Liberally sprinkled with science

I'm posting this mainly to link to an interesting post from Rob the Dirty Liberal on an interesting approach to university-level science education. (I found my way there via the new Teaching Carnival, by the way.)

I went to a liberal arts school because I do believe, strongly, that there's something valuable about having a well-rounded education. This seems like a possible way to give people a well-rounded science education, if it does all hang together, much like my classical humanities course. Too often, I think, students who are interested in a liberal arts education stumble through one of the sciences without seeing where it fits in the big picture--combining them might help some.

Also, Radical Russ posts an interesting animated map of Bush's approval ratings. If your computer isn't liking the changing images, just look at the end points: November 2004 and March 2006. I think the changes over time are informative, though, and if you can, you should look at the animated map. (What can I say? I'm a liberal and like these things.)

School continues. I wish I were sleeping more. Oh, well. I can do anything for six weeks, right? (How do I only have six more weeks--well, eight counting orals and exams--of being an undergrad left?)

Those who can, teach.

I guess I didn't update for a while. I blame school.

However, it's spring break! Wooooo! Last week was pretty hellish; I had huge, major assignments due in every class, including a seminar to my whole department on my thesis. My talk went really well, though; I tend to think of myself as someone who's terrible at public speaking, but it went smoothly, and everyone said I didn't appear nervous and got the information across well.

Here's the thing: I wasn't nervous. I was presenting on something I knew well--my research of the past nine months--to people who wanted to understand it. And it was great, other than the fact that I was sleep-deprived and thinking of how I needed to get studying for my exam the next day.

Which means I immediately started thinking again about how much I love sharing my chemistry knowledge. And would love to teach, if I could just get over my fear of talking in front of people--which apparently vanishes when I'm talking about a subject I feel confident in, like chemistry I know well instead of music I've been researching for a week or something.

So maybe academia is for me, after all. I know I function well on the long stretches of intense work followed by some time I can schedule myself. I am pretty decent at juggling a lot of responsibilities, too--better when I'm saner, and I get more sane every day, I think. We'll see, I guess.

I still don't know if I'm ready to leave Portland, or to leave chemistry. I know materials science is a lot like chemistry, but it's not quite the same. Am I ready for the big switch? Am I ready for grad school at all? I think the answer to the latter is demonstably yes, but do I really want to go to grad school next year? I've wanted to take a year off for the last three years, and this is pretty much my last chance. Hmm....

Well, now to get down to work. I know it's break, but I have a lot to get out the door by the end of the week.

-Jenn-