ATAR Notes: Forum

Uni Stuff => General University Discussion and Queries => The University Journey Journal => Topic started by: Bri MT on January 16, 2018, 05:11:01 pm

Title: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on January 16, 2018, 05:11:01 pm
As you may or may not know, today I was very relieved and excited to receive an offer for my first preference, Bachelor of Science Advanced - Global Challenges (Honours). So excited that I thought I might keep a journey journal.

-Quick info-
Duration: 4 years
Location: Monash Clayton
Website: https://www.monash.edu/global-challenges
Clearly in: n/a as it is a range of criteria  but last year only 90+ ATARs got in
Edited with update: This year there were <90 ATARs accepted. It was very much based on the specific criteria/qualities for this course

Entrance
This is based on a range of criteria with the first step, the supplementary form, due in November. In the form you answer 3 questions. The first is about what you do (volunteering, leadership, extracurriculars etc.), the second is a creative solution to a global issue (I focused on tackling dehydration using a combo of VCE psych, chem and bio knowledge later supplemented by online research), and the third is about how your values and interests align with the course.

Future students: Obviously you don't want to be completing the form at the same time as you are panicking for exams, I recommend finishing the vast majority of it before October. I used the walk to highschool (35 min each way) to think about it and it took me a week to come up with an idea that I liked so be prepared to spend lots of time thinking, and then writing, and then editing to the word limit.

After the supplementary form you get your VCE results and those in conjunction with the supplementary form determine if you get an interview. I was allocated to the first day of interviews and was the first student there because I arrived about an hour early. Upon exiting the interview (which last for a bit under half an hour) I entered a strong state of mental cringing at myself but those feelings subsided with time. At the interview you also receive the dates for pre-enrolment day and the camp.

What is the course?
The same majors are available as to any other science student at Monash with the same units to select from. However, there is also communication, leadership, and entrepreneurship training built into the course. An internship is also included. The fourth year is dedicated to applying the skills learnt thus far by collaborating to create impact through science.
The end result should be a graduate with the scientific, leadership, communication, and entrepreneurship skills to tackle global challenges

I chose this course because I love science, leadership, and the idea of helping to make the world a better place.

Forward planner:
- Pre-enrollment day with science faculty (this week)
- 3 day camp with my course mates "focus on rapid group bonding"  (February)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Vaike on January 16, 2018, 09:22:37 pm
Keen to hear your experiences miniturtle! Sounds like a very interesting course :) 
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: zhen on January 16, 2018, 09:49:53 pm
I’m really looking forward to reading your journal.  :) It’s going to be a change from VCE when I was writing my own journal to now where I’ll be the one lurking and secretly reading everyone’s journal.  :P
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on January 20, 2018, 02:51:03 pm
Pre enrolment was great.
Each course had its own information session, so we weren't mixed in with standard science or research students. The information about subject selection and enrolment was all available online but we received more information about the camp, 4th year, and the course in general.  Although the news that we would all need to be at uni at 9am on Friday wasn't entirely welcomed, the cohort was enthusiastic about most other things. Within a few minutes of the information session finishing we all took a group photo, joined an informal fb group and chat and had our names and sizes written down for course hoodies. Soon after I went to an information session on studying life sciences with some other GCers, then the same for chemistry. 
I was glad to see the group start come together so quickly - hopefully we continue to bond and become a highly effective team.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: fantasticbeasts3 on January 20, 2018, 03:23:19 pm
hi miniturtle!!

so good to hear everything's going well. :-)

all the best for uni!
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on February 07, 2018, 08:04:50 pm
Units:
MTH1020: Analysis of Change   - the maths for people who did methods
CHM1051: Advanced Chemistry -  the subject reviews indicate better labs in this stream
BIO1011: Biology - this is the unit that will have the most students in it
SCI1051: Impact through Science - this is with my fellow GCers

In regards to my timetable I have 3 8am starts - but I chose those slots intentionally so no complaining from me.  if I'd gotten my first preferences for all units I wouldn't have needed to come in on Mondays but now I'm coming in everyday. Although it's not completely ideal I don't mind too much because I've been looking forward to uni for a long time. I'm a bit guarded because I don't want to be disappointing but when I allow it I'm very excited to be a student, to study my course, and to connect with people who love learning as much as I do.

Coming up:
Next week I have my camp! We're leaving early so I can tell all three days will be packed full of experiences. Keen to escape to nature, to do team building again and to see the GCers irl again. We've done lots of speculation about it and it'll be interesting to see how accurate our serious guesses were.
The day after I get back from camp I have Monash Access Mentor training. The people I talked to before interviews seemed interesting and like they'd have a lot to bring to the program - I hope they were selected. I've got a lot of ideas that I want to try out on whichever highschool students I'm assigned to and I'm curious about what ideas others have.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Vaike on February 07, 2018, 08:17:08 pm
CHM1051: Advanced Chemistry -  the subject reviews indicate better labs in this stream

Whoop, looking forward to some fun labs 8)

In regards to my timetable I have 3 8am starts - but I chose those slots intentionally so no complaining from me.

As someone who is most definitely not a morning person, I don't understand how you can put yourself through such a thing lol. Looking forward to hearing about your camp :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on February 19, 2018, 07:42:15 am
Today is the first day of O-Week (orientation)!

I'm not going to give away too much information about the camp but it was a great experience and we certainly have gotten a lot closer as a cohort.
Throughout the camp we could talk to our course advisor and to 3rd year students which was very valuable in terms of learning about the course, how we got selected, and where we are going.

Training for the Monash Access Mentor program was the day after. As a first year, I'm in the Champions program which means I will be working with a couple of other mentors to facillitate groups of year 9 and 10 students completing projects. We will be semi-dormant until April which is when we finish training and get to meet our mentees. I'm keen to see who they are,  what they're like, how they work together  and the ideas they can produce.

Right now I'm on a train headed for campus and science orientation. I imagine that campus is going to be petty hectic this week and I hope the energy is energising rather than overwhelming.  I can't wait to see the labs, lecture theatres, tutorial rooms, etc. That I'll be using. 
It still hasn't quite sunk in that I'm a uni student.  It's like I subconsciously believe that I was just attending another leadership camp and training for an extra curricula activity. Like pre-enrollment was just another open day. But it's not,  and I'm thinking that today might be when it really hits me - like receiving offers all over again.

19/02/18
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on April 06, 2018, 04:18:26 pm
It is now mid-semester break and a lot has happened.

SCI1501
Although one of the purposes of this journal is to help people (especially prospective students) understand what being a Global Challenger is about, I am going to intentionally keep information from you - we weren't told everything at the start so I'm not going to tell you everything before you start.

