27 February 2014 Youth Poster Session and Homework: Meet Aislinn "Ace"

"Girls just wanna have fun! Oh girls just wanna have...
Thats all we really want! Oh girls just wanna have fun!"

Thanks Cindi Lauper for the lyrics

Ace presents: Plastics in the Ocean Meet Aislinn Lavoie Meet Aislinn What’s in the Bag?

So, I get to Hawaii and what does my teacher make us do? Make a video about something from the Ocean Science Conference! Well,doing it on the talks from the posters is out, and so is doing it on all of our field trips, because my trip mates have already claimed those topics.

But I could do it on the experience of being an eighth grader at the conference or I could do something out of the box! Why not ask female scientist about themselves or... What they carry with them in a purse or a bag to a science conference! This way I can do what I do best and that is talk to people.

I did just that! I asked five random female scientist what they carry in the purses or backpacks, and they had normal things such as pens, notebooks, and usually a computer or phone. But that was it, nothing unusual! But then I got a great idea! I will ask the guys what they have in there backpacks and compare the two! They also had the normal pens, notebooks, and some kind of electronic device.

Dr. Matsumoto shares "What's in his bag"

This was fun, but I didn’t really get anything strange, unique or unusual, nothing bizarre enough to say “wow”, except for, of course, Dr. Matsumoto’s candy!

Although I started out looking for a difference between the men and women scientist I found something more! I saw that when I asked the women they “kinda” looked at me funny and were a little shaky to show the things in their bags. But the guys were very happy to do it! Of course there were a few that thought it was weird but the others very willingly said "Sure!". The guys would take out the things they had in their bags and go into detail of what they were and why they had it!

So, I started out wondering what female scientists carried in their purses or backpacks, then I altered my question to see if there was a difference between what the male and female scientist carried to the conference. But the real bonus is that I learned even more than that! I learned that the male and female scientists had many similar things in their bags, but they had different reactions to my request, which was to “know” what was inside of their bags.

So I guess for this video, I became a curious scientist myself. I watched how the process, my question,** shifted as I began collecting data. And well, I didn’t carry a bag, so I can’t tell you what was in my bag, but I did add some things to Katrina’s bag!

Katrina and Ace get participation awards at the Youth Poster Session, hosted by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Center for Microbial Observation: Research and Education

Aloha http://youtu.be/95sRNeNbVCo