Research in Ecology (RiE) is a great program that brings out the fun of science but teaches student like me many things you might have had to learn later in life early on. RiE has affected my attitude about science in many ways. I have always enjoyed science and learning new things about it. This program has a) made me enjoy science more than I ever have, b) consider ecology as a larger part of science, not just being a small branch of science, and c) making me feel more intelligent than ever about ecology and science. My group studied microevolution in the mosquito fish, Gambusia holbrooki. I had found this topic the most intriguing of all the topics from the beginning. I had expected to be sitting in a classroom all day long listening to lectures, having no fun at all when I came to this program.
As I said, I’ve always enjoyed hands-on science, but somehow I’d thought that this program was going to be sitting in a classroom doing nothing interesting. Boy, was I in for a surprise. This program was almost all hands on, and when we had lecture they were interesting, and had some kind of activity that we would have to do, to help us remember what we learned. For instance, we were always making posters with what we learned, but at the same time we had a great time making colorful and exciting posters, working as a group to try and make it to the best of our abilities. I have always enjoyed art and computers, so bringing those in definitely made me enjoy it more. We had great facilitators, teachers, and professors, helping us all along the way. My attitude towards sit-down science and lectures completely changed while in this program, going from dreading lectures, to looking forward to them.
I never considered ecology as a particularly large part of science, although I have always loved being outdoors. This program has shown me how much it is possible to learn about our race, the humans, by studying animals. Since my group studied the mosquito fish, there are not too many connections that can be made to humans. However I’m sure if the care is taken to look deep enough, there are some. During our guest talks, we had the leaders of other groups come explain their research. All of the other groups’ leaders’ research intrigued me, but the best example for this, was the monkey group. Monkeys are close relatives of humans, and we can see their relation to humans in them. For instance, monkeys have used fruit as mosquito repellent, and have even learned American Sign Language! I had never even thought that possible!
This program has taught me more ecology and science in general than I learn in one year in school. I have learned all about ecology, and the subjects that branch off. I was always pretty good at science but my attitude has really changed now. Now, although I still know science as serious, I also see how much fun it can be, and enjoy making posters, PowerPoints, and holding discussions. During the lectures, there was always someone bringing in funny, useful, or interesting information, like about how large fish with let certain fish go into their mouths, just to clean it (or for the cleaner fish, they eat the stuff inside). I loved to listen to other peoples’ intriguing comments, and add a few of my own.
Obviously, my attitude towards science has really changed, and for the better. I enjoy science much more than ever. Also I believe I know a lot more and consider ecology a huge part of science. Although genetics is hard work and contains a lot of lab work, it was very enjoyable. However, I think that I would enjoy field work more than lab work, so studying the behavior of monkeys sounded really interesting. I am thankful to this program for completely changing my attitude towards science and would recommend it to anyone. By: Orko Sarkar