I now have knowledge of all my assessments this semester and I'm going to share with you information about my first assessed SCI1501 task and the main assessed task. The assessments do change each year - the course is very malleable and each year level so far has had a slightly different experience.

The first one - the flash talk
This was about being able to present information about science in a clear, engaging and content-rich manner within a short time-frame.
Science communication is really one of the key focuses of this unit

On a related note, learning how to effectively give and receive feedback is also a key focus. It's a skill that sounds simple but has hidden complexities and will be useful to you no matter where you go

Main assessment: The Leadership Quest
Easily the most intimidating assessment I will face this year. Some of the work which has evolved from GC assessments includes https://www.sistersinscience.net/ which aims to increase female engagement through the use of role-models and https://sockos.com.au/ which allows people to contribute to a UN sustainable development goal by purchasing a pair of socks.
Basically you see a challenge (scale doesn't matter too much) and use the skills you have learnt to address it.

Some of you may know the frustration I felt at not having specialist maths offered at my high school, or you may be aware that my physics class was nearly cancelled. Not my school's fault - it can be hard to dedicate the resources to have that subject taught given the low levels of interest for it. This isn't just a personal issue; it's systemic. Student Family Occupation and Education (SFOE) and SES have disturbingly strong impacts on students choosing math and science subjects. eg. in a 2000 report they found these things:
  "the strongest association (between parents' education and subject enrollment) can be seen in the physical sciences,where students whose parents had undertaken higher education were more than twice as likely to be enrolled than those students whose parents had reached middle secondary level" and
"55 per cent of the students in specialist mathematics had parents from the highest educational level." (read more : https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=lsay_research)
And of course if there aren't enough students to run a class the few students who are interested will miss out, and science will miss out from the continued reduction in diversity and perspectives.
As you may have guessed, I plan to target this issue in my leadership quest.

My other subjects:
Bio is a bit strange because it isn't streamed. So you have people to whom the concepts are mostly revision and others who are seeing everything for the first time. Additionally, in the first few weeks VCE chem was very useful so people who had studied neither chem nor bio were really struggling.
Regardless of studying subjects before hand, there is a lot of content - so if you have done bio before don't get complacent. There are marked post-lectorial quizzes every week and optional follow up quizzes. Many people choose to Google the answers these quizzes. I think this is a good example of how uni is different:this isn't highschool and no-one is going to say "do the optional follow up daily to get a good mark"[I don't actually do that] or anything, so it's really up to you to prioritise your time and workload to ensure you retain concepts. On the other hand, the support and resources are available if you want them - you just need to actively make the choice.

Chem Adv is pretty similar to standard chem except that we have longer labs and bits and pieces of additional conceptual grounding. In the first week it was a very significant advantage to have done VCE physics. This is my most conceptually difficult subject and the one for which (imo) prereadings are most vital. My first lab was the most daunting despite being the most simplistic (titrations) simply because it was solo work and our first experience in the labs (though the person across from me being rushed to hospital partway through didn't help either). It's important to prepare for the labs in advance not just for your grades (there is a prelab quiz) but also so that a) you understand what you're doing and b) you can work efficiently, neatly and save time. We tend to finish and leave before the full four hours are up but I certainly wouldn't rely on that being the case.

Math 1020 was quickly identified as a subject I like and was the clear winner in the first few weeks out of everything expect SCI1501 (which is just a whole different league to anything). The lectures are split into two streams each with a different lecturer. I cannot recommend enough that you find which one suits your learning style and make all 3 of your lectures be with that lecturer. It is very disorientating to switch from one style to another and I personally don't find the other stream anywhere near as engaging. My stream is really about developing intuitive understanding and working with others to debate question answers during the lecture. The other stream takes a slower pace, goes step by step through the formulas and instead has its questions at the end. There's no prereading but I like to work through the lecture notes before lectures.

Other news:
- I was elected as the first year GC rep for MASS^3 which is the society for advanced science students. We have a trivia night coming up shortly which should be great :)
- Time management is being quite difficult especially with the travel time that I have, but I'm learning to make more effective use of that time. I wouldn't consider changing unis to be closer to home for even an instant but it can be draining
- Biology gives you assessments due during the mid-semester break even though you don't attend uni then which kinda sucks

Timeline:
- I'll complete the last of my Access Monash Mentor training this month and get to meet my mentees
- SCI1501 students also have events that occur outside normal contact hours. We have had 2 so far (3 if you count the great race - if anyone saw the picture of Star Wars people running round campus that was part of it) and there's another this week
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on June 05, 2018, 06:41:00 am
Today is my first uni exam (advanced chem) and I'm keen.  No, you didn't read that wrong,  I'm keen for the exam.  I've reached a point in my life where I'm completing an exam for university science and that is just such a wonderful thing.  I get to enter a room with my peers and provide proof that yeah,  I've been learning with other people who care just as much and want to delve deeper. I get to be assessed on my own merits and really genuinely be able to be shared luck and wish luck to others without reservation. 

In a week I will have determined my marks for the first semester of uni, and you can expect a long post shortly after that.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Joseph41 on June 25, 2018, 04:21:49 pm
Today is my first uni exam (advanced chem) and I'm keen.  No, you didn't read that wrong,  I'm keen for the exam.  I've reached a point in my life where I'm completing an exam for university science and that is just such a wonderful thing.  I get to enter a room with my peers and provide proof that yeah,  I've been learning with other people who care just as much and want to delve deeper. I get to be assessed on my own merits and really genuinely be able to be shared luck and wish luck to others without reservation. 

In a week I will have determined my marks for the first semester of uni, and you can expect a long post shortly after that.

I really love the sentiment of this post. Hope it went well for you!
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on June 27, 2018, 10:36:36 am
I'm going to start with the most recent and move back in time.


Yesterday I finished my mental health first aid course.
We began with an overview & looked at misconceptions, stats for mental disorders in Aus etc.
Then we looked at (day 1) depression, suicide, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, (day 2) trauma, traumatic events, psychosis, severe psychotic states, substance use problems and severe effects from alcohol & other drugs.

Lots of content to cover over the two days, especially as we kept asking questions, but it certainly didn't feel "doom and gloom"-y despite the sometimes heavy nature of what was being covered.

If there are two things I can leave with you I think it would be this:
a) diet and exercise matter a lot more than you probably think they do
b) if you think someone might be planning to kill themselves, ask, listen to what they have to say, avoid judgement & encourage them to connect to support



Unrelated: On my way home it felt great to walk past a sign at Southern Cross for the Wendouree train departing in 99 minutes (I was on that line last semester) over to the metro train which I now catch.    Travel to & from uni next semester is going to be great.
 

exams
The chem exam was alright. I went in feeling pretty psyched and I think I performed ok. The practice exams (both chm1051 and chm1011) were a pretty good indicator of what the actual exam was like.

