raised right here in State College, Happy Valley. While attending State High, the local high school, I realized science was not for me. It also did not help that I am terrible at math and unfortunately science and math go hand in hand.

I am majoring in Recreation Park Tourism Management, with a community and commercial focus. With whatever job I land in the future science will most likely not be required. I enrolled in this course because everyone at Penn State has to take at least 6 credits of science, and this class was highly recommended. I never planned on being a science major because science and math have never been my strong suit, and why would I major in something I am not good at? Even though I am not good at science I do find it very interesting and intriguing!

Science truly does blow my mind. For example, I was doing something so simple as scrolling through Facebook and science still managed to amaze me. An interesting video about the ocean and its depths came up posted by the Riphah International University, check it out!

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What even is black nothingness?

Hey guys!

My name’s Grace Leibow and I’m from right outside of Pittsburgh, Pa. Since I’m the most indecisive person I know, right now I’m undecided. I have a lot of different interests, including business, public relations, journalism, and french, but basically the only thing I know for certain is that I want to study anything that doesn’t relate to science. I may sound like I’m overreacting, but I swear I just can’t stand it.

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It’s honestly nothing personal, I’ve just always always always hated it. I feel like it has to do with the fact that my science teachers have consistently been pretty awful. I know there are a few good ones in there, but for the most part, they’ve never quite convinced me that rocks, atoms, and black nothingness that I will never fully understand is interesting enough to form a career around. Also, I tend to overthink things, and so when I need to consider stuff that I can’t possibly wrap my head around, like the universe for example, I get pretty overwhelmed and confused. However, I still think that learning about space and our world is interesting, I just couldn’t see myself studying it.

I chose this class because I really needed a science Gen Ed, but like everyone else, I needed the least science-y class I could find. My temporary advisor told me this was one of the most interesting classes ever and had such an awesome professor who genuinely cares about science, and just wants to instill in students an appreciation of it. So, I immediately signed up. When I first looked over the schedule handed out, I got so excited to learn about all of those questions. A flexible class like this, with no real textbook, but simply fascinating, student-assisted discussion is honestly the best type of environment for me. I can’t wait to spend my Tuesdays and Thursdays with everyone in the best class of the week!

I woke up like this

praiseteamAfter a long well earned Sunday afternoon nap, I decided I felt inspired enough to start out on the first blog of our super fly science course. My name is Hannah Welty and I am undecided in just about everything. The only few things I am entirely sure about are that I am an absolute disaster in everything math and science and the fact that Harambe is innocent. (thank you to the fearless texter that kicked this off day 1 of class last week)

Like I said, I know very little in the fields of math and science. I’ve held on just barely in math classes all through high school as I am sure a lot of people have. However, I am positive that no one experienced a high school science timeline quite like mine.

Ninth grade Bio started out well until my very pregnant teacher (for the 4th time in 4 years) dipped out at least twice a week for her appointments and every test day to spare herself the stress of it all. My tenth grade chemistry class was led by a part jedi-in-training part acting prodigy; I’ll spare you the gorey details on that one. As I moved into eleventh grade physics I worked alongside a teacher that most definitely was the reincarnate of every bad teacher that ever lived. I only seemed to really grasp a science class as a senior in Anatomy and Physiology. I had every intention of joining a class very similar to that of senior year in hopes of a relaxing and fulfilling science class. After putting a million pounds of effort into who seemed to be the most put together 18 year old I’ve ever met, my NSO counselor of the day moved onto me: the most unsure person I have ever met. The only real advice I remember receiving that day was when I brought up that SC200 looked like an interesting class. “Everyone really seems to like this guy…” she explained to me as she formed my schedule with ‘ease’. A good teacher makes a world of a difference and can literally create the whole learning experience. ***Shoutout to Mr. Jon McKay my high school sociology and american survey teacher*** That was plenty to convince me and here we are! I can’t wait to get deeper into this course and begin answering the questions that pop into everyone’s heads late at night or 2 hours into a hot shower. Those are the questions I live for…

Here’s a link to one of my favorite things in the entire world: laughter

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Hey I’m Rachel, I’m a senior majoring in telecommunications and minoring in English. I’m from Berwyn, PA and I love all things pop culture and travel.  The closest thing I do to scientific research is watching Grey’s Anatomy and the Discovery Channel.

