Diana Miculescu

13 March 2019

Science Odyssey Night Reflection

The community event I attended and volunteered at was Science Odyssey Night at

Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Georgia. This event was hosted by the National Science

Society at Collins Hill and sponsored by my mentor teacher and another colleague of hers. The

purpose of this event was for National Science Society members, which are students of mainly

junior and senior level to present a research project based on The Science of Hollywood theme.

Students chose a science topic from a movie to research and create a informational poster board.

This event was open to members of the community, including students, parents, and teachers.

The event lasted from 6:00 to 7:30 pm, but members presenting arrived at 5:00 pm to set up their

presentations. To increase student involvement, science teachers at Collins Hill High School

offered extra credit for student attendance and engagement in seven booths/presentations. To

keep track of student involvement, students wanting extra credit filled out an information sheet

with answers to two questions the presenters posed after each presentation. I volunteered, along

with six other teachers to monitor the event and make sure students stay in the commons area

and abide to Collins Hill High School policies.

As the event died down, I could walk around to actually be an attendee, listening to the

projects. As an individual with formal education of the sciences, once I was able to switch

from my role as a volunteer to an event attendee, I was able to have specific scientific

conversations with students presenting their project topics. As I visited students, some were

extremely interested in their projects. passionate about. Since the projects were based on

cultural and community perspectives such as current media, students pulled science aspects
from movies. These science topics included global warming, neuroscience, biotechnology,

animal biology, conversation issues, etc. Observing how students, parents, and teachers

interacted together to share and learn science was an experience to remember. To see how

students can get the community interested in science topics through cultural objects such as

movies demonstrated the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy in extracurricular

activities and within the classroom.

Adopting strategies with allow students to use cultural objects and actions as a vehicle

for learning supports learners’ motivation and allows learners to personally connect to

content. Culturally relevant pedagogy, as observed during my volunteer work, allows students to

be liberated from oppressive instruction and empowers students to do rather than duplicate (Gay,

2010; Lipmann, 1995). As an individual passionate about the sciences, reflecting on this

experience has encouraged me to be involved in science clubs in my future teaching career.

 References

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers
College Press.
Lipman, P. (1995). Bringing out the best in them: The contribution of culturally relevant teachers
to education reform. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 202-208. Retrieved from:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED374173.pdf