All through my externship at the Nature Research Center in Raleigh I have had many “aha” moments, from finding interesting shark teeth and identifying interesting shark teeth, to realizing the difference  in teeth arrangement between upper and lower shark jaws, and differences in teeth morphology from the center of the jaw to the back sides of the jaw. It is so interesting and amazing! The form and structure of each tooth is so important in the bite….

But also, as I write the lessons for my students I continue having “aha moments”: As I start thinking on the process of analysis of data after my students collect the data, I think, wow! with this data they can see the importance of graphing dot plots,  creating box plots to analyze distribution and variability in teeth sizes. They can actually apply all they learn in math to the analysis of this data,  and draw conclusions that will help scientists with their research-real world application of math and science! How cool! My 6th graders could even find the MAD (Mean absolute deviation), to see its importance when analyzing information. How cool it is to teach and learn math and science this way.