The bio exam was SOOO much easier than we thought it would be. The revision questions were about 20 times more difficult, and the actual exam was based on the lectures NOT mastering biology.  It was slightly irritating to have invested so much time into revision only to be greeted with an easy exam that didn't require that depth of knowledge, but better safe than sorry I guess.

By maths I was busy stressing about packing for moving and just wanting exams over and done with. This is the subject I was least prepared for (math got a bit boring towards the end....) and I felt that while sitting the exam. I doubt I'll get a great score but I feel pretty safe that I'll get the marks I need for my course.      The days before the exam I was feeling quite unwell (probably made worse by stress) but fortunately I've conditioned myself to feel upbeat and positive on exam days & that kicked in once I arrived on campus & overrode my unwell-ness.   [ I usually prepare a nice brekky for myself, have everything completely ready, read a bit, go to bed early etc. the night before & loop positive self talk through my head on the day of the exam]

I really love the sentiment of this post. Hope it went well for you!

Thankyou! :)   I hope so too!       

week 12

Wow. This was a big week.

Monday:  Group presentation for CHM1051 due
Wednesday: Group presentation for BIO1011 due   (& we hadn't met up before this day due to everyone's timetable crashing)
Friday: Leadership quest Part A due, speakership presentation due

Luckily, I was with good people for both of the group presentations, who had done their research and were prepared to speak their parts.
Given that the speakership presentation was due at 9am of the Friday & I tend to prioritise GC work I focused pretty heavily on that throughout the week.
In particular, I spent a significant amount of Tuesday tweaking my 4 minute speech, refining it, and then memorising it. I arrived to the classroom at 8am and started practicing performing my speech in front of a couple of other classmates. By 8:50 Djuke (the course co-ordinator) had arrived and we started setting up the room. 9:00, I was allocated in the group of people who would present in the 2nd half of the workshop. Speeches began. Halfway time: I asked if I could speak last. The reason? I had decided I didn't like my speech, discarded my hours of preparation & decided to start from scratch using the approx 20 second breaks between presenters to create my new speech plan my delivery. It was a risk, but one definitely worth taking.  My speech was received well & soon after rushed off to finish-off my leadership quest portfolio part A.
Note: Impromptu-ing a speech can work if you know what you're doing. Impromptu-ing a leadership quest portfolio will not work.


Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: strawberries on June 27, 2018, 10:48:19 am
Good luck for your results! Enjoy the rest of your break and good luck for next semester too! :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on June 27, 2018, 11:04:48 am
Good luck for your results! Enjoy the rest of your break and good luck for next semester too! :)

Thankyou!  Best of luck to you too! :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on July 23, 2018, 10:30:35 am
Just had my first lecture of semester 2 which also happened to be my first time watching a lecture by livestream. It was a bit frustrating that I missed the start of the lecture due to "browser incompatibility" - the site told me to update adobe flash player despite this being fully updated so I was using trial and error to resolve the issue. Luckily since it was the first lecture much of what I missed was revision or general notices.  I prefer in person attendence but seeing as I only have one lecture on Mondays and Fridays the travel isn't worth it.

 In other news, it's great to start to see the projects my students mentees are working on in the Access Monash program start to come together. I've got most of my hours for the year which is great since I don't want to be stressing about activity hours (which come from things like facilliating highschool tours) at the end of semester. ( I'll still be doing mentoring until the end of the program, but that's very reliable as it's scheduled and waiting lists aren't applicable).

I'll be heading on campus later today for the mass^3 bbq and downball competition, I didn't get to catch up with my cohort much during the break (and I didn't communicate with non-commitee research students at all) so it'll be especially great to see some more familiar faces.

Finally, while writing this I opted out from the montrack program. It's nice that first year students have older students call them and check up on them, but I don't need it and I'd rather avoid the random phone calls.

Hope everyone has a great start of semester & that the highschool students aren't too freaked out by their first week back. The first couple of weeks of term 3 were the most hectic and stressful time for me in year 12, but it'll be over before you know it (in a good way)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Joseph41 on July 23, 2018, 01:12:21 pm
mass^3 bbq and downball competition

More information required.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on July 23, 2018, 03:37:14 pm
More information required.

So you know how there's a club or society for everything in uni? 
mass^3 is the society for monash advanced science students and I'm on the commitee representing first year GC students.

We planned this social event for our members to welcome them back to 2nd semester (although we have now changed it to free pizza instead of free bbq due to the weather) & encourage bonding in the advanced science community. We're also giving a small prize to the person who wins the downball comp.

In the past mass^3 has had significantly more engagement from research students so my main responsibility is to try and engage more global challenges  students in these events & mass^3 in general. It's a bit ironic that my role is needed given that the GC course explicitly promotes network building.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: K888 on July 24, 2018, 12:22:26 pm
Quote from: miniturtle
Finally, while writing this I opted out from the montrack program. It's nice that first year students have older students call them and check up on them, but I don't need it and I'd rather avoid the random phone calls.
You know, I didn't even realise you could opt out. This knowledge would have been useful last year! I just added the phone number to my contacts and ignored the calls every time they came haha
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: petermur7 on July 24, 2018, 04:41:52 pm
WOW!!! I'm full of energy after reading your posts. Looking forward to future updates.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on July 24, 2018, 09:19:40 pm
WOW!!! I'm full of energy after reading your posts. Looking forward to future updates.

Thankyou for the feedback!
I'll make sure to update soon :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on August 19, 2018, 05:50:55 pm
I had written up a few paragraphs week 3 Thursday  (week 4 for the high school students) but I have been able to find that document so I'm starting from scratch again.
biology
The first year global challenges students tend to hang out at Wholefoods (a very budget friendly vego place at the top of campus center, it has couches and stuff that we all sit on) and it was during one of the conversations here that I was persuaded to switch from BIO1022 (Second semester of standard bio) to BIO1042 (environmental biology).


I wanted to check with Science Student Services before changing units (even though I already knew it worked fine with my course progression plan) and I only had livestream lectures on Monday so I ended up talking to SSS Wednesday after my 8am BIO1022 lecture. At this point, you may be asking "why did you attend an 8 am lecture for a subject you're leaving?" and the answer to that, is because I am me ( 1. If I didn't transfer I would be glad not have missed it 2. If I did transfer, I would be missing out on learning this specific bio content...).


The good thing about seeing SSS at 9am is that there is absolutely no queue or wait time, so I was in and out in about 2 minutes as there were no issues. Since this was week 2, I could still change units on the Web Enrollment System and I did. This is when things started to get worrying. Since this was week 2, and labs for enviro had started I couldn't self enrol into a lab, and the first year biology office wasn't open yet. Furthermore, I couldn't yet access the enviro bio Moodle (online thing where you get infomration, view lectures/prereading, hand in assignments etc.) which means I couldn't do any pre-lab inductions. This was the last day that enviro bio labs would run for the week, so I made a decision: I went to the lab anyway. I told the staff there about my situation and there were some extra administrative hoops to jump through, but in the end I was officially enrolled into that lab session and had access to everything I needed. 

