Hello SC 200! My name is Molly Tompson and I am a freshman here at Penn State. I am in the Smeal College of Business and plan on majoring in marketing. When I went to NSO, I was unsure of what courses to take. My adviser routinely passed out sheets of paper with popular general education courses on them, informing us about the gen-ed requirements at Penn State. Classes were mostly filled up–I was at the last NSO–and I was slightly overwhelmed. When my adviser told us that we had to take a science course, I started to panic. While I loved biology in high school and actually excelled in it, I knew there were no more biology classes open. I examined the list about twenty times, narrowing down my options and decided that SC 200 sounded like it would be an interesting class to take–and nothing like Physics or Chemistry, which I detested.

I never thought of science as being taught “wrong” in schools until Dr. Andrew Read suggested it on the first day of class. Perhaps that is why I am not a science major. School made me hate science. I would stay up for hours at night, trying desperately to study and understand vector versus scalar concepts,  ray-diagrams of reflected light and ionic and covalent bonds. Math is not one of my strongest subjects, and math and science always seemed to go hand in hand (except for biology…rarely, at least). Science is cool. Science explains our entire world, our entire history. But I am not a science major because I do not want to stress myself out over memorizing formulas for acceleration or motion or momentum; I do not want to attempt to describe the relationship between atoms and calculate numbers that stem from concepts that are well over my head.

Some of the most interesting elements of science that I can think of are studying outer space, planets, stars, black holes, and the universe, in general. It is fascinating to me that there is so much that is unknown; that we as human beings have made what feels like so much progress, yet we are so far from knowing everything.

Black Holes

I also love to learn about prehistoric times. Dinosaurs and all of the species that inhabited the world before humans are of utmost interest to me. Animals that thrived before ice ages or died off during the meteor that struck earth so long ago; these are such interesting topics.

So, in a nutshell, this is why I am currently in SC 200. I am looking forward to a great semester!

Hi everyone,

My name is Kateryna Okhrimchuk, but most people just call me Cathy! I was born in Lviv, Ukraine but have been living in New York City for almost 15 years now. I’m a freshman here at Penn State and I did summer session so I’m extremely happy to be somewhat ahead. I’ve been playing lacrosse for most of my life (and hopefully will join the club team), love to work out, and love R&B and rap. I’m currently in the Division of Undergraduate Studies but hope to switch to Smeal as a Finance Major with a minor in either Econ or Political Science.

To be completely honest, the reason why I’m taking this course is because I needed to fulfill a general education science credit. Classes like biology, chemistry, and physics scare me, so I was looking for a class that wasn’t too difficult and didn’t require me to memorize formulas or do scary science math. When I was reading the description of SC200 on LionPath, I was extremely interested in the fact that it was more about getting you to think than to figure out how to find the velocity of a moving car. One of my friends also took the class last year, and just like me, he hates science. He told me that he really enjoyed it and that Andrew’s accent was really cool, so I thought “why not?”. I also really appreciated the fact that the class started at 1:35 PM, giving me plenty of time to sleep in and look like this:

                                                     :

The reason why I’m not planning on being a science major is because I’ve felt really excluded my entire life from the “smart science kids”. I’ve noticed that teachers always favored the students that did well in their classes, which was never me in anything having to do with cells, molecules, and chemicals by the way, so I’ve never really had the chance to love it. When we were looking through microscopes for bio labs in the 7th grade, I was always the kid in the back that let the other guy do it, and when we were doing chemistry labs sophomore year of high school the teacher assigned me to write down the results because I just wasn’t as good or as fast at completing the task as the other people in my group. I definitely don’t hate science, I just feel like I’ve never been welcomed or given a chance at learning it well. On the flip side, though, I’ve always excelled in subjects like Math, Economics, History, and English, so when teacher’s in those classes liked me and gave me chances to do the subjects and voice what I thought, it made me love the class even more, so I tried hard and succeeded in those subjects, while I’m sure other people felt left out. It’s unfair, but it happens.

I’m not going to let my past bad experiences stop me from enjoying this class, though. While I was going through the syllabus and the things that we were going to talk about, I found so many interesting topics that really made you think about the world and how things around us work. One that was especially interesting to me was the question of Where does evil come from? When I tried to Google it, only the biblical answers like this one came up, but is there an actual scientific answer?

