I am currently sitting in a glass-walled work room in Hunt Library on NC State’s campus. This building is one of my favorite spaces–its design could serve as a model for an amazing middle school someday.

In this room, I can control the temperature and lighting. I can wirelessly connect my laptop to the television for collaboration if needed. I can set a “noise-masking” function for the room if I were a middle-schooler in a group trying to plan a top-secret presentation that would blow my classmates’ minds. From the windows, I see thousands of books in rows on shelves set against a background of healthy, green trees. I can gain perspective here.

Location is important. For the past three weeks, the Students Discover group of Kenan Fellows has been located in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and many of us stayed in the Holiday Inn downtown. This common location has provided ample opportunity for working together, challenging each other, discussing crazy ideas, dreaming, supporting, celebrating.

We’ve had success with some pretty lofty goals. I can’t explain how impressed I am with Team Dirt for making science accessible for students and teachers will little funds and support. Those of us who believe in public education because of the opportunity that it provides for everyone are grateful for Team Dirt giving priority to making their project accessible. Team Ants made videos of ants’ behaviors so that even a class with limited equipment can participate in their project. Team Jaws is utilizing 3-D printing of sharks’ teeth to open their project to teachers and students who do not have access to actual shark teeth. Those of us on Team eMammal are connecting interested teachers with the museum to gain access to high quality camera traps. We’ve all spent considerable time making our lesson plans approachable for teachers who have not participated in the fellowship.

And, at times, it has been frustrating:
What in the world are these numbers I’m looking at?  I’m not sure I’m cut out for this.
Why are there so many meetings?
I can’t concentrate with a thousand people talking.
WHY DOESN’T THE WIFI WORK?

But the amount of support from each other, Kenan, Your Wild Life, the museum, Students Discover, our post-docs (Thanks again, @FancyScientist!), etc. etc. was overwhelming and allowed us to overcome our challenges.

For the past three weeks, I’ve only been in one location with eleven other Kenan Fellows. There are Kenan Fellows all over the state accomplishing similar things. And on Monday, all 42 of us will be reunited in this library for three days to round out our summer experience. We will undoubtedly recount our successes and failures and challenges and accomplishments and be presented with a time and space to reflect, discuss, dream, support, commiserate, celebrate. And we’ll all gain perspective. Location is important. Looking forward to being together on Monday!

Team eMammal!

The great part of Citizen Science is that my students will be helping gather data for the eMammal project. My kids’ collection and identification of the photos they get will allow Dr. Schuttler to answer certain questions about animal activity around schools.

One of the questions being explored is super interesting:

Do animals change their behavior based on the school schedule? Are animals more active after everyone goes home for the day? For the weekend? For an extended break?

I am excited to play a part in real science through collecting this data for the eMammal team.

Tomorrow begins Week 2 at the Nature Research Center, which is part of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Many of us have already expressed disappointment that Week 1 is over… this experience has been amazing.

I believe that we learn best through experiencing things. We learn our best lessons about interpersonal relationships through making and maintaining friendships, but also through losing touch with people or sometimes actively choosing to end friendships. We learn our best lessons about how to be good employees through gaining promotions, being written up, and setting and maintaining personal goals.

It only logically follows that we learn our best lessons about how to be an attentive scientist, an inspired historian, a talented linguist, a brilliant artist or a curious mathematician through experience.

The good folks at the Kenan Fellows Program completely immerse you in your fellowship. You have no choice but to learn through experience. As an educator, I strive to do the same for my students–and at times, I succeed. I try to design lessons to hit the senses and get kids active, but there is always room to grow. And this is one area in which my fellowship has already inspired me to be a better educator.

We have a long list of goals that we are tackling in the next couple of weeks. We’re delegating some, sharing some, and peer-editing all of them.

I can’t wait to inspire the same sense of awe and curiosity about mammals that Dr. Schuttler and Dr. Kays have inspired in me.

Week 2 holds a lot–small mammal trapping, curriculum development, data analysis, field guide creation, and more…

Also, Week 2 holds my third anniversary with this lovely lady:

Life’s good.