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I have been surrounded by science people for the last two years as my roommates have been veterinary, biology, and forensic science majors. However, science is just not really my thing. I understand the basic science behind telecommunications technology and bits and pieces I have picked up from my roommates however, it’s not really my thing.  The periodic table doesn’t exactly capture my interest and I’m not a math fan either so I don’t relish learning equations.

That said, I know that science is incredibly important and I should make an effort to be aware of current events and scientific discoveries. Science is at the forefront of our economy and plays a massive part in our every day lives. I am hoping that in taking this class I will learn more about science today and make keeping up with new discoveries a habit. I am taking this class to try and make that happen…. and to fulfill my general education requirements so I can graduate (that’d be great).

Dear Science, it’s not you it’s me

Hi everyone, my name is Anthony Calligaro and I am from Narberth, Pennsylvania (right outside of Philadelphia). For those of you who don’t know where Narberth is; I lived next to Lower Merion High School, where Kobe Bryant went to school. Here is a video of Kobe’s top 10 plays from high school (I also like basketball).

I am a Freshman and when I attended New Student Orientation I was enrolled in the Eberly College of Science to major in Mathematics. For some reason, on that second day of Orientation, I decided to go into the Division of Undergraduate Studies to explore all of my options. As of now, however, I am aiming to major in something within the business school.

Clearly I haven’t mentioned science yet for a reason. From biology to chemistry to physics, it was just one headache to another. I learned that the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, the periodic table is impossible to memorize, and I’ll never know how to correctly perform an experiment. The only part of science that kept my attention was terrible science jokes:

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I chose this class because I’ve heard great things about it and that the class actually makes science interesting. So why not give it a shot? Based on some of the topics on the schedule, SC200 seems like it will be a very entertaining and fun class.

AH! the element of surprise

Hey SC 200!

My name is Danielle Sobel and I’m from Rockville, Maryland which is just outside of Washington, D.C. I’m majoring in Journalism, I love old Taylor Swift (‘Fearless’ is the best album, obviously), and I love thunderstorms.

I’ve always been envious of my friends who really understood science, because I never did. I grew up getting pretty good grades in science classes…until I got to sophomore year Chemistry. I tried memorizing the Periodic Table. I tried learning Stoichiometry (I still don’t really know what it is if we’re being honest). I even tried to wrap my head around molar mass but it just wasn’t happening. I didn’t count out science completely though. I took Anatomy later on in high school and I even dabbled in Biology a little bit. I was successful, but still frustrated. It has always been hard for me to conceptualize the classroom “scientific”  topics and accept the fact that there is only one correct answer and only one way to think about something.

When working on my schedule before coming to campus in the fall, I was trying to find a thought provoking, but not a “pull-your-hair-out”, type of science class to fulfill my Gen Ed. I read about SC 200 and discussed with my adviser about the possibility of taking the course. We decided based on the description of it that it would be a good fit for me.

Even though the semester has just started, I am confident that I will continue be pleasantly surprised by what this course has to offer. I am so intrigued to discuss questions about the world I have never even though of before and I can’t wait to hear the perspectives of everyone.

 

Definitely Not A Science Major

Hi everybody, my name is Joe Garrett, I am from Doylestown, PA and I am Senior majoring in Security and Risk Analysis.

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All throughout middle/high school science was never my strongest subject but I did find it interesting. I took a BiSci class during my freshman year and then I knew for sure that a science degree was not in my future. I always found the more technical aspects of science to be more difficult such as chem and bio. That is why I believe that this class will work perfectly for me. I had heard that this class was “science without the science” which I took as “science without the technical parts of science”. This class seems to be different from most science classes because we are forced to think in a new way and apply science to our everyday lives, not just in a lab or on paper. I am excited to learn in this class which is something I usually don’t say for a science class. Here is an interesting video behind the science of dogs.

 

And here’s Mr. Mackey because South Park is the best

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Science, It’s not you, it’s me ….Nah, jk, it’s definitely you.