I never wrote a blog before. To be completely honest, I never even thought of writing a blog before. Now that I am, though, I am pretty excited. Let me introduce myself. I’m Katharine Marie Sayer, but most people call me Katie. Well, everyone does. So you can call me Katie, Kate, or even just K if you have such a strong desire to do so for whatever reason. I answer to anything, even if you just point at me. Anyway, I’m from a really small town in South Jersey (Pitman- anyone?) and had a graduating class of 121 people. That being said, being in SC200 with over 300 kids is kinda a big deal for me.

Science has never been my thing, like ever. When I heard I had to take science as a gen-ed class, this was my reaction:

No joke.

I had no idea what to do, but my adviser set me up. He was basically the one who picked this course for me- indicating a great professor and an overall highly talked about class. So with that being said, how could I refuse? Now being in this class, I see why it’s so talked about. I already feel engaged and am way more thrilled about science than I’ve ever been all throughout K12. I’m not planning on being a science major because, well long story short, I suck at science and it bores me too much. I currently plan on majoring in Criminology but depending on how this semester goes and how well I actually do in my Crim class, that may change. I guess time will tell. I am only a freshman anyway- I “have time”. Hopefully this class will change my opinion on science though. I’m hype for what lies ahead, especially with Andrew’s accent lol.

This is random, but HERE ‘s an article on the constant bath vs. shower argument. I’m not really sure how “sciencey” this is, but you gotta start somewhere, ya know? I’m personally team shower, what do you think?

Cleary, I have to work on my blogging. I have no flow. But hopefully as this class progresses, my blogging skills will too. Lol.

Until next time,

-Katie Say

Hi class! I’m Hannah Stern, and I am from Plymouth Meeting PA (right outside of Philadelphia). I plan on majoring in marketing with a minor in statistics in order to go into the field of market research. Therefore, I will admit to a slight appreciation for the data and analysis side of science. The reason I fell in love with the statistics is because my brain is wired to search for reason. I enjoy the challenge of looking for creative insight that will explain one’s curiosity, so much to the point where I did an entire independent research project on statistics which you can check out HERE. This is why I was attracted to SC 200. From the course description, I feel like this course looks at science through a critical and analytical lens similar to statistical reasoning.

However, here is my pitfall with science: you can’t see gravity. You can’t have a conversation with a planet in order to draw conclusions about the universe. In business, you can use insight from other people and past experience to fill the void of the unknown. On the contrary, all of the scientific exposure I have had thus far has been too abstract and uncertain for my mental capacity. After failing my first physics test as a junior in high school, I approached my teacher and said “I am willing to put in as much work and time to succeed in this class, but I am almost positive that my brain just doesn’t work like this.” I studied tirelessly, and stayed after countless hours trying to comprehend concepts that flew so far over my head. It got to the point where my teacher would give me extra online practice problems out of pity to make up for my mediocre test results. In the end, he bumped my grade up to an A for
the insane effort I showed. It was a GPA miracle, but an obvious sign that a science major is not the right path for me. To some people, thinking in circles about the “what if” is fascinating. To me, it’s a headache. In all honestly, when Andrew used the “black cat in a room” analogy to describe science in class on Tuesday, I felt a mini anxiety attack coming on. Science is just not my thing, but I am open minded and excited to build an appreciation for it in SC 200!

Hey everyone! My name is Valerie and I am a senior. I have always been interested in science and breakthroughs that happen in scientific research, because they are so important to our everyday lives. Although I’ve had interest, science was usually my weakest subject. My issue with high school science classes were that a lot of the concepts that we were tested on were things that were not visible to the human eye. For example, it is difficult for me to visualize atoms so I always had trouble understanding them and how something so small could connect back to my life. I took a Science 2.0 course in high school which was all about current scientific topics and we even spent a few classes watching the movie, Inception, and discussing theories. I really enjoyed that class, because it felt relevant. Still, I am not a science major, because I never did well when I was tested in my traditional science classes. I prefer business and learning about Supply Chains.I did not plan to take a Science gen-ed my Senior year, but after doing miserably in Astrology last semester I needed three more credits. I am taking this course, because I have heard that it helps you gain appreciation for Science.

I recently heard  this about bananas going extinct. The article is a a little old, but I heard about the potential for bananas going extinct just this week. I would like to learn more about this, because I love chocolate banana smoothies.

Especially from Starbucks like this:

Hi everyone!

Before scheduling, I was trying to do everything I could to avoid taking any science credits. Unfortunately, as most of us were probably told, I was told I still had to take another science class. I was upset about the fact that I would be facing another semester of the same science I knew in high school – dry biology lectures, complicated physics problems, and two-hour-long chemistry labs. However, I decided to take this course because it was recommended to me by an upperclassmen friend of mine. She told me how engaging the class is, and how much she learned in it, so I decided to give it a try. I can tell already that this class will be better than anything I’ve ever experienced in high school science.

I’m a Comm major, so I prefer reading, writing, and creative-based projects. Science and math have never really been my strong suit. To me, these subjects were boring and difficult, and I never had enough interest in them to major in Science. I am hopeful that this class will allow me to achieve a greater understanding and appreciation for science, though! Maybe I will learn to have a love for science, it just was never taught to me the correct way. Here’s an article that highlights what we talked about in class the other day; it throughly outlines the problems in America’s education system pertaining to science class.

(Above: an accurate depiction of how my labs usually turn out)

Hello SC200!! My name is Jess Heckler, and this is my first year at Penn State!  To tell you a little bit about myself, I love to play volleyball, soccer, listen to music, and although I might not be the best at it, I also enjoy photography.  Here is a picture I took this summer watching the sunrise over the ocean.

This summer I also went to a few concerts , and my favorite by far was seeing Coldplay perform at Lincoln Financial Field! To see my favorite performance of the night, click HERE!  I have been a Penn State fan my whole life and am so excited to be up here AND to finally get to sit in the student section at the football games!!

Now, time for the important stuff.  To be completely honest, I am taking this course because my academic advisor told me this would be a good course to take as a first year student.  Coming into my orientation, I had no idea what to put on my schedule, except for the required courses for my major.  After reading the description of this course I decided it would be a great fit for me since I do not need specific science courses but have always had an interest in science.  Growing up, science always fascinated me, and I loved learning the why behind everything that happens in this world, so I am looking forward to using my critical thinking skills and putting my mind to the test in this class.

Right now, my intended major is secondary education mathematics because I have always wanted to be a teacher and math has always been my favorite subject. Now, I know some of you are questioning why I would ever want to go back to a high school and be stuck there for the rest of my life, and really it’s a great question, but in my opinion, I feel like high school teachers have the greatest impact on students, whether it be good or bad, and can really shape the way that their students think.  So yes, I am actually looking forward to going back into a high school and changing the way that students think.  That being said, I have nothing against being a science major, it just doesn’t take me to where I see myself being in the future.  That and the fact that having labs for hours on end kind of scares me.  Anyone who is willing to do that must be extremely smart and motivated.  MAJOR props to them.

Not another science geek,

Jess

Hi, my name is Wes Alexander and I’m a freshman from Wayne, PA about 20 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I am taking this course because when I was scheduling classes I was told to pick a science course, any science course, in order to fulfill my science general education requirement. After looking over a list of hundreds of science courses I came across this class at just about the bottom of the list. My advisor told me it is an interesting class, that the professor has a cool New Zealand accent, and that its geared for students who aren’t necessarily ecstatic about science. Sign me up. Majoring in some field of science just wasn’t something that ever crossed my mind. I have never hated or necessarily done poorly in my science classes, it just wasn’t something that came easily to me or I enjoyed. I then made the mistake of taking AP Physics my senior year of High School and as i sat bored out of my mind through a year of vector addition and force diagrams I had pretty much made up my mind, there was no way I was going to be a science major.

In other news, if anyone is looking for a good show to binge watch on Netflix, I would highly recommend “Stranger Things”. It just came out in July and has already received record breaking ratings. It also has a sic-fi kind of theme so it is partially relevant to science. Here’s the trailer if anyone is interested.

Hi, I’m Parker Yochim an incoming Freshman student from Erie, Pennsylvania. I chose to take this course mainly because it came highly recommended by my academic advisor. Upon further inquiry I was pleased to find out that this class takes a very unorthodox approach at teaching. In my opinion, classes should not be taught as just a matter of facts and figures, but rather as a matter of deep thought and reflection as the latter reveals true knowledge about a subject. I have never found Science to be very interesting to me, not because it bores me, but rather because the way it was taught to me was quite mundane. My primary school experience in Science was one plagued with petty memorization about topics that were uninteresting to me. However, this class seems as if it will be, for the first time, truly exciting and engaging. I look forward to the next semester and hope to learn all I can about the wonderful world of Science. 

