“She’s a great teacher! Great teaching! Great teacher… Yyyeeeeeooowwwww!”
Singing a spoof of “Super Freak” that would make “Weird Al” Yankovic proud, Crystal Uminski recently put on a show that earned her applause, a $1,000 prize, and a spot at the top of the latest Science Slam. the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Held August 18, the virtual, live-streamed event continued Nebraska’s legacy as the first American university to embrace science slam: a sibling of poetic slam whose performers compete to communicate their science with equal verve, of style and spirit they can muster.
Uminski more than pulled off the rally with his musical tribute to the late Rick James and the event’s prompt, “Tell us about a time during your research when you found out you were wrong.” Inspired by a panel from Nathan Pyle’s “Strange Planet” comic book series, the prompt prompted slammers to reflect on the knowledge their mistake imparted to them, how it helped them grow, and how from which the scientific process benefits.
“I think great scientists totally embrace and love being proven wrong,” said Jocelyn Bosley, event organizer, co-host and research impact coordinator at the Office of research and economic development of Nebraska. “What I love about all the discussions… is (that) you really get a sense of the emotional journey that science is.
“That’s what science is. It’s not just about being objective and in the lab. Science is all experience. It’s a roller coaster ride, but it’s awesome. »
Unbeknownst to her, Uminski bought a ticket for this ride when she took over as the head of a high school class, taking on the challenge of teaching biology and earth science after assembling a littered college transcript. by A.
“I was convinced that I was going to be a great teacher,” said Uminski, now a three-time science slam veteran, first-time winner and doctoral student in biological sciences at Nebraska. “But then I started teaching – and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
“I was coming to these times where I was just over-stressed, overworked, underpaid and just, like, frantic. And I would make some not-so-great education choices. I ended up relying too much on lectures and memorizing science facts. And unsurprisingly, no one was having a great time in my class, myself included. I would be halfway through this lecture and half my class was half asleep. »
So Uminski began to approach his teaching as a scientist would approach a research question. She made observations: were her students awake? Were they engaged? She collected data in the form of homework questions, quizzes, and tests, then analyzed it to evaluate various teaching methods.
“Once I started thinking about education as a kind of scientific process, I was hooked,” Uminski told the audience, explaining why she decided to study STEM-based education in Nebraska. . “But it took a lot of failures for me to get to this point, and those failures have really helped inform the work I do now.”
Then came the song, an a cappella tour de force that helped Uminski win 36% of over 160 votes from the public and lend credence to the third-time adage as a charm.
Six other slammers, ranging from undergraduates to graduate students to professors, also joined the fray. Some were Huskers, performing from the local confines of Lincoln. Others participated from elsewhere in the United States or, in the case of Yarelis Acevedo from Puerto Rico and Leonardo Parreira from Brazil, even from abroad.
If Uminski’s musical styles propelled her to victory, it was a visual gag from Parreira that earned her second place – and the biggest laugh of the night. But Parreira incorporated the humor from the get-go, showing up with an absurdist catch-22-worthy track.
“As I don’t speak a word of English,” he began, “my life colleague and good friend George wrote it all down in English for your better understanding. So I’m going to read it to you guys.
“‘Hi everyone. It’s Georges. Everything that idiot Leonardo says, I wrote down.”
George/Leonardo began shuffling a deck of cards, each featuring a potential side effect of a chemotherapy drug. He showed one on camera – “Erectile Dysfunction” – told the audience to memorize it, then, like any magician worthy of a wand, he made it disappear. This magic, the Brazilian would explain, comes from the Brazil nut. While studying potential counters to side effects in rats, Parreira fed the rats one Brazil nut daily in hopes of finding evidence that it might combat their erectile dysfunction. Two years later? No.
“In science, we learn that all results are results – even bad ones,” said George/Leonardo. “So Leonardo decided to increase the amount of Brazil nuts offered to the rats. We know that Brazil nuts act directly in the testicles,” he said, eating a Brazil nut, “increase levels of testosterone,” he continued, eating another, “sperm production,” another, “and probably libido.”
Like magic, Parreira’s gray tie began to pop out of his white shirt, rising at a 120-degree angle as his eyes flicked shyly to the right. George/Leonardo finally got his bearings, pulling the tie back on his shirt before explaining that, yes, several Brazil nuts a day finally did the trick.
Wini Waters, meanwhile, told a story that played the opposite role to Uminski’s: She enrolled as a doctoral student in Nebraska in hopes of embarking on a career in research. It was only later that she would reject the assumption that she wanted to join academia, which she eventually left to teach high school chemistry in Chicago.
Each of the seven performances embodied what Husker slammer Ashley Foltz described as “how to successfully fail,” whether mistaking a standard electric current for a technological triumph or struggling for a year to extract bacteria’s DNA from roundworms.
“It’s not just the results; it’s the process,” Bosley said of the science. “It’s not about answers; it’s about the questions. Being wrong sometimes raises a lot more questions than being right. And questions are what move science forward. »
What is The Moth org?
The Moth is a New York-based nonprofit group dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of themed storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring prominent literary and cultural figures.
What opportunities does The Moth offer? MothWorks offers custom workshops and private events. Read also : The WHA report shows that patients treated for multiple and complex health conditions account for 13% of Washington’s health care costs.. Using the seven principles of moth storytelling, developed through work with over twenty thousand storytellers, our workshops introduce vocabulary for storytelling and develop practical storytelling solutions for businesses.
What is The Moth program?
The Moth’s mission is to promote the art and craft of storytelling and to honor and celebrate the diversity and community of human experience. Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has featured thousands of stories told live and without notes.
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Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has hosted events where over 3,000 stories have been told to live audiences. See the article : Who should do a master’s degree in computer science?. This hip American storytelling behemoth — named after the moths drawn to porch lights when people gather to share stories — also runs Moth Radio Hour, which airs on 250 stations in the United States.
Are there any storytelling radio stations?
Live Tales – KRTS 93.5 FM Marfa Public RadioKRTS 93. To see also : Maybe You Are Better In Science Than You Think, New ‘Citizen Science’ Education Outlines.5 FM Marfa Public Radio.
What is the most listened to news radio station? NPR has an overall weekly audience of 57 million listeners across all shows and platforms as of 2020, with an increasing proportion of that figure coming from off-air platforms.
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According to Real TV Addict’s Michael Hawk, the top five fictional channels in (American) TV are WKRP, WNYX, KBHR, WENN, and KACL.
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Radio drama remains popular in much of the world, although most content is now available for download from the Internet rather than broadcast via terrestrial or satellite radio. Stations producing radio drama often commission a large number of scripts.
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If you like short stories, listen to these 10 podcasts
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name. When moths are most prominent.
What does the hour of the butterfly indicate? When moths are most prominent.
What is the meaning of dawn Don?
1: Begin to grow light as the sun rises waited for day to break. 2: begin to appear or develop a new era opens.
Why is the time called moth hour in Ballad of Father Gilligan?
The hour of the butterfly in this poem represents an in-between time, a period of transition and opportunity. It is an early evening or early morning time when the moths come out and flutter in the dying or rising light. It thus symbolizes the death and resurrection of a human being.
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Record Your Story Now hit record and wow us with a 2 minute pitch of your story! Tell us the real story – not what it is or what it could be. Give us an idea of your story arc and how your story has changed you.
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When the doors open, budding storytellers write their names in the moth’s hat. Half an hour later, the names are chosen and, one by one, the storytellers take the stage. The ten stories presented are scored by teams of judges selected from the audience.
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Storytelling tips and tricks
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