 

Hi my name is Stephanie.

I am a sophomore majoring in Political Science with a double in Women’s Studies and minoring in African American Studies. Needless to say, I am a very humanities and social sciences type of girl. I’m not going to proclaim I HATE science per say, but definitely hate science class, because It doesn’t interests me. I think the last time I had a genuine interests in anything ‘science-y’ was when we got to watch this guy in class:

Image result for bill nye the science guy

So that was what? Elementary school.

Let me elaborate. I like debate, open decorum, questions with no wrong answers, personal narratives and other things that have a direct connection to the lives of people. So the sort of work that I did in my science classes never really intrigued me; studying of genes, laws of physics, chemical elements and etc, yuck. I tend to, like most people, excel in the things I am interested in. For that reason I’ve always been really good at subjects similar to my majors and struggle to grasp scientific and math concepts.

In light of this post. here’s a video (hilariously) describing my problem with science:

With that said, however I do recognize the extreme importance of science. Often I am saddened by the terrible way science is taught in the United States. HERE is an article that pretty much sums up my qualms about science education in school.

So that brings me to SC 200. I took the class because the description read to me that this class will foster an appreciation for science for “non-science related majors” and that’s what I am hoping to gain by the end of the semester in a nutshell. I am not looking forward to learning something specific. I just need to not be so afraid/intimidated by the idea of taking science classes anymore, and I hope that is what this course can do for me.

Science is not my thing

Hello everyone! My name is Celine Degachi and I’m from Brooklyn, New York. I’m a freshman here at Penn State and I am very, very undecided. Nonetheless, I know that science is not for me. To be quite honest, I don’t completely hate science but it just has never been my thing. I think it can be very interesting but at the same time so painfully boring. I think this is strongly because of the teachers I had throughout all of my life. They were all awful and hence contributed to my dislike for science. The only type of science I can really tolerate/enjoy is anything about space since I actually find it pretty interesting.

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I unfortunately Morty, am not breaking the cycle and rising above.

Anyways, I decided to take this course after talking to my advisor at orientation. She suggested it to me since I told her I didn’t want anything to do with science and after reading the course description I immediately signed up to take it and I must say, I’m glad I did.

Here’s a funny science article that I came across. The sarcasm in the article reflects the way I feel about science.

Here’s another meme just because I love The Office.

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I Don’t Like Science Either

Hello! My name is Lauren Messing and I am a freshman in the class of 2020. Currently, I am undecided in my major, however, I have decided that it will not consist of anything science. This course was the perfect fit for someone like me. In the words of my advisor, “it is science without the science”. I couldn’t agree more.

All throughout my past education, I have taken classes that are your basic, informational, bland science courses. From physics, to chemistry, to biology, and (unfortunately) much more, I began to dislike science one course at a time. My teachers in the past were very textbook; they followed the guideline of the class exactly without ever adding their own spark of interest. This allowed for a cause and effect theme to occur. The teacher was uninteresting, therefore, the students were uninterested. Did this directly cause my hatred? No, but it most definitely did not illuminate an excitement for the subject within me. Now, I have signed up for SC200 in desperate hope that it will be different. The syllabus for this course seemed to embody a different, untaught version of science. This caught my attention. The class questions the questions that nobody thought to question (sorry for the tongue-twister). “Are drugs better than teachers?” “Are males toxic?” Who would have thought these questions would be of topic in a science class? I am super excited to dive in and find the answers to the many diverse questions/topics we will be studying throughout the semester; and I can honestly say that is the first time I have ever said that about a science related class.

