SGC has taught me numerous things that I would not have learned in a regular class. We learn topics that do not necessarily fit under one topic but still should be talked about. We learned to delve deeper into anything we question and also to not take everything so straightforwardly. I was able to apply what I learned not just in SGC, but also in other classes.
I have observed so many failed critical thinking skills, especially logical fallacies, in the last three semesters. COVID-19 continues to be a big issue, even a political issue now. There have been many logical fallacies surrounding covid because some people do not believe in it being true, they spread rumors about it and more. One big logical fallacy I have encountered is Ad Hominem. An example of this is Dr.Faaci is a very knowledgeable person about diseases like COVID and he was providing very factual important information. Half of America did not believe in Dr.Faaci's words because of his political stance. All the republicans did not listen to what he had to say about COVID which caused many consequences and the further spread of the contagious disease. I have learned to make my own decisions based on the facts and not just because of the person who is speaking's status.
Another fallacy many have encountered in recent years is the Bandwagon fallacy. The idea of cancel culture has become so widespread that it is damaging many people's lives. When some people bring up a "wrong" that a famous person has done, it gets spread around and the rumor is altered into something so vastly different. People continue to hop on the bandwagon and accept what is being told about a person whether it is true or not. It is best to never assume so quickly about a person without evidence. Most of these rumors are not backed up by evidence and an innocent person could be wronged for something that is not true, which hurts their reputation. With my knowledge about these fallacies I know to never jump straight to a conclusion and to take my time to make sure everything is factual.
I have used the hypothetico-deductive method of science so often in my lab classes. Especially in biology labs where I had to follow the scientific method and form our experiments. We have used throughout the last few semesters this method very often and will continue to use it.
A heavy topic we talked about this semester is climate change: its impacts, problems, and solutions. We talked a lot about ways we can reduce our carbon footprint and energy sources that we think will be helpful to us in the future. We also learned about the details of climate change and what effect it has on us. This topic specifically interested me because my future goals and career revolved around working with helping the environment and changing it for the better. All the various energy sources that we learned about were so intriguing to me. It gave me a sense of hope knowing that people do care about the future and that people are finding and creating new technologies to battle all the outcomes of climate change coming our way. The in-class group discussions of these different types of technologies were really interesting too because it is a rare opportunity that we get a chance to talk about issues like this with like-minded people. By being able to grow my knowledge about environmental issues, I was able to reassure myself that I want to work in the environmental field.
I have grown even more from being in a living-learning community. I have made friends with so many people with similar interests, career goals, and life experiences. I was not only able to make these friendships, but I was also able to maintain them because I lived so close to all these people. I have become so close to some people in SGC because we lived on the same floor and we were able to work on SGC related work together, ask each other questions, and provide support for each other. The connections that we created by being in class together and also interacting out of class made us able to do SGC events together, for example, field trips.
I believe I have been well involved with SGC events, projects, discussions, etc. I really enjoyed the in-class assignments where I could take part in discussions about various topics. I feel like I put effort into the discussions and try to play a role in them. I have also gone on a field trip every semester so far to places like the Chesapeake bay foundation, futures exhibit, and the American museum of natural history. I have been attentive at all these field trips and have learned so much from them. I have also become a peer mentor for sgc which has made me feel more involved with the whole sgc community, which includes the professors, mentees, and classmates. I have also tried to continue my involvement by involving myself in scholars and sgc events where I can meet other people.
Scholars did not counteract any of my past beliefs because I have very minimal knowledge about the topics taught in SGC besides the part about climate change. The information I gained from being in SGC has opened my eyes to so many various topics that I had no past interest in or interaction with. The recent lectures on mad scientists were so new to me and so interesting.
Scholars will have a strong impact on my future. In the past three semesters, I have grown and gained so much that can be used in my regular life. The lectures about resumes and building connections were very valuable. The other lecture about logical fallacies was also beneficial because we could encounter stuff like that in our daily lives. Service day was also a great experience where I was able to learn more about giving back to the community, which I will continue to do so. Also, the lectures about climate change are a great background for what I will be studying more about and the field I will work in the future