During this semester, I learned many things. Among them, what sticks out most to me is the ethics lesson, the experiments, the science forward videos, the 3D printing lessons, and the poster revisions. I knew some basics of ethics before Jake taught the lesson, however, we got much more in depth. It was interesting to learn that such difficult ethical questions are faced by real people in real professions. Even our own everyday interactions and decisions are driven by personal moral and ethical ideals and perspectives that are studied philosophies. It actually made me reevaluate my opinion on the subject of philosophy, sparking a newfound interest.

As for the experiments, it was definitely a “culture” shock to my usual mundane days of business and English classes. I haven’t taken a science course since high school, and I found that I actually really missed it. I use to despise my science classes, but now I found that I actually miss it. It provides a different kind of creative and imaginative thinking that widens your perspective on whats possible. We created aspirin and soap through different chemicals, heating and cooling. It was amazing. At the same time, the science forward videos put the process of learning science into a new light by dividing it into categories, such as number sense and data sense. I never thought about it in that way. It made learning the experiments easier, understanding them as different aspects of science.

The 3D printing lessons were a refreshing learning time outside of the classroom. You forget that science is beyond being in the lab. It was invigorating to be given the chance to invent something new and innovative. Learning how to use Tinkercad was a new experience for me. It was honestly difficult at first, not something I was used to. It was also sometimes frustrating, because you had to be very patient when bringing your imagination into actual fruition. I had lots of ideas, but since I was only a beginner, it took time to use and learn how to manipulate all the shapes and functions. Despite being hard sometimes, it was still really fun to learn something new. Now, I feel confident in being able to learn a similar program, which could be very useful towards my major. Moreover, the science behind 3D printing was fascinating. The Makerhub was able to explain how the machine works and how the industry is accelerating.

The poster revision process was tedious, but by the end, extremely rewarding. At times, I felt discouraged that no matter how much we fixed the poster, there were still changes to be made. It felt like a never ending process with no end. Sometimes, the “mistakes” didn’t even seem so significant, but after printing the final poster, I was able to see all the little changes come together and really make a big difference. I learned that small details go a long way, and it’s important to be detail-oriented. However, it was also important to see the whole picture. Everything needed to be uniform, and there had to be a clear theme. The experience was so rewarding, being able to talk about our work which we worked so hard on, at the STEAM festival.