I am a huge sports fan; basketball, football, volleyball- you name it , I love it. For the past four years, I played volleyball competitively and was very successful in my high school/club career. Sports helped shape the person I am today. They made me in touch with my competitive side, something that will help me succeed throughout my life. After playing under many different coaches, I have learned that there is a science behind every part of the game. Whether it be the placement of the serve, the velocity of the ball, or the play chosen for that exact moment; there is a scientific reason why we chose to do that. Below, I have attached an article that depicts different pieces of physics that are relevant to the game of volleyball. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (:

http://www2.hesston.edu/Physics/Volleyball/paper.htm

 

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Its just not my thing

Hi everyone, my name is TJ Garvin and I’m from Doylestown, Pennsylvania and went to La Salle College High School. I’m a freshman currently in the division of undergraduate studies yet aspiring to be in Smeal to major in business finance. I am not a science major primarily because of my high school biology class which was not very fun at all. Also,  I’ve never really been the most cautious guy in a lab setting. I like interacting and learning about people rather than performing tests on specific elements. However it is for that exact reason why I am taking SC200! I’m intrigued to learn about how science can impact all of humanity and explain seemingly unexplainable things!

I like sports and love the science behind it. I am really trying to figure out why the Eagles cant win a Super Bowl, so I could really use some help on that. Wentz baby! I think its essential to know at least a little science as a foundation to have a successful sports team. I enjoy watching the facts from the “Sports Science” segment on ESPN, but I really hate the guy who hosts it, click here for his twitter.

 

Wentz

I’m really excited for this SC200 class and cant wait to learn more about how science affects our everyday life!

It’s not you, it’s me…but mostly you

Hello, my name is Lydia!  I am a freshman from Connecticut and I am currently in the Smeal College of Business here at Penn State.  I, like many of you, have had a rough relationship with science over the past few years and I am very excited to see what this course has to offer.

While trying to finalize my schedule, I began searching the science classes for one to fulfill my general education requirement (like the majority of people in this class).  Through personal experience in high school, I did not have a desire to know most of the topics we were learning about in my science classes.  Surprisingly, not once have I had to determine if a rock was igneous or sedimentary since my freshman year Earth Science class.  Likewise, I haven’t had to list out the bones in the human body since Biology three years ago.  I understand the importance of knowing these things about the way the body and the world around us works, but it’s delivery has been so boring.  

So, when I had to select a class, I couldn’t find one that didn’t remind me of my previous lousy experiences.  When I came across SC200,  I chose it right away because I was super excited to finally have a new, more interesting science experience.  The focus on discussion and critical-thinking instead of labs and facts appealed a lot to me.  In the end, I decided to take this class because I enjoy the idea that the students can have a say in what we learn about taught by a professor who wants us to learn.

Due to my poor experience in science from middle school to high school, I was never interested enough to continue to study and major in it.  Since I never had a creative and thought-provoking experience in my science classes, I preferred to major in business in order to use those skills.  I know scientists use these skills as well, but the classes I took all revolved around facts.  Even though I will not major in science, I look forward to taking this class because I hope it can improve my critical thinking skills while learning about the interesting ideas found through science.  If science is taught the right way, it can be very interesting to students and can easily become their favorite subject.  Since science is not a very common major these days, I was thinking if the way science is being taught in schools has affected the “reputation” of the science major.  This article raises this question: Why are science majors decreasing in popularity, and should we high school educators accountable for this?  From past experience, I think the way science is taught in schools makes it seem boring, but it is actually very cool.  Although each school has strict curriculum, teachers should give students more of a chance to communicate what they find interesting and want to learn about.  Since that is how this class is taught, I am hopeful that this class will give me a renewed sense of appreciation and curiosity for science.

I am very excited about what this class has to offer.  I will continue to do research on subjects that relate to my everyday life in order to see if we can discuss them during class.  I enjoyed listening to some of the topics brought to attention in class.  To me, one of the most interesting (yet not as important) topics is the flossing controversy. Here is an article by the BBC questioning whether flossing really does provide benefits.  I am very excited to discuss this topic more in class.

I look forward to this semester and also to learn about the interesting and important topics!

Picture Link: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/06/1e/c4/061ec4988561080f82677b4bfa9cfde6.jpg

I Like Science, I Just Don’t Get It

Hi, My name is Shannon Hughes and I am a freshman from right outside of Philadelphia. I’ve always liked science. In fact my favorite class in high school was senior year Physiology, where we learned how the human body works. I thought the dissections we did were so interesting and I always participated in class discussions no matter how confused I may have been. I like science…I just don’t get it. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring all the muscles of a real-live (dead) cat, but I could never understand how the muscles moved, how nerve impulses worked, or the difference between muscle and fascia. In previous years, the laws of physics and chemistry made no sense to me, but the experiments were always cool. I like the fun facts of science, just not what’s behind them. This class is perfect for me because it will be filled with “fun facts” and although we may delve into the reasons behind them, we will do so in a way that will not leave me completely lost in the end.