Environmentally biology labs are held in a classroom connected to the Jock Marshall reserve, and being able to casually look out onto the vegetation through the windows running all around the room really helps me feel at peace and gain that nice "relaxed focused attention" state. Even just listening to the introductions from everyone reassured me that I was in the right place, and once I learned that there were turtles in the reserve.....
Still, my favourite aspect is actually going out into the reserve, walking the paths between the trees and hearing wildlife calling out. I've always been at home in nature, and suspect that my wellbeing would be significantly worse if I was studying somewhere without much of it.


Everyone in the lab has a designated table that they work with for the semester, and each table was assigned a species to track over the semester to see if/how its behaviour was being influenced by global warming. My table was assigned Magpie Larks, which we were pretty happy with as they are fairly common and easy to find. The only problem is, since they are birds they have a tendency to fly away from you when you get close to take a half-decent photo (slightly envious of the people who are tracking trees).


In that first lab session we also started a leaf decomposition experiment, where we have submerged leaf bags containing leaves from three species to investigate how decomposition varies across species and location in the JMR lake. After that, we had a no-lab week that we were encouraged to spend tracking our species and writing a reflective report. I've had one more lab, and in that one we collected water from the lake and identified the invertebrate species in our samples (they were put back in the lake where we found them), which was really enjoyable. One of my friends even got a yabbie in their sweep net, and no turtles were caught (the bags were pretty small so it would've been extremely unlikely anyway).

Only issue with the JMR labs so far has been that the reserve being relatively far from the main section of campus makes it almost impossible to get to my GC workshop on time. The other GC-er in the lab and I even tried using the free bikeshare system and still didn't avoid lateness. I'm sure we'll eventually find a system that works.

chemistry(CHM1052)
Chem lectures are my favourite at the moment. I really enjoy learning about mechanisms and spectroscopy was my favourite topic in VCE. It helps that organic chemistry is strongly connected to biology, but more than anything I enjoy the problem solving aspects and actually thinking rather than just memorising content.

One of the chem lectures clashes with my environmental biology lab, which is unfortunate (and I had to send emails saying I was aware of this, couldn't claim special consideration due to this etc. before being enrolled in the lab), but hasn't really caused me any difficulties so far.

Chem's also the only  subject where I haven't lost any marks yet this semseter, which is interesting given that biology has ALWAYS been my strength  (disclaimer: this will change once I submit my lab report and my only marks so far are from prelec quizes). My first lab was making a specific ester then analysing it (pretty simple stuff). Unfortunately, my flask broke part way through the experiment, so my percentage yield is going to be pretty poor, but at least I can discuss that in the discussion.


maths(MTH1030)

I expected to be thrown into the deep end with this subject, but everything has been explained starting at a very foundational level and building up, which is nice. The tutorials are all centered around group work, and my table has been working together cohesively - to the point that when the tutor tried to seperate us last week we kind of refused and just kept working together. Everything was going so well that I was sad that I wouldn't be doing any more math units after this one - until the assignment. If you've got great memory and pay attention to the random thoughts thread you might remember that I lost hours of work on this when I tried to start it early. Further efforts to work on it were hindered by visiting a family member in hospital (they've been discharged now), and so I was stressed, dehydrated, and tired when I tried to work on it in the week it was due. I certainly haven't gotten full marks on this, but hopefully I did ok.  I did learn from it, I'm better at Mathematica and maths now, and I can do better in the future - so that's the main thing I guess. 





Impact through science
Last semester focused on science communication and leadership theory, and although this is important, I'm keen to dig into applying science to policy this semester. For one of the assignments in this topic we're working with people from the class that haven't been our teammates yet, and this new team looks very promising so far - I'm keen to see what we can achieve. We also have another round of student led seminars coming up, and I've been working on my leadership quest in the background. Djuke (the unit co-ordinator who we all immensely respect) wants us to disagree with eachother more this semester in class discussions, and I'm interested to see how this turns out and impacts class dynamics. I can't see it devaluing our relationships, as we have high levels of trust, understanding, and respect, but I suspect it will add an extra dimension to them.      More updates on the leadership quest to come at the end of this week.



Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on August 20, 2018, 01:10:50 pm
You might be thinking "What kind of double posting insanity is this? miniturtle posted less than 24 hours ago, surely they aren't justified in making another one??" but I assure you, that I am in fact, justified.
First of all, it's only 10am and I've already had a nutritious breakfast (s/o to Poet for reminding AN about healthy eating), watched 2 lectures, completed a quiz, and sent off an important email - so I'm in productivity mode right now, which makes it the best time to post.
Second of all, (and most importantly) you're allowed to double post in your own journey journal
And thirdly, I owe a reply to a user who kindly gave permission for me to post my response to their message here

Quote
Hey,

I was wondering how you find Monash as university? What was your experience like in the first year?

Thanks


There's so many different angles that make up a university so I'm going to split this into 3 subsections:

1. The physical environment
2. The academic stuff
3. Everything else


The physical environment

science specific
I really can't complain here. The Advanced Science common room tends to be filled with research students (and usually not first years either) so I don't have too much experience with that environment, but I've certainly found it useful to have access to 24/7 study spaces in terms of both that common room and the Science Student Lounge on the rare occasion that I've arrived early enough for the libraries to be closed.

The first time I went into the Science Student Lounge I thought having all the quotes and everything was pretty inspiring but now I'm mainly glad of the whiteboards everywhere which are great for group work. It's also just a nice space to work on your own with ambient science occurring in the background (hearing random snatches of science jargon from conversation, science memes flicking through the display on the far wall etc.).

In general, I've found that the buildings etc. tend to be at a very high standard. Not everything is quite as pristine or high tech as the buildings they show off on Open Day, but in general it is a good built environment.

As I mentioned in the last post, having nature around is highly beneficial to me. I tend to intentionally walk down Rainforest Walk rather than cutting through the Menzies building (the tall building with the revolving doors at the front of campus) because walking with trees and ferns on either side helps reduce my anxiety and ground me. I also like studying at "the med pond" (small pond, trees, grass, near biology buildings) and lake near the Jock Marshall Reserve (lots of birds calling and flying around, trees, grass, small lake, near res buildings) for this reason.


