I believe that one of the topics that has been most influential for me and connects to my major in the biggest way is learning about the scientific method and how to be a good scientist. My major is in computer science, which is a bit different from typical scientists and science experiments because I most likely won’t be running tests or setting up experiments, but I think that having a stronger understanding of what makes a good scientist is still extremely useful for me. I think it also enhances my attitude towards my major because it makes me want to be a better scientist and ensure that I am not falling into different pitfalls of logical fallacies or confirmation bias allowing me to be better at my job and be more successful in my future.
One example of encountering failures of critical thinking skills so far is when looking at a lot of different news outlets and sources. Many of them fall into the trap of using logical fallacies to back up their arguments. For example, a lot of news articles often cherry-pick out certain statics or results that show what they want to believe, instead of looking at the broader picture. People saying that climate change isn’t real because it still snows is one example of this kind of logical fallacy. Another example of a logical fallacy that gets used often is ad hominem. This is when people attack the person making the argument instead of the argument itself, and is used very often in politics from what I have seen, and usually lead to unproductive conversations of both sides just attacking the character of the other side.
One class that I took that supported these ideas was CPSS220, which was about the future of science communication. In this class, we learned a lot about how to communicate effectively as scientists which ties in very closely with being good scientists which is what I talked about previously. We learned a lot about making sure your audience understands what you are trying to say, and even changing your message to ensure they are taking away the main points you want the to. We also learned a lot about transparency and accountability which also plays a major role in being a good scientist. Holding yourself and others accountable makes sure that people will follow the rules and overall makes you and others around you better. In my other class, engineering ethics, we learned a lot about the ethics that play into making decisions. This also connects to the idea of being a good scientist because to be one, you must have strong morals and ethical decision making skills. Going through both of these classes furthered my knowledge in becoming a better scientist which I think will be incredibly useful knowledge moving forward in my life. Overall, both of these classes helped me to become a better thinker and will help me to avoid falling into pitfalls of critical thinking or flawed morals therefore ensuring I don’t become a “mad scientist” as discussed in class.
Being in the scholars program allowed me to connect with others around me very quickly. I was also able to meet people with similar interests to my own which helped me to learn from this class with others. In general, I think that being able to talk and discuss the topics covered in class with a group of people from SGC was very helpful in getting me to fully understand some of the topics covered. Hearing the ideas shared from someone else's perspective sometimes gave me a clearer picture of what we were learning and overall was very beneficial to my education.
I don’t think that I contributed to the SGC community in any major way such as running for some position or being a mentor for others, but I do think that I contributed in some other smaller ways. I was consistently in class and being an active member of conversations when we split up to do group work. I also became good friends with some of the other members of SGC and built good relationships with them.
I don’t believe that being in the scholars program brought me in contact with people or ideas that challenged my previous beliefs very much. I think that, overall, many of the people had viewpoints and thoughts similar to my own. Similarly, a lot of the things we learned about in class were things that I had already known a little bit about so most of them didn’t have me rethinking previous beliefs or opinions. Some of the things that did make me consider my past opinions, were when we learned about logical fallacies and how they can creep into our everyday lives very easily. This made me think about how I have seen them before and even used them before, which is something that after this class I have tried to avoid doing more.
I think that there are quite a few things I learned and experienced from the scholars' program that will help to inform me about certain things in the future. As I talked about earlier, some of the topics we went over such as logical fallacies, the scientific method, and overall just being a good scientist will be very helpful to me in the future. In the future, I plan to be a computer scientist so learning about the scientific method now and going into it in more depth was very helpful in preparing me for that future. I also think that some of the topics we covered relating to being as good scientist and using morals is also informative for me. I think this because in the future I would like to be in the field of machine learning and AI. I believe that especially in this area, ethics are a big deal and is something that really comes onto play when working on those sorts of projects. I also think that in my job but as well in everyday life, knowing about logical fallacies, being able to realize when they are being used, and not using them in your own arguments are very good skills to have. I think that overall it makes you a better scientist and person as well to be able to avoid those as much as possible. I also think that learning how to communicate successfully is one of the most important skills someone can learn to be successful in the career but also in their different work and personal relationships.