I have employed the hypothetico-deductive method of science in my organic chemistry lab section (CHEM232). In this lab, we would experiment with chemistry concepts such as… As I prepared for each lab every week, I would try to apply what I learned from the lecture to better understand why we were using the techniques we were implementing in order to achieve a specific product. I also applied lab principles to determine why some experiments did not pan out as they were expected to, and whether that was due to an experimental error, or a procedural error on my part. I made sure I employed the hypothetico-deductive method of science in order to see how the results of the various experiments compared to my understanding of the topics from the lecture.
I, myself, have encountered (experienced) failure of critical thinking when it came to my "method" of time management. In my "Freshman Time Capsule" essay, I reflected on my first year in college, including what I took away from it, and the advice I could give to incoming freshmen to give them a sort of heads up of what was to come. My advice to incoming freshmen was that you would feel like you have a lot more "free time" because you’re no longer in school from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, but rather a few ~1-2 hour long classes dispersed throughout the day with a different schedule for each day of the week. I told them that this was not free time, and to make sure that they are blocking off this time to get their homework done on time, and even to study in chunks ahead of time in order to not be stressed once exams came around. I said that if you studied a small amount of material from lecture everyday or even every few days, you don't have to feel like you’re lost trying to remember material that you learned weeks ago when you try to study everything all at once right before your exam. That was very sound advice, and I was not lying when I said that it would cause less stress to manage your time like that. This is not what I ended up doing this semester though. I would get all my work done, but I didn't set out time specifically when to do this work or when to study, so I would just do work whenever I felt like it, and when it came to studying I always felt like I was catching up. I had the plan, but I didn't execute. This is gonna change next semester, because if I don't listen to my own advice it'll be to my own demise and put my future career in jeopardy.
Two items from classes that are SGC supporting courses that additionally support the thesis that SGC helps students plan for resilience in a future of global change are from my first biology class and lab I took here at UMD (BSCI160/161). This class was called Principles of Ecology and Evolution. In lecture we obviously learned about evolution, and this is an amazing feat that organisms are able to accomplish over millions or even thousands of years in order to survive. However if we continue on the track that we are on right now, global climate change will be so rapid that little to no species will be able to adapt that quickly to a rapidly changing environment. I also feel urged to make a difference because for my lab, I remember I had to take pictures of plants on campus, but I had to go out into the woods a little bit when the weather was already starting to get cold. When I was at the edge of the forest, the view was not that great. There were lots of trees and plants in front of me, however they were kind of dead because of their proximity to the road and car fuel emissions. The deeper I got into the forest though, the more I appreciated the beautiful plants around me, and that's not something that I want to lose in the near future.
My learning was definitely improved by interacting with fellow SGC scholars. In particular, my experience was enhanced through meeting and bonding with my mentees at Service day when we cleaned up the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens pond. I had only met my mentees once in the first week of school I believe for that big “Welcome to Scholars” event at the fields outside Xfinity. When I first met my mentees, everyone was a little shy, including myself, 1) because we had never met each other before, and 2) because there was a lot of people there, and it was more people than most of us had probably seen gathered in one area in a long time since before the pandemic. At Service Day, my mentees and I worked together rolling around wheelbarrows full of the weeds they were pulling out of the pond in order to clean up the pond. We got wet, muddy, thankfully not dehydrated on that hot day, but I made sure to talk to everyone, and they all either talked to each other, to me, or to other SGC scholars present that day, and I saw bonds forming, which is what I enjoyed most from that day, not that I didn’t like cleaning up the environment.
I believe that I have contributed to SGC a fair amount, because I always contribute my part on group projects when we have them and communicate with my group mates in order to make sure everything gets done in a timely manner and accurately, and I became a peer mentor my Sophomore year to give back to a program that gave something to me. SGC provided me with a sense of belonging my freshman year. I didn't know anyone other than my two friends from high school who were also living on campus, and my other friends who I'm even closer with decided to stay at home and do everything online, so I didn’t have many people to talk to. Being part of SGC however, I knew that I had people, on my dorm floor even, who had at least one class with me, so I could talk to them and make connections through that, and I had my peer mentor who was very helpful. He always reached out to me and made sure I was doing alright with classes, and when I needed help with my HTML page, he helped me troubleshoot even when he had an exam until I got my website to work. I wanted to be able to do that same thing for my own group of incoming freshmen, and I think that is what I accomplished. My mentees were not the most responsive, at least after the first semester, however I made sure that they knew they could always reach out to me for help or advice in anything they needed, not restricted to school.
My Scholars experience may have an impact on my future because it has given me a new perspective on global climate change and the urgent need to tackle it before it's too late. I will leave the Scholars program having learnt a great deal about all aspects of climate change and with a good notion of what can be done to save the planet. The critical thinking component of my mind that I have cultivated over the past three semesters is a very significant aspect of SGC that I can anticipate to draw upon moving forward. This same ability can be used in post-secondary schooling as well as my professional job. This type of critical thinking is a very valuable ability that can be applied to a wide range of situations outside of the classroom and SGC.