An interesting article I saw on reddit today can be found HERE. This article talks about the development of a new app that is able to diagnose Autism by recognizing touch patterns. The app has been shown to be 93 percent effective in a survey of 37 people.

My name is Jordan Smith.  The main reason I chose this course is to fulfill a general ed science credit.  I am not planning on a science major because the science classes I’ve had previously had not left me terribly interested in science.  I’ve had the standard biology, physics, etc.  in high school and they never really gripped me.  Since this class appears to go into many different science related topics, I am hoping that there is at least one aspect that i can gain an interest in. Here’s a pretty interesting article on scientific evidence on climate change. 

Hello fellow non-scientists of SC200, my name is Pedro, and I bid you welcome. Welcome to the world of science, a world most of you won’t deliberately delve into ever again after this semester, a world of magnificent mechanics and intriguing mysteries that the common, everyday man dislikes because it is not accessible to the majority of people. Yes, it is a sad state of affairs for science, a fascinating universe of the most fantastic possibilities, yet poorly understood by many and therefore not looked up to. But it isn’t just scientists that can be interested in science.

Science as we’d call it began a thousand-odd years ago in Greece not as a field of study, but as a mere branch of philosophy aiming to explain and contemplate the natural phenomena surrounding our little human lives. Scientists were not the first to do science, philosophers were. It came to be when men started wondering where we come from, and where we are headed. What happens in the skies when lightning lights up the night, what makes a river flow, what is life, what are we. Curiosity, that’s the true mother of science.

Curiosity is wondering what goes on in the backstage of the Universe. It is questioning the way things are instead of accepting them without giving them any thought. It is looking beyond what is visible. That is the root of science, an art developed throughout the centuries to explain why everything is the way it is. From Latin scientia, science means conscience, as in, to be conscious about what goes on around us.

A question such as “what is the meaning of life?”, for example, can have many answers. Those can be “to serve God’s will”, “to be a good person and help others”, or even “42”. What matters is that every human being craves conscience about life. We want to know what is there after death, we want to know who or what created us, we want to know if the world is going to end tomorrow or in a hundred trillion years. We are humans, and we want, nay, we need, to be conscious. We need science.

And here we are, in college, aspiring to be knowledgeable enough that we will surpass others and succeed in life. Humans are not special because we are intelligent. Apes have memories far superior to ours, crows have known about the mechanics of water volume before Archimedes figured it out himself, and parrots can replicate hundreds of words in various languages. What makes Man unique is our will to seek out knowledge for the sake of it. Humans are hungry for answers.

In a way, we are all scientists, even if we don’t do research, or have a degree in astronomy or microbiology or anything of the sort. We need answers, and that only makes us human. Even though my major is History, I recognise science as a fundamental facet of human wisdom, that if explained well, can fascinate even the most indifferent student. It fascinates me, and I’m sure that, with enough effort, it will fascinate you too. I hope you all have an amazing semester and expand your horizons beyond you ever imagined they could go. Best of luck to us all, and remember, keep doubting.

Hi everyone, I’m Katie Yuen and I’m from Ridgefield, Connecticut. I’m taking SC200 this semester because I absolutely hated every science class I took in high school and fully expected to avoid any science class for as long as I could at Penn State. However, when I heard about this class, I thought it would be the perfect course for me to take to try to better understand science, beyond what I had to learn about in high school. I’m not a science major partially because I never liked middle school and high school sciences, but also because that idea that Andrew brought up on Tuesday of searching for a black cat in a dark room really stresses me out. I would never be able to handle repeatedly going into research without any clue if I’m looking in the right place or if my, or someone else’s, idea was even remotely true. I much prefer being able to read about, write about, and discuss ideas or information that already exists.
One scientific topic that I’m very interested in is Parkinson’s Disease, which I have an article about HERE, because I really want to learn more about diseases, how they occur, and how they can be found and treated. This picture will give you an idea about how many people are affected by this disease:

Thanks for reading my first blog post!

