Author: Alicia Manjila

Initially I was unsure of how much I would enjoy this class or even get out of it because I am not a science major. That being said I think all the activities or assignments we did this year were very accessible and I actually enjoyed this class very much. I liked that we talked not only about the science side of creating new drugs and healthcare innovations but also the very real and tedious process that has to happen to take an idea or a discovery and turn it into an acceptable and feasible product on the market.

The STEAM festival totally subverted my expectations, andI actually had a lot of fun that day. I am so grateful that our class focused on 3D printing projects because not only was it more fun to create, it was more fun to present. I was constantly presenting and getting positive feedback from students from other schools. When we did our series of in class presentations I did think at the time that we were maybe practicing too much, but our class definitely had the best posters and I was fully prepared to present my group’s project and field questions.

I do think the Bioblitz report was a stand alone assignment, and I think maybe if we were given more guidance on what to look for in the Bioblitz data it would have been more interesting. I also think that after the Bioblitz weekend we should’ve  had an in class discussion on what we did, because I definitely would like to know more of what other groups did.

Overall this class was fun and informative. After working on our 3D printing project I’m definitely taking away skills from this class that I never thought Id have the chance to learn in this lifetime.

I think the purpose of doing labs with expected results in schools is twofold. Firstly, doing labs get students acquainted with lab equipment and how to properly use these tools. This way if students plans to work at a research facility and help in studies where the results are not known ahead of time, they will know how to handle the tasks they are given. Furthermore if a student wishes to be leading research studies in the future its important that they have thorough knowledge of what can be done in the lab and how to do it.  Secondly, doing labs help affirm what the student may be learning in lecture. Its one thing to be told that a certain reaction produces gas and another thing altogether to perform the reaction and see bubbles form.  This makes passive knowledge into active knowledge. I think a lab in a non-specialist science class like ours isn’t as helpful for students who wont need lab skills in the future but it still helps us understand the material we are learning in class. I think the equivalent of a lab in a history or english class is a presentation. I think a presentation helps students gain skills they will need outside of class and it requires them to actively research a topic and understand it on their own.

This article is definitely longer and denser than the New York Times articles of today. It definitely gives a more scientific explanation of the findings, but it does also address the real life impact these findings may have on society and people’s everyday life just as todays New York Times articles do. I think the greater technical detail is an indicator that the readership of the New York Time in 1971 was maybe less broad than it is today; maybe only the highly educated read the newspaper, or at least the New York Times specifically.

While I do think this article is a bit too long and technical for the New York Times today, I do believe there should be a platform for articles like this one today. Articles that are not quite as long or specific as the primary source but also not as general as todays articles tend to be when discussing healthcare and scientific breakthroughs should be available for those who prefer the easy reading format of a newspaper or magazine article but would like to truly understand the science behind the breakthrough being discussed.

As for the inclusion of the molecular drawings I believe these would be informative to those who are scientifically inclined. For others they might simply exhibit if the technical detail to which this article goes. For some it might even be an indicator that the adjacent article is entirely too scientific and technical in nature for them to comprehend anything and to instead skip this article.