My name is Sherilyne Co. I am pre-med student in the BA-MD program at Brooklyn College. I plan on majoring in Business Administration for Health Professions. I may minor in neuroscience and health and nutrition sciences.  I’m not entirely sure what type of doctor I would like to be, but I am thinking about a career in surgery, neonatology or OB/GYN.

I have always loved learning about science. I think this class will allow me to continue learning about science, but in a different and new way that I have not experienced before. I am used to being lectured about each science subject in a traditional classroom setting. However, this class seems to diverge from that as we learn to think about other ways of learning and other ways of learning science. I am very interested to learn about informal science learning, a phrase I have never heard of, and also how the public learns about science. I think it will be very fun and exciting to explore informal science learning and discover some sites where this type of learning happens. I think this class will help me better understand how I learn science in my every day life as well how other people learn science in their lives. It will give me a different and broader perspective on science learning as I read through articles and attend places where informal science learning occurs. As I learn about how others learn about science and the different ways we can learn science, this class will hopefully allow me to be more open to new methods and ideas  as student and eventually as a doctor.

During the Bioblitz, I participated in the bird group. My shift was at night, which made things very difficult to see. In addition, there were not many birds to see because one of our guides explained to us that late August is not the time that many birds are usually in the park. Despite this, we did see many male, female and baby Mallard ducks, a couple of Canadian geese, and a few domestic poultry ducks. Aside from seeing these birds, we saw rats scampering around, raccoons hiding in bushes and also heard frogs croaking loudly. I also had the opportunity to see some bats including a silver-haired bat, which apparently had never been caught in the park. It was wonderful to see all the diversity in the park and to take notice of different aspects of the park that I have not experienced on previous visits. This was an important experience because it allowed me to learn about the environment in a setting other than a traditional classroom environment. As we came upon each species, we learned a little more about them from a book we carried and also from the guides that were with us. I could see what I was learning about and talk to people who know about the topic. I definitely appreciate Central Park a bit more because of the things I got to see that night that I would not normally take notice of on a regular visit.

I did not have the opportunity to talk to the guides too much, but I did learn some things from them. Both guides told us that they were doing BIoblitz because they love nature and being surrounded by it. They love seeing the different species of plants and animals and having the opportunity to maybe even something they didn’t know was in the park or to see something they haven’t had the chance to see before. I also learned from one of the guides that part of Central Park was under construction and he showed us some of the areas near the stream that were being fixed. I also learned that there are people that document the kinds of birds that are in Central Park in a special log and these logs are verified against each other to make sure that what each person saw is accurate.

This activity is beneficial to us because we can experience the natural environment even though we are surrounded by tall buildings, cars and people.  It is an important activity because it allowed us to see the diversity within the park that we may not have noticed or cared about when we are usually there.  I think we can better appreciate Central Park because we actually saw and learned about the different plants and animals inhabit the park that we may not have even known were there. We were allowed to actively participate in finding different things and learn from very knowledgeable people. I think that the most important thing that this activity did is that it allowed us to learn about the environment and living things in a place other than a classroom, which made it more interesting and fun.

I really enjoyed this experienced. I loved seeing the wildlife of Central Park. I did not know that all these plants and animals inhabited the area. I did not like that it was too dark to see and that this wasn’t exactly the best time of year to be bird watching. I wish that I had the opportunity to do this at a time when more birds could be seen, or at least during the daytime when I can see the features and details of the birds. I think I was surprised most when one of the guides said that bald eagles could be seen in the park. I didn’t know that they could live in the park, even if only for a while.  I also enjoyed seeing the bats, even though they are not birds. It was cool to see them up close and take pictures.  This experience was very fun and interesting. I enjoyed this experience very much and would definitely do more activities like this.