Welcome to the 30 Day Challenge for July, where we’ll be looking at the STEM fields: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. I originally conceived of the as the Science & Math Challenge so those two categories will get more attention, but we will touch on all of them.

Today we want to know about your formative experiences learning about science. For most people this probably happened in school, but maybe you had a parent or other respected adult who introduced you to science in their own way.

• Was learning science fun or was it a chore?
• What topics or specialties did you particularly enjoy? Which ones did you hate?
• Are there any demonstrations or laboratory experiences that stood out for good or bad reasons?
• Did “interest in science” equal “nerd” in your peer group? Was that label a mark of shame or a badge of honor?
• If you continued to study science after high school, what were those learning experiences like?

Bonus question: If you could give today’s science teachers one piece of advice, what would it be?

NB 1: Formative math experiences will get its own day tomorrow.

NB 2: Science Museums will get their own day as well.