End of the Semester Reflection Fall 2010

Here we are again expected to look back at a semester that flew by way too fast. I find this time of year refreshing. Taking a second to take a breath and realize just how much we did. It is shocking to think that next semester is the last one. Capstone is going well, we are starting to run trials on our tadpole experiment after the thanksgiving break. I am excited that all our work prepping for this experiment is finally going to pay off. It will be a ton of work running the trials and collecting data but I cannot wait to get going. I feel like a broken record thinking we will start trials any day now but there was so much prep work to get done in the lab I guess it makes sense that it took a semester to complete it all. My personal project, well in conjunction with another person, is making progress as well. We are still in the designing phase of the experiment and it seems to be coming along with few bumps. I am thrilled that next semester will be slightly less hectic so I will be able to devote all my time to the project (really what I was urning for all along but stupid classes that I had little interest in have been stealing my time and my sanity). I am looking forward to enjoying my last semester in college doing what I love, research. As for our Paideia discussions, they were fun and thought provoking as usual. I like how we always go off on some tangent that ultimately relates back to human behavior (hey that’s our groups topic, funny how that works!). Personally this semester I feel like I had a difficult time competing for speaking time (I promise I am working on that, its just a little annoying and frustrating when all my ideas are expressed by the slightly louder people, then when I actually get 2 seconds to speak I just sound like I am repeating what someone else already said). I am pleased by our discussion of animal research and analyzing a poorly executed article. I was struggling with a way I could talk about my capstone that would initiate some sort of conversation. I personally could talk about tortoises, tadpoles, learning and predatory reactions all day long if I have a listening ear, but I did not think the cohort would appreciate my ramblings. So the idea of animal research struck me as I was casually rambling and a friends friend scolded me for testing on animals. I was amused by her perception of what animal research was and the reasons why I am a careless soul for torturing a poor innocent being. Naturally I wanted to find how she came to such an absurd conclusion about research. I think it was very evident by the articles that I found on the web that most of the available articles are against the subject. Needless to say it was very difficult finding a non biased article about the subject. When I searched for an article to share with my cohort, I intended to find an article about animal research more aimed at learning about animal behaviors. However, when I stumbled on the current article I felt that it was right to share it. Unfortunately it was the only article I could find that at least attempted to be impartial (although poorly done so and only at the beginning). Anyways I knew that we had such a diverse group of opinionated people in our group that some sort of debate about animal research would begin. I hope everyone learned a little something about the issue even if they have no opinion on the matter. This semester was great even though it was a little more hectic than planned. I am looking forward to one last semester with my Paideia people.