Since I can remember, I have been asking questions. My parents called me “Miss Investigation”. I am the weird kid playing with butterflies and watching ladybugs on the playground.After going home from school, I overeated How to do this On the Science Channel. Oh, that’s why my bubble gum is so sticky! Or, this is what they put in Oreo, really? I wonder. Seeing all this, you would think that STEM is a great fit for me, right? For a long time, I thought so too.My first impression of this field is that it will satisfy my relentless desire for understanding Why. But as I grow up, this seems to be getting farther and farther away from the truth.
In high school, when I finally had academic freedom to explore my interests, I took full advantage of this. To plan my own courses, I loaded every science course I could find. Chemistry, biology, whatever you say, it’s all on my schedule. Although I am not sure what I want to pursue in STEM, I hope these courses will help me find the answer. By the third year, I was still hesitant and even more worried, because this should be the hardest point in high school. There are some of the most difficult courses on my agenda. AP Chemistry, Calculus AB-most of my peers hardly look again. But when I started to research these materials, I finally understood why they would shrink back and why I always hear many of my friends asking “When should I use this?” or “When can this help me?”
What disappoints me is that the reality of studying these “hard sciences” is far from the way the media shows it—not like anything I see while watching all Those plots How is this done? When you have to remember so many formulas, constants and theorems, it is easy to get lost in the complexity of all these.After all, when you really don’t know why you have to remember a bunch of numbers, how motivated it is matter Use them? Trust me when I say I am totally sympathetic!it Yes hard.
This is why I almost gave up pursuing STEM. I clearly remember that when reviewing the basics of elemental composition in AP Chemistry, I asked myself, Why do I even need to know this, and what is the point of all this? I kept beating my mechanical pencil on the table for five minutes. I was stumped by this problem and hardly had the stamina to continue. Fortunately, this task did not expire until a week later, when I finally received a wake-up call that I never knew I needed.
I didn’t expect such a breakthrough in my AP psychology class, but it was Ms. Brown’s unique teaching method that made me reconsider giving up all my ideas-my desire to pursue STEM, that is to say. She warned us in advance that neuroscience is one of the most challenging subjects this year, and after my recent influence on chemistry, I honestly don’t expect it.
After she briefly introduced the unit to our class, she immediately divided us into Zoom breakout rooms to analyze real-world scenarios in neuroscience terms. I especially remember a man who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident and did not feel any pain. She suddenly appeared in our room, waiting patiently for the answer, which surprised us.I always hate awkward silence only To break the tension, I joked, “Well, the adrenal glands of the endocrine system release adrenaline, which reduces the feeling of pain, so that a man feels stronger temporarily and controls his situation.” She appreciated my participation and gently when she left the room Scolded the student who turned off the camera.
I think i might like this I wonder. Soon, one of my peers unmute and said: “Wow, you are really good at this!” But at the time, I didn’t think it was my skill, but my love for neuroscience reignited my discovery. Why. What makes people happy, biologically, what is real continue? Which factors in our brain conspire to create a certain thought, reaction, or emotion? But more important than these provocative questions is that we still know a lot about the brain-which means I have more to discover!
So, if you really want to know why more young people are not entering STEM, I hope you can remember this story.Although I may not have a specific answer, I do have my own experience and know Why-Where your study will take you-is a powerful feeling.
This is an opinion and analysis article; opinions expressed Author or author Not necessarily those Scientific american.