Essay- Andy Gonzalez
How has RIE affected my attitude about science?
At first I thought science was not important and boring. As a student of Research in Ecology, however, I quickly became interested in this subject. Some of the things that interested me were how flowers shot there pollen out at anything that touched their tip, also interesting was that food, plants, and animals can help each other while interacting. Research in Ecology has affected my attitude about science by making science important and useful, and by giving life to plants that I once saw as boring and lifeless.
In this program, I learned so many things that I once thought were not important, like the food I eat and knowing if it is organic or genetically modified (GM). I thought that food could not be deadly or dangerous. I did not know that the science behind the making of food could be so interesting. I learned what amazing things plants do to reproduce, like shooting their spores to anything that touch them. I learned about rice rat and cotton rat interactions. Also, I learned about carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids (DNA RNA), proteins. After these six weeks, science has become very interesting. I now think of science as important and useful, something I never imagined I would think as a student who always rated math and music higher than science.
Also, plants have come to life in these last six weeks. Plants have changed. I now know that plants are able to interact with insects. Some plants can make the appearance of an insect to trick the insect of the same species to attract it then get it to pollinate the spores. Also, plants can trap the insect in the flower and then it will plant its pollen on its back. Lastly, plants can make changes in themselves to attract insects.
In conclusion, I made friends, I had fun, I learned while having fun, and I have been on exciting field trips. In this program, Research in Ecology, I made many new friends. I have had a lot of fun in this program by going to the pool with my friends after a hard day of research. I also have had fun while learning, like at quiz bowl where you answer scientific questions and if you get it the wrong you learn from your mistake and you learn new things. Last I have had 2 exciting field trips I went to the everglades and saw exciting animals and I went to a organic farm and even some food there.