Science Autobiography

Joy. Rapture. Bliss. Science?

I have the briefest of memories of standing in my kitchen, most likely around age 7. My older brother, who was 11 or 12 at the time, was teaching me how to write in invisible ink. Basically, you dipped a paintbrush into some mixture (all I remember is it containing lemon juice) and writing on black construction paper. Then we would put it in the oven until the words or pictures appeared on the paper. I have no clue what prompted us to do this experiment, or, truly, why my sensible mother would ever have left us alone while using the oven at an age when we couldn’t even ride to school without getting into a fight. The glaring memory I have of this is it being the last time that I truly enjoyed a science lesson.
In school, I have always gravitated towards the subjects of literature and social studies. Science and math were and are the bane of my existence. I like to be able to think critically about a problem and come up with several different solutions. As a general statement, in science and math, there are different ways to arrive at the same solution, but very rarely are there different solutions. My personal theory is that the way that my brain is wired and my love of reading and books has never really facilitated in me a great love of science.
I remember taking AP Chemistry, the last science class that I have taken to date, as a Junior in High School. My teacher opened our class with the following sentences “Just so you know, I’m applying for my National Boards this year, so this class isn’t my first priority. Keep that in consideration when you’re putting effort into your homework or studying. Thanks.” As a future teacher, I am appalled by these statements, and her attitude toward us that year. As a student who didn’t particularly like science, I was thrilled.
Some things that I find interesting about the subject of science are different facts about chemical reactions, and how different combinations can lead to such different reactions and a different process of events. I also find pretty much any experiment involving a Bunsen burner interesting. Though I must admit that it is stereotypical to associate Bunsen burners and chemical experiments with science, they are the two things that I find most interesting. Plus, anything that can be suspended over an open flame and studied is just too cool.
I think that my lack of interest in the subject of science has to do with the way in which it was presented to me in my early education. Science always seemed to be such a task. It was never an enjoyable or exciting experiment. It was something my teachers had to fit in and usually made a huge fuss over. Something along the lines of reading, which we got to do every day and seemed so uncomplicated, was much more appealing to me.