 

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In Physio last fall, I did a presentation on the polio virus and how it affects muscles and one article I read mentioned that now doctors are trying to create a way to treat brain tumors with the virus. I found it so interesting how someone somewhere had this idea to stick a deadly virus into someone else’s brain to kill an even deadlier illness. This crazy idea actually works now. I have come to learn that this method has been progressing immensely and you can read more about it here.

What even is science?

Hello everyone!

My name is Hannah and I am a junior. I am majoring in architecture which means that I don’t get much sleep during school… Architecture Major

I am also an RA in east so if any East freshmen need a person to study with, just let me know!

I joined this class because the course description reminded me of this episode of John Oliver that perfectly captures the reason why I have such issues with science. I have attached the clip below. John Oliver discusses why media outlets report untrue information regarding science and scientific studies. I find it difficult to trust science when there are so many poorly executed “scientific studies” I want to learn how to distinguish between the accurate and the misguided.

I am not a science major because science is way too complicated and way too flawed for me. I am an artist. I like to create and design. I like to use the right side of my brain, not the left. I am not completely against science because I am really interested in social sciences. I love to learn about how people act and think. That is something that is very important when it comes to designing public spaces in architecture. I absolutely HATE anything that has to do with space. It freaks me out. I got sick watching the movie Gravity. I will never go into space even if someone gave me a million dollars.

Left and Right Brain

I am really excited to take this course and maybe have a better appreciation for everything science has done for us.

Everyone should really watch this clip! It’s 20 minutes long but it’s worth it! John Oliver on scientific studies

Submerged In Science

Hello, my name is Hugo Almeida and I’m from North Jersey. I’m currently a DUS freshman with specific intentions of majoring in Finance. I’m taking this class because I wanted something that was real-world oriented and involved various current events that range from across the globe. I was looking to fill my schedule with one last science Gen ED course and after looking through just about every possible option, I stumbled upon, “Science In Our World”. The title itself immediately attracted me with the possibility that this could fit exactly what I was looking for, potentially making connections between science and different aspects of our everyday life and the world. So seeing it as my best option I enrolled hoping this was exactly what it turned out to be. I was not a fan of my high school science classes therefore I had absolutely no intention of being a science major. On top of that, the fact that my whole family is business may have something to do with it, but not complaining because numbers is much more my stronger suit. The important factor with this specific course that separates it from other science Gen-Eds is that it is aimed at non-science majors so that being said, I’m really looking forward to all that’s in-store with this class.

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Something about me is that I have a real passion for the ocean and all of it’s content, so for me something interesting is this article here. I love learning of unique random facts and I’m excited to understand how science relates to such vast things that we overlook.

Science is NOT for me

Hi everyone! My name is Lauren Hile and I am from State College. (Long way from home, right?) I am a freshman in the college of communications, studying journalism. I chose Penn State, not because it is so close to home (this is my least favorite part about it), but because we have an amazing communications department, and my parents work here, so I couldn’t really justify tuition elsewhere.

I’ve never really liked science or math (even though my mom is a math teacher and my dad is an engineer). I would much rather write a paper or learn a different language than figure out math or science questions. I had ok-ish science teachers throughout middle school and high school, but none of them ever stuck out as my favorite teachers. I didn’t really get much out of the classes that I could use in everyday life, as opposed to my English or Government classes. I’m taking SC 200 for the obvious reason that I need a gen ed, but I am really looking forward to this class. I really like how Andrew will teach the class things that we personally want to know and are curious about. In my past science classes, especially chemistry, I was told that it was the most important thing I would ever learn in my life (which is hard to believe, considering I don’t remember any of it now and have no use to remember any of it anyway), so I like how this class is set up so that while it might not be the most important lessons we learn here at Penn State, we can still use what we learn and actually apply it to our lives.

