As a student researcher in an ecology laboratory, at the same time that I was taking educational psychology, I continued to think about

the way my research advisor explained our project to us. I knew that we were studying population dynamics, but we were not actively engaging with the topic; we were following procedures that many other students had followed, without probing the environmental problems we were faced with. What was missing, was an effort to develop interest and meta-awareness, of the larger biological processes that we were questioning. What I realized, is that I enjoy learning and working with biological problems, but I am more interested in how people learn about biology and other scientific fields. Because of my developing interest in the learning process, I have reorganized my college schedule to include many education courses. In my experience, students in science classrooms are not scaffolded appropriately. Part of the work in a science classroom, is for students to be able to learn how to study for exams-which often leads to large quantities of memorization. Challenging science can still be part of the curriculum without this extraneous step. Rather, students should learn how to formulate hypotheses, ask questions, and design experiments. Instead of learning about past landmark papers, students should be presented with some background, and then challenged to solve inherent problems. Even if a student doesnt have the technical skills to design a procedure, knowing the questions and goals of a research project are the most important steps. For my working theory of instruction, as part of my educational psychology course, I am rejecting the hypothesis that some people can or cannot learn science. Logical thinking is an important skill, but it can be learned, and developed, in conjunction with other academic abilities. In my educational psychology class, we have discussed in depth, strategies for learning, and the types of environments that can be conducive or limiting. Students that have a clearer picture of why their work matters, are more likely to succeed. In a simple manipulation by Hulleman and Harackiewicz (2009), the students that wrote about the utility of their learning, rather than summaries experienced significantly better outcomes. Students that are able to think of themselves as incremental learners, with a malleable theory of intelligence can treat failures as a change for further growth, rather than an insurmountable stumbling block (Dweck, 2000). I hope to attend the America Educational Research Association annual meeting, because I want a chance to learn more about current research into the intersection of science education and interest development. I hope to continue in educational research during my education, and I want to take the opportunity of AERA to explore possibilities. I am also very interested to meet other mentors, and to hear more about how educational psychology research can be done in effective ways to generate positive outcomes for students. After I graduate from Swarthmore college, I hope to pursue a graduate degree in science education, specifically into interest development and metacognition.