Phobia (#4)

- February 01, 2019

Pho·bi·a (noun): an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.

Phobia is not what I think of when I think of science. When I think of science, I think of fun and exciting activities. I think of the teachers I had throughout my schooling that incorporated hands-on experiments that were educational and interesting.

My first memory of an exciting science experiment was in fourth grade. My classroom teacher brought in an incubator and a dozen fertilized chicken eggs. Throughout the next few weeks we observed the changes we saw in the eggs while taking notes and drawing pictures in a science journal. Unfortunately, out of a dozen eggs only one survived and we named that chick Hercules. The chick could only stay in the classroom for a week after it hatched, then my teacher brought it back to a local farm where she originally got the eggs. At the end each student wrote a report and attached pictures or drawings to explain what we learned and observed from this experiment.

In fifth grade I remember dissecting an owl pellet. At first I thought this would be really gross, but it was just a small ball of dried animal fur and bones. The point of this experiment was to try to separate the bones from the fur and locate as many bones as possible. From there we used diagrams to put together a skeleton and guess what animal the owl digested. At the end of that year, my class and all the other fifth grade classes went on an all day hike where were mapped, tracked, and journaled about the animals we saw during the hike.

At some point in my middle school years I also dissected a frog. I remember I really did not enjoy this experiment because the frogs smelled, they were slimy, and I didn't like the idea of cutting open an animal to see what was inside. However I had a really brave partner who did all the dissecting while I observed, took notes, and took pictures.

When it comes to high school I still can't think of any experiences I had that were so horrible that it would make me hate the subject or have an irrational fear for it. I remember two teachers specifically who did the exact opposite, they made me love the subject even more. Mr. Ware taught my freshman year biology class. In this class we studied live plants and animals, looked at animals that were in preservatives, and played with genetics. Mrs. Ashworth was my junior year chemistry teacher, and my favorite teacher of all time. Everyday that we had class I remember doing a fun lab experiment and learning how to use chemistry lab tools. Even when we had to learn how to write and solve chemistry equations that involved a lot of writing and math, she somehow mad it fun and interesting.

Below are a few pictures I could find from my high school science experiments.

And the fun doesn't have to stop after you graduate high school! The two science courses I have taken at University of Maine at Farmington include geology with Dr. Gibson and elementary chemistry with Dr. Morocco, both were interesting, fun, and full of hands-on activities!

I definitely need to thank the science teachers I had throughout my schooling for helping spark my interest and love for science!

**All activities discussed above can be modified and incorporated into a kindergarten to third grade curriculum.

Chicken Life Cycle Journal and Powerpoint from this teachers blog: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chicken-Life-Cycle-Journal-and-Powerpoint-3891158
Other class pets options include fish, hamster, gerbil, mouse, rat, guinea pig, birds, reptiles, snake, rabbit, hermit crab.
Use play dough or model magic to build 3D replicas and models.
Milk, food coloring, and dish soup experiment: