This semester concludes my 3-semester journey in the Science and Global Change Practicum. I will take this opportunity to reflect on what I have learned over the year and a half since I entered the University of Maryland and the Scholars program. I believe that being a part of the Science and Global Change program significantly contributed to my understanding of science as a thought process and as a field, as well as my understanding of global climate change as a phenomenon.
The first thing I would like to talk about is how increasing my understanding of science and the scientific method has assisted me in understanding my major and potential future career. I am a computer science major. As I have learned throughout my time in Scholars, science is all about testing. It is about identifying problems, creating hypotheses, testing those hypotheses, and coming to conclusions based on those tests. Fundamentally, science is about problem-solving. As someone who codes for my major, problem-solving is part of my daily routine. Being able to take what I have learned about science and the hypothetico-deductive method and apply it to my work outside of Scholars has been quite engaging and useful. For example, we had a project where we had to make a program that used linked lists as its primary method of data storage in CMSC132. I ran into a wall during that project, but I was able to use the scientific method to get myself out of the hole. I was able to look at the problem, present myself some hypotheses on how I could implement a solution, and test those hypotheses until I found the one that worked the best. The reality is that I need to do this all the time in my field, but through my experiences in Scholars I have become far more cognizant of this process and I am able to apply it more formally and effectively. I also take many math classes. I am currently taking linear algebra and I find myself making hypotheses to answer particular questions (especially questions about theory) in that class as well.
Something else that I have noticed as I have made my way through the program is how poor the average person’s understanding of science actually is. Most people are aware of science and they think they know what it looks like to “perform” science. However, they are quite bad at applying scientific principles in their everyday lives even though they may be useful to them. An example of this is the prevalence of logical fallacies in casual conversations or friendly arguments. This does make sense. Logical fallacies are arguments that may sound reasonable but ultimately boil down to a critical failure in logic. However, just because they are common does not mean that we should allow them to be prevalent. A common fallacy I run into when having conversations is an appeal to authority. It is an easy fallacy to make, relying on others who you believe are smarter than you to make your argument for you. But it is still a fallacy, and I find myself consistently having to explain why exactly the argument that was made is not as good as it could be. I cannot escape the feeling that if some of these individuals went through the same program I have then they would not be making these mistakes in their argumentation, especially for issues they care about..
Scholars also gave me the opportunity to connect with people with roughly similar interests within the Cambridge community. I am sure that many other scholars had more interaction with each other than I did, but that does not mean that the interactions I had were not valuable to my education. Many of the scholars I met were in my major, which allowed us to collaborate on assignments and help each other study. I rarely worked with others directly, but the option was always there and I could have taken advantage of it if I needed to. I have also been able to help other scholars with their assignments, such as giving Rahul (a fellow SGC scholar) tips when it comes to taking CMSC216 since that is a class I took before he did.
In terms of contribution, I do not believe I have much to say. I have obviously created my website which is where you found this essay and can be found on the SGC website. There are also projects that I have done during my time in Scholars that have been immortalized somewhere on the internet such as the declining bird biomass video that was posted on YouTube. However, for the most part, all I can say is that I hope some of the contributions and relationships I have made to the individuals I have met throughout my time in Scholars go on to influence them in the future.
Being in Scholars has definitely caused me to reflect on a lot of ideas and beliefs I had coming into college. I would not say that it necessarily changed my mind on many things, but it has given me the tools and information to consult my beliefs and refine them. For example, I already knew that climate change was a thing and that it was bad before I joined the program. However, the program has given me the knowledge to understand exactly what is going wrong and what could possibly be done to fix it (especially during this semester). Thus, I have been able to take that information and reconstruct my beliefs around it to make them stronger, which I would tout as one of the greatest benefits of being in the SGC program. With all of that being said, I can now take what I have learned and apply it to my future goals. Even if that does not involve directly getting involved with the climate or the sciences, I have still learned a lot. I was already talking previously about how I have been able to apply scientific principles to my field of study. I also spoke about how a better understanding of science has contributed to understanding how it is often misapplied. I am already using my experiences in Scholars to inform my daily life, and I do not believe that will stop any time soon. <\p>