I used to spend a decent of time at uni melb in VCE due to VCESS and KLD and in terms of comparison here's my personal opinion:
- UniMelb's old buildings look nicer and more archetecturalilly interesting than Monash's
- Monash's buildings emphasise sustainability far more (eg. Monash as a rule requiring that new buildings are built to at least a 5 start sustainability level whereas afaik unimelb doesn't have this rule
- Monash Clayton has more emphasis on nature and than unimelb


I have also discovered this year that I really like the "isolated campus" thing, where Monash is very much its own hub and not integrated into the urban environment. This isn't the case for everyone, and I know that for some people the blend of city and campus is great (especially for convenience) but I like the vibe of having a seperate campus, the solidarity of people hastily typing on their laptops on the bus during exam period etc.

You'll find that both Monash and UniMelb have lots on campus in terms of daily living,with banks, food outlets, supermarkets, an abundance of coffee places etc. Monash probably has more, but UniMelb is closer to the CBD so that makes sense.

2. The academic stuff
I'm not going to make any comparisons to other universities for this section, simply because I don't know what other unis are like.

Scary Independence
One of the quotes that some uni students strongly resonate with is
"The best thing about uni is that no one makes you do anything. The worst thing about uni is that no one makes you do anything."
I've always been pretty independent in my learning so I don't resonate with this too much, but the important thing is what this quote isn't. Often people interpret this is:
" At uni you have freedom because no one tells you what to do. But because no one tells you what to do your (academic) life falls apart"
This has NOT been my experience. 

As a highschool student, your hand is held through your academic journey. If you try to go down the wrong path, refuse to take another step, or start walking backwards you'll be pulled into line and forced to walk in the right direction. In uni, your hand is not held but you still have a tour guide showing you the way. Throughout last semester I received emails to the effect of "Some of you have not taken path A. We recommend that you do this for x,y,z reasons. Here's a map, compass, and GPS co-ordinates showing showing you the path and how to get on it. If you need navigation lessons, here's some info here."   or in other language "we told you, like 5 times already that there would be online quizzes every week. Please do them as revision so you're ready for the exam at the end of the year, we have stats showing how this improves your grades. Here's where you can get info on the quizzes and access them, here's who to contact if you have issues, here's where to go if you have trouble adjusting to uni life."

Most units won't go quite that far, but you're certainly not thrown into the wilderness with nothing. Some of the things you have free access to are:
- The unit guide. This is basically the study design but less detailed content-wise and more detailed assignment wise
- Weekly Moodle quizzes. Most (science) unit will have a compulsory quiz every week and an optional quiz every week to help ensure you stay on top of content and get practice
- Tutorial sessions. This gives you practice applying the content, and may or may not be compulsory and/or include marked tests
- Moodle forums. Very underutilised, but you can ask a question on here and everyone in your unit(aka subject) will see it including your lecturers, usually anyone can respons to these but sometimes only staff can
- PASS sesssion (only for particular subjects, but I think all of the main 1st year science ones). Book yourself into a weekly session where older students who did well in the unit will help you out and answer your questions.
- Drop in session. There are scheduled times where you can randomly drop in to the chem/bio/math (I don't know anythig about psych or earth atmosphere and environment) building and get help. Usually there is also an option to book one on one time
- How to sessions at the Hargrave Andrew library. Want more guidance on writing scientific reports, making presentations, researching etc? Just book into a session
- If you have an ongoing condition affecting your study you're encouraged to speak to disability services and they'll help you out with alternate assessments, extra support etc. as required
emailing lecturers
This is overdone. Most of the time, it is preferred (and you are better off) using Moodle instead
In my experience, if someone fails, the vast majority of the time it's because they are ignoring the support available and not attending lectures, labs, tutorials etc.

They aren't going to force you to go to your classes or call home because they are concerned (so that you're dragged onto the right path by your parents), but you're told what you can do to help yourself (so you can find your own way down the path).



I didn't study VCE /  what if they assume I'm as smart as the other year 12s but I'm not

There are people who take bio/chem/physics without having studied these subjects at a senior highschool level. Do they find it more diffiicult than people with the prior experience? Yes, they generally do. Is there anything preventing them from obtaining high marks? No, there is not. They'll probably need to work harder due to not having already done this (subject specific) work, but if they are dedicated they'll be fine and basically on par with the others after first semester anyway.

For all you interstate students moving to glorious Victoria, don't worry, it isn't significantly more difficult for you. Sometime you'll find a topic easier, and sometimes you'll find a topic harder. Generally if somthing is "assumed knowledge" it will be made clear to you that you need to learn about that in your own time if you dont already know it (you won't go to an exam and "surprise! VCE is needed here"). As an example, in a semi-recent chemistry lecture we were asked how familiar we are with peak splitting. I had the gall to say " we should all know and be able to apply the n+1 rule". The interstate students immediately responded (somewhat derisively) and the lecturer quickly taught us the rule at the end of the lecture.

I've found that things tend to be taught from a foundation - up perspective, so although the levels are quickly climbed compared to what you're used to in high school, you will be able to go back through the materials in your own time and use them to figure things out if you don't get it the first time.


3. The other stuff
This section could be 5000 words or empty depending on the choices you make. If you want to join a club or society around your course, your major, your political views, going to the snow, your sport, a nationality, a religon, liking Disney, being vegan (I also know non-vegans who have joined this for the food), being a muggle (I wish I knew non-muggles who had joined this), supporting a non-profit, .... go ahead, clubs and societies are always happy to welcome new people into their midst and organise events for their members. If you don't want to, you don't have to - but you're probably not making a sound economic decision in terms of free food offerred across the semester.

If you want to represent Monash in sports or outreach to highschools you can, or you can choose not to.

Likewise, networking events, overseas exchange, public lectures, live music (most Wednesdays), free counselling, and free mental health first aid courses are available. But you can choose to prioritise your time differently if that's not what you want.



One of the things I like about Monash is that I feel that they believe in their values and try to enact them more than most other unis. I'm not saying that they're perfect (they're not)  but they really do try.    This could also be part of being in a small course, needing to sit an interview to get in etc. but I don't feel like I'm only valued for my money from fees or the grades I get, and I've never felt that way.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Joseph41 on August 20, 2018, 01:24:58 pm
miniturtle rn:

(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AnyVigorousHamadryad-small.gif)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: AngelWings on August 23, 2018, 02:17:51 pm
I didn't study VCE /  what if they assume I'm as smart as the other year 12s but I'm not
There are people who take bio/chem/physics without having studied these subjects at a senior highschool level. Do they find it more diffiicult than people with the prior experience? Yes, they generally do. Is there anything preventing them from obtaining high marks? No, there is not. They'll probably need to work harder due to not having already done this (subject specific) work, but if they are dedicated they'll be fine and basically on par with the others after first semester anyway.
Hear, hear! Living proof here - didn't do VCE Bio. Went on to do an extended major in biology (genetics) and now in Honours (genetics). Anything is possible.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on September 07, 2018, 06:29:51 pm
This week has been completely hectic.
So far the earliest I've stopped doing uni work is 18:45, and as I type this I am on the second-last train I'll be catching to get home to get home today. 