That being said, I think the world around us is beautiful and amazing. I love the outdoors so I would love to know more about ecosystems and the environment. Here  is an article of the four ecosystems found in Pennsylvania. The picture below is of the falls at Rickets Glenn State Park, my favorite place to hike.

5896198-Delaware_Falls_at_Ricketts_Glen_Ricketts_Glen_State_Park

Try Fitting A Round Peg in a Square Hole

Hi! My name is Ajay Shethna and I don’t think I will ever be a science major. Try fitting a round peg in a square hole and you’ll understand the relationship between me and science. However I’ve always been interested in the questions science can answer and its ability to explain the natural world, I like that science is always about speculation because nothing is permanent. Likewise while there are so many questions that humanity has answered there are twice as many questions that we have not and science provides an outlet for those answers.

Image result for galaxy image

Yet I still can’t be a science major because when I take the classes and learn the lessons it becomes less about what questions do I want answered by science and more about learning an endless amount of facts that usually just go right over my head. However SC200 provides exactly what im looking for in a class about science, its less about fact retention and memorization and more about the limit of our classes creativity in what we choose to talk about. I feel like thats an amazing concept because it gives me the ability to think scientifically even though im not looking at formulas or calculating for molar mass. This is a link to something I have always been interested in, this link talks about the formation of a dark matter galaxy and I personally am interested in how dark matter is created and how an entire galaxy could be created out of dark matter. Im looking forward to working with all of you in class!

Science is Known for Crushing Hopes and Dreams

Hello everyone. My name is Abigail Edwards, and I am from Las Vegas, Nevada. I chose to attend Penn State because I love the campus and I was captivated by the amount of school spirt. I am currently a freshman and I am undecided, but I am interested in International Political Economics. In high school I was a cheerleader, on the swim team, and on the debate team. Although I will not be continuing cheer or swim here at PSU, I would love to continue debating. I was a part of Lincoln-Douglas debate and I wrote and performed a speech called an Oratory. Here you will find two links, one to an example of an Oratory Here and the other to an example of a LD debate Here.

I am taking Science 200 because science has never been my thing. I always did well but I hated every second of it. I have always been a hard worker but when my chemistry class was the first B I received in my life, I got a little discouraged in the world of science. Not to mention my teacher of this chemistry class told me that “Chemistry was known for crushing hopes and dreams”, if that doesn’t put a damper on your day I don’t know what will. So my sophomore self then decided that science was not for me.

Although Science will be the death of me, this course looked less painful. The topics we are studying are interesting topics, for example are drugs better than teachers, are animals gay, and where does evil come from. These are only three of the many topics that will actually keep my attention. I have very high expectations for my performance in this class.

Initial blog post

Hi everyone, my name is Charlotte and I’m from Montgomery NJ. I’m a freshman and right now my major is special education but recently I’ve thought about switching to a different major. I chose education because I wanted to do something where I felt like I was helping people, and after working here for the past few summers I developed an interest in helping people with special needs. One of the reasons I chose education was actually because I knew it didn’t involve any challenging math or science courses. It’s not that I don’t like science, I’m just not good at it. I was never able to grasp any of the concepts and I would always get confused about the math that was involved

fuck-you-science

BUT in science’s defense, the science teaching staff in my school are horrible. I did take one year of science that I liked, which was environmental science. That is why I chose to take this class, because although hesitant about science the course description sounded interesting so I thought i would give science another chance!

Science, a Love and Hate Relationship

Hi everyone! My name is Isaac and I’m a junior here at Penn State, just transferring in after two years at a small school by here called Juniata. I’m studying Social Studies Secondary Education with a minor in Sociology and Special Education.  I’m taking this course because there are a few pre reqs I need to get before I can graduate, a science course included. I’m not a science because, although I enjoy the more philosophical science this course has to offer, I always found that classes such as Chemistry or Biology were worthless for my life as a History teacher.

The most science I’ve learned in life is from this guy –>

 

BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL!

 

I wanted to add this awesome science clip for you guys to see, so click here