Hey SC200, my name is Mary, but I go by Molly. I chose to take this science course because I see myself as a person who enjoys critical thinking and deep reflection as opposed to facts and memorization. In high school, all of my science courses consisted of formulas I found confusing, labs that bored me to tears, or dissections that left me feeling queasy. Walking out of class, I usually felt like this:

However, I still have a genuine appreciation for science, because it surrounds me in all aspects of my life. Scientists created the car I drive. They invented the technology that tells me how to dress appropriately for the weather. They are even responsible for the reconstructed ACL in my right knee.

But like I said…while I have a real appreciation for science, I’m not too excited by the nitty-gritty details of biology, chemistry, and physics. I’ve always taken interest with math and languages, and I consider my abilities to organize and lead a team efficiently my best skills. For this reason, I plan on pursuing a career in business and tackling fluency in Spanish. However, I do see the importance of understanding (even a little) the subject that plays such a primary role in my life. Here is a Canadian article I found that explains the importance of being scientifically literate. The content is concurrent with my views on the importance of science…hopefully at least one of you agrees with it too!

Hello my name is Griffin Brooks and my major is Professional Golf Management. Although this sounds like the furthest major I could choose from the science field, science has always been my favorite subject to learn about, and it actually is related to golf! In order to successfully complete this major I will be taking turf grass management classes and learning about different types of soil and grass used to make playing conditions on a golf course the best they could possibly be.

Unfortunately throughout my high school career I have had numerous negative experiences with the sciences classes I attempted to take which is why I did not choose to go into this field of study. I enjoy research and traveling the world which is what science allows me to do. Last April I went on a research trip to Costa Rica exploring the different terrains and hiking through the Costa Rican rain forest.

I am more of a visual and hands on learner so this class seems to be what I am looking for.  I’m looking to take more science classes during my time here at Penn State. This course interests me because I have always enjoyed learning about the world I live in. I have found science in general to be very intriguing  because it is forever changing. This class seems very interesting to me and I’m excited to see what I can get out of it.

Here is an article on the tragic event that is happening to Italy, which is a possible topic we could be covering in class!

Hi class, My name is Audra Laskey and I am from Annapolis Maryland. I am taking the course science 200 because of the honest and brutal fact I needed a science Gen Ed class. I was told by my adviser and other students this class was interesting and would get my science credit over with. So here I am!

I am double majoring in Broadcast Journalism and political science. My ultimate goal is to become a sportscaster on a major network like ESPN (if you see me on TV, shout me out). Ever since I could sit up and watch TV, this has been my dream. Science has never been my forte, and never will be (ever).  My interest have mainly been in writing and English classes.

When I was told taking a science class was mandatory, this was my face……

Although going into this class, I was skeptical, but I think this will be an eye opening class which strays away from the basic common core curriculum. I am excited for the new things I will be learning and comprehending, not just regurgitating answers.

Since I am an Annapolis native, HERE is a link to the best thing science has ever created!!!!!!!Check it out fellow non-scientist!

Science… we tried. We really did. At first I was like “Damn Science, you’re kinda cool”. You had all these cool TV shows with potato clocks, potato guns, and… pretty much anything having to do with potatoes was awesome. You would make explosions out of nothing and don’t even get me started on Volcanos. Volcanos are by far the most badass thing science has ever done. It’s like the Earth is popping its most deadly pimple.

I started questioning you towards the end of seventh grade. My teacher handed me a paper and I’d never felt so betrayed in my life. It was a series of random boxes with elements and numbers that made me lightheaded. The evil teacher looked down on me and said “Learn it. Love it. This is the periodic table, the basis of all Science”. How could you do this to me, Science? You pretended all along that you didn’t suck, but then BAM… you suck. I shouldn’t have forgiven you because you only became more aggressive in High School. You abused me. You threw numbers and elements and theories and quotes by old people at me. I felt trapped. But here, at Penn State, I’m ending it. I’m done being your bitch, Science. It’s time to take control of my learn life. I’m going to take SC200 and learn cool things like the sexual orientation of animals and why I’m toxic. Andrew will take our minds on a wild ride into the depths of interesting concepts and possibilities, all while maintaining a possibly staged New Zealand accent.

For further reference on why I hate you, here are the reasons that you, and your friends, are hated. It’s over between us, Science. I will remember the good times: The Bill Nye show, the first season of The Big Bang theory, potato guns. But, overall, it’s for the best that we are ending things. It’s not me, it’s you.