I had my 3rd leadership dialogue for this week at 8:30 today and found it highly valuable and engaging.  I'm learning how to do this "networking" thing - which seems to get easier overtime - and the leadership dialouges are a good place to practice. 

I'm not happy with the mark I got for my first MTH1030 assignment,  but I guess that's to be expected when you're still working until the last minute.  The midsemester test seemed significantly easier,  so hopefully that lifts my marks.

In chem we've recently been working on an IDEA (student-led) lab activity.  In the first week of it we were given a white powder and instructed to figure out what it was.  This was by spending "chemistry dollars" on our choice of IR, spectroscopy etc. Then we confirmed the presence of functional groups using wet tests (mixing w/ chemicals, heating, pH testing etc.). This week we then synthesised that compound.  I've been working with a good group of people and enjoyed this activity the most out of our labs; hopefully we do ok in the write-up.

Enviro bio has been focused on plant adaptations, and some of it is knowledge I already had from the old bio study design.  I wish I had been able to make it to more of the lectures,  we had a good lecturer and I like the content.  Walking into the lab and having plants everywhere was fantastic.  I wish I had been less stressed and thereby been more able to appreciate it,  but on the other hand it did help with my stress. 


I've started downloading lectures onto my phone for the trip to uni, as I don't really take notes for enviro bio or maths (or chem  really). I find that I don't use the notes I take down,  so why divert my attention from the lecture to meticulously record the information?  I can always rewatch a lecture if I need to, or go through the provided notes. 


This time of year tends to be intense for all students & I encourage everyone to reach out to each other.  Many of us are finding things hard - but things are somehow better when you face them with a supportive community and allow yourself to not feel isolated
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on September 13, 2018, 07:13:10 am
R U OK day update
one thing I'm grateful for: It's hard to limit myself to one thing,  but today I'm grateful for the atarnotes community.  I think it's petty amazing that we've united from across multiple states and incredibly varying backgrounds and ambitions to support each others education. You guys lift me up,  and have helped me believe in myself. I'm grateful to be here.

I'm grateful for everyone who has been trusting and open enough to tell others about their journeys, and remind us all that we aren't alone.  Sometimes I see facets of my experiences in your journals and it helps me - I'm not sure how or why.

One thing I'm working on to improve my wellbeing:
I'm learning to say "no" to opportunities if I don't have time for them,  which helps reduce my stress.

where I'm at:
I've been very stressed and anxious recently,  and have had some periods of low mood. I suspect I'm somewhere around the "mental health problem" bit of the spectrum. (mentally healthy> mental health problem > mental health disorder.) That being said,  I feel like I'm getting better at using coping strategies and being resilient. I think that next week will be better than this one,  (and the week after that will be midsemester break!) and that next year will be better than this year.  That alone tells me that I'm going better than some of the places my headspace has been in the past - I've been experiencing an upwards trend (although sometimes it zigzags) for several years now,  which is a great position to be in. 

A big part of that change has been from learning to trust and open up to people again.  I'm still someone who will say "I'm ok" when I'm a mess,  but sometimes now I'll expand on that and explain where I'm really at and what's been on my mind.  I'll always be grateful for the friends, teachers,  and counsellor who helped me with this.


Best of luck to all of you on your mental health journeys - and if you ever want/need to reach out to someone about your mental space (stressed, panicky,  down, suicidal... anything) I'm here .  I would also strongly encourage you to reach out to a professional - especially for emergency situations such as being (or being worried about a friend being) suicidal. 
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on September 24, 2018, 08:38:19 pm
Correction to my previous post: I meant 8:45 / 20:45

Hey,

It's midsem break - which I really needed.

I have a bit of a love/dislike relationship with maths in that maths is my lowest scoring subject but also the one that I'm learning the most in. It stresses me out, because although I'm passing all my assessments I'm used to getting higher scores than I'm seeing here, and the assignments require a lot of work. I handed in an assignment on Thursday and I've got another one to complete over midsem. Hopefully I continue to learn from them and maybe even get better at them.

In chem we've recently been working on an IDEA (student-led) lab activity.  In the first week of it we were given a white powder and instructed to figure out what it was.  This was by spending "chemistry dollars" on our choice of IR, spectroscopy etc. Then we confirmed the presence of functional groups using wet tests (mixing w/ chemicals, heating, pH testing etc.). This week we then synthesised that compound.  I've been working with a good group of people and enjoyed this activity the most out of our labs; hopefully we do ok in the write-up.

Yeah, I'm happy with this.

I thought I wouldn't like inorganic chemistry as much, but it has actually been pretty good/interesting so far - and I can also see this knowledge being useful in the future. I think that's part of my problem with maths - I know I'm not doing anymore units after 1030 and can't really see the future applications yet.

Enviro bio has been it's dependable self. It's sad to see the unit drawing to a close, but also great that we have (very briefly) looked at stats in bio. I want to get to the point in my uni life where I'm expected to know, for example,  what a t-test is and how to calculate p-values. After all, isn't quantifying uncertainty a key component of science?    Especially in a field such as conservation where variable control is very difficult.

Impact through science has been hectic but good. Global leaders week was challenging (three leadership dialogues in one week!), which is part of why I was stressed during my last entry, but also very valuable. I feel like I'm starting to get a grip on this whole "networking" thing. We had our last student led seminar (homework for the team running it, in class for everyone) and critical thinking task (homework) last week, so it'll be interesting to see what happens next. I am very aware of how close week 12 - and therefore leadership quest submission - is, and a bit apprehensive about that. We'll see how it goes.


In other news, I ran for a position on next year's mass^3 committee and got it (so we have no 1st year rep anymore because I can't hold two positions at once, but I get to stick around for a while longer). We've got two 1st year GC students on the committee now, and we'll get another 1st year co-ordinator next year, which means we'll have pretty good GC representation.
There are also a couple of 1st year GC students presenting at the mass^2 event on Monday, and hopefully that also increases the inter-course connections between GC and research
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on October 29, 2018, 03:32:33 pm

 Unit planning
I've decided that I won't take the marine biology unit (and a prereq for it) so that I have space to do more maths.  I still like biology and want to be a marine biologist but the thought of dropping maths given how much I've been learning was sitting very uncomfortably with me.  I'm also of the view that to be a good scientist I should better at maths than I currently am. 

    I've also realised that a unit I want to take next year - Biological Chrmistry - has BIO1022 (standard bio, which I left for enviro bio) as a prerequisite. I'm confident that I have the necessary level of biology understanding (last week I was helping a friend understand their BIO1022 content and before I left the content was prior knowledge).  I'm just going to put the unit in the enrolment system & hope it works. If it doesn't,  I'll talk to the coordinator and try to convince them.

Access Monash Mentoring
I've finished all of my mentoring and said goodbye to the students and staff.  I was really lucky to get a school with good students and a great teacher.
Spoiler
They bought boxes of cchocolate for us and I didn't have the heart to tell them I was vegan so I passed them onto the Global Challenges unit co-ordinator since her role to us students is similar in some ways to my role for the year 9s/10s
It seems strange to think that that's all done,  and that next year I'll most likely be doing VCE mentoring.

SCI1502 - Impact Through Science
Even more strange to think that I've had my last GC class for the year. We bought gifts for Djuke (GC co-ordinator) and had our presentations on our leadership quests.  I'm incredibly proud of my course-mates and what they've achieved.  Not only in the real world,  but in terms of personal development.
things people have been working on
- sustainable fashion (environment)
- Starting their own ethical clothes business (environment/human rights)
- Starting their own biochar buisiness (environment)
- Starting their own bike servicing business  (environment/health)
- facilitating effective altruism (empowerment)
- permaculture (environment)
- foreign aid (human rights)
- art therapy (mental health)
- menstrual taboo (environment/empowering)
- marine conservation research (environment)
- marine conservation outreach (environment)
- life skills/communication (empowering)
- breaking the impossible (empowering)
- mental health (empowering)
- student sleep deficit (empowering)
- sustainability at Monash (environment)
- composting at Monash (environment)
- STEM SES gap (social justice) <- me
- science in primary schools (empowering)
- attention economy (empowering)
- plastic pollution (environment)
- combating perfectionism (empowering)
- affordable sign language classes @ monash (empowering/social justice)
- influencing identity to enact change (environment/social justice/human rights)
Next year we'll all be running our own buisinesses which, to me,  is a bit intimidating.  I'll definitely be working on that during the holidays (would love to get it running in December but that's a bit optimistic). Crazy to think where I was a year ago and where I'll be next year in terms of this stuff.

The STEM camp I'm planning is on the agenda for school council tomorrow so fingers crossed for that.  I've started collecting details of undergraduate STEM students who want to volunteer for it & an email has gone out to teachers.  Really glad that we've settled on the dates - so much easier to plan now.

Exams
I had my advanced chemistry exam today & it didn't feel very advanced - the practice exams were significantly more difficult. I'm still glad for the revision I did,  because I have a much better unattractive and knowledge of some of the concepts than I did a week ago. Me being me, I'll have foolish errors scattered throughout it but hopefully my score is alright.
    I'm glad that I've conditioned myself to feel energetic and positive on exam mornings - probably one of the better decisions I made in VCE. I'm not sure yet how I'll adjust that for my math exam being at 6pm,  but I'm sure I'll manage.
   I've got no more exams this week so I'll be doing lots of preperation for maths (and a little bit of bio prep). I've also signed up to help with a highschool tour of Monash & I plan on attending some of the GC honours presentations. 

That's all from me for the moment.  I've had some ups and downs in my mental space but seeing the year 12s stressing reminds me to have perspective.  I was so stressed about my scores, then I achieved the ATAR I wanted and it didn't feel significant anyway.  I've tried to take more of a "learning, not achieving" approach to uni & I think I'm getting better at that.

Best of luck
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on November 06, 2018, 09:53:23 pm
I think it's fair to say I've spent a more time on VCE exams than my uni exams this week, but I'm pretty confident that I'll get alright scores and am happy to have made that decision. That does, however, leave a bit of a conundrum on what this entry should be about.

I guess some basic updates:
Last Friday I left my laptop charger behind at an event after loaning it to someone and not remembering to request it back. I got it back today, which was great but also I spent more than 3 hours travelling to have less than 5 minutes at uni.
On Monday I attended a math revision session & I didn't ask any questions because my practice exam attempt was on my laptop (so I didn't know what questions I had strugggled with) but it was good to go anyway. I studied with a friend afterwards & I'm definitely feeling more comfortable with the exam now.
In the end I didn't attend any of the honours presentations :( but if I really want to find out more I could always contact some of them and ask about it - the higher year levels of GC have always been very supportive of us first years.

As for the rest of this entry, this is going to be less course-focused and more personal so feel free to skip :)
I wasn't quite sure what to focus this section on, but in the end I picked my maths journey since it's somewhat relevant to VCE students now
probably more backstory than really warranted in this
Like many kids I suppose, I liked being around my mum. So when she was studying (accounting) at home, I would often be sitting next to her & in my boredom I would play with the scientific calculator on the table - trying to make sentences from  "sin" "cos" "tan" "log" etc. Sometimes I'd ask what particular things meant, and depending on the difficulty mum might explain it to me.

I guess this is why when I was doing maths in primary school it never seemed threatening or scary. I associated only positive memories with it with it (except for that time I only got 39/40 on a maths test and broke down crying in front of my classmates (I was that student) ) and it wasn't very difficult. Overtime I got used to making more mistakes, and English was my strongest subject, but rarely if ever did I have difficulty understanding maths concepts. Teachers said they'd deliver extended work but well, teachers have multiple classes and a range of students in each class. They never got around to it. I was frequently frustrated by the slow pace of school mathematics & felt that many years had been wasted not learning anything. So when the advanced maths class for year 10 maths clashed with units 1&2 of biology, I talked the school into letting me take biology and attend a standard math class, but I'd learn and be assessed on the advanced content through teaching myself & getting the other class' tests.

That worked out ok, but then when I started units 1&2 of methods next year I didn't know how to ask for help. Afterall, wouldn't it be hypocritical of me to not easily understand all of the concepts when I'd been complaining about school maths being easy? I'd been learning without a teacher in the previous year, so why couldn't I just do that this year? In the final exam we had, I didn't use a summary book and I borrowed someone else's CAS 10 minutes before the exam started yet scored 100%. That settled it then, I didn't actually need help or ask questions when it came to maths - I could do it all on my own.

At the start of next year I talked to a friend who also had aptitude for maths. We agreed that it didn't matter which one of us got dux (since we assumed it'd most likely be one of us) because we'd both do well on the exam anyway. Throughout the year I encouraged them to study and prepare for SACs, we worked through problems together, worked out short cuts and coded programs to use on our CASs. They still didn't do nearly as much practice as me, but this was someone who had learnt some VCE math content in year 8 for fun.

When it came time for the first SAC I had already completed all of the relevant questions in Checkpoints and felt quite confident. That changed. My teacher, it turned out, had a knack for creating problems more difficult than even MAV. Some of the questions were very reasonable, but my confidence shattered like glass and I couldn't think. I needed the answer from part a) to complete the rest of the question - but the solve function and my mind just weren't cutting it. Towards the end I finally figured it out, and rushed the rest of the questions; but not before breaking down in class when the teacher noticed me staring at the front page and asked if I was ok. At that point I wasn't even seeing the question, I was seeing my future rushing away from me. If I couldn't even do remotely well on this first SAC, then why should I do well in methods at all? I wouldn't. And I was confident so my other subjects I was confident in? Nope. I must be destined to perform poorly in those as well. My future seemed written in stone - I would be the great disapointment who showed a spark of potential and self-immolated in it. I got 53% on that SAC - my first SAC of year 12 (not the kind of thing you usually hear from people who got 98 ATARs but it's the type of thing you should probably hear more often).

After that SAC, I struggled to believe in my mathematical ability but was still too stubborn and self-concious to ask for help. I would answer questions well in class and when it came to the SACs I would be consumed by doubt and forgetfulness - which resulted in making a lot of "stupid errors". Over the course of the year it became clear that my aforementioned friend would get rank 1, despite me explaining concepts or questions to them more commonly than the reverse.


 In the revision lectures I went to I was the one answering questions, and a lecturer (not AN this was a school organised one) told me I'd probably get 45+. (That would've been nice.) Finally it was exam 1 day. I'd completed lots of practice exams and learnt from them, so I was getting around 100% on exam one and a bit lower on exam 2. I walked into the year 12 study room to wish people good luck and my friend/rank 1 told me I was going to be annoyed at them. I learnt that they had not done any preperation. That they had only written a sentence in their english exam, and were "screwed already so why bother trying". 

They were wrong - "annoyed" wasn't the most accurate description of my emotions at that point in time.

I worked my way through the exam, and attempted the last question early so I knew how to pace myself for the rest of the exam. My answer didn't work with VCAAs graph (it was actually the right answer, VCAAs graph was just weird) so I crossed it out and tried again. And again. And again. And in that moment, the graph was almost like the graph at the start of my first maths SAC.

This is not a story where I get a 45+ study score for methods. Because I didn't. I only got a B+ on that exam - and that alone would have been enough to make 45+ impossible.

This is a story about how I went home and cried, realising that my study score wouldn't amount to what maybe it could have been. Realising that my SAC scores would be low and probably my exam 1 score as well. It's a story about after hours of failing to do anything remotely productive I practiced math problems through my tears until they went away. I did better on exam 2 than exam 1.

When I got my ATAR my main reaction was disapointment at my methods score - I scored a C+ for my SACs.
It meant I would never tutor methods. It meant I wasn't a maths person. It meant I was less than I thought I was.
I'm not usually a vindicative person, but I was glad that rank 1 didn't dux methods

In my sem 1 maths subject, MTH1020, I cruised at the start and stopped putting in any reasonable effort in towards the end (I got bored because the content felt too easy and familiar). I still got a decent score, but it was certainly less than my potential. In my sem 2 maths subject MTH1030 I have not been cruising. I've been reminding myself that I'm here to learn - not to already know everything.

Now when I look at my maths scores, it means I'm learning. I'm trying. And so what if I don't full-mark the exam? That's just a reminder that I can keep learning and making progress.

It has taken a while, but my methods score doesn't mean all that much to me now. Maybe it was even a good thing - maybe without wanting to "prove myself" after methods I wouldn't have taken MTH1030 and wouldn't have the opportunity to do more maths next year.


The takeaways for year 12s reading this:
- it's ok if your  exam 1 desn't go as well as planned, there's always exam 2
- it's ok if your study score isn't what you wanted it to be
- it's ok if you feel a whole bunch of emotions about it anyway
- those emotions change overtime
- it's healthy to let go a bit of wanting to look smart / not wanting to look unintelligent


Best of luck to all of you :)

(questions are allowed if you ever have them)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: AngelWings on November 06, 2018, 10:57:56 pm
On Monday I attended a math revision session & I didn't ask any questions because my practice exam attempt was on my laptop (so I didn't know what questions I had strugggled with) but it was good to go anyway. I studied with a friend afterwards & I'm definitely feeling more comfortable with the exam now.
In the end I didn't attend any of the honours presentations :( but if I really want to find out more I could always contact some of them and ask about it - the higher year levels of GC have always been very supportive of us first years.
I'm sure these Honours students would be more than happy to discuss their presentations; I know I would.

Also, with regards to MTH1030 (I assume by the tense you're finishing with it soon), it might be comforting to know that I've been down that rabbit hole before and struggled in that unit too. You're not alone in that mentality, but, as you said, it's definitely a humbling experience to really learn more than anything.

Good luck with the rest of your exams. :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on November 06, 2018, 11:06:57 pm
I'm sure these Honours students would be more than happy to discuss their presentations; I know I would.

Also, with regards to MTH1030 (I assume by the tense you're finishing with it soon), it might be comforting to know that I've been down that rabbit hole before and struggled in that unit too. You're not alone in that mentality, but, as you said, it's definitely a humbling experience to really learn more than anything.

Good luck with the rest of your exams. :)

Thank you!

Yeah, I've got the MTH1030 exam next week (who schedules an exam for 6-8pm on a Monday??), so you did infer accurately. It is good to hear your thoughts on that too :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: PhoenixxFire on November 06, 2018, 11:21:08 pm
As for the rest of this entry, this is going to be less course-focused and more personal so feel free to skip :)
I wasn't quite sure what to focus this section on, but in the end I picked my maths journey since it's somewhat relevant to VCE students now
probably more backstory than really warranted in this
Like many kids I suppose, I liked being around my mum. So when she was studying (accounting) at home, I would often be sitting next to her & in my boredom I would play with the scientific calculator on the table - trying to make sentences from  "sin" "cos" "tan" "log" etc. Sometimes I'd ask what particular things meant, and depending on the difficulty mum might explain it to me.

I guess this is why when I was doing maths in primary school it never seemed threatening or scary. I associated only positive memories with it with it (except for that time I only got 39/40 on a maths test and broke down crying in front of my classmates (I was that student) ) and it wasn't very difficult. Overtime I got used to making more mistakes, and English was my strongest subject, but rarely if ever did I have difficulty understanding maths concepts. Teachers said they'd deliver extended work but well, teachers have multiple classes and a range of students in each class. They never got around to it. I was frequently frustrated by the slow pace of school mathematics & felt that many years had been wasted not learning anything. So when the advanced maths class for year 10 maths clashed with units 1&2 of biology, I talked the school into letting me take biology and attend a standard math class, but I'd learn and be assessed on the advanced content through teaching myself & getting the other class' tests.

That worked out ok, but then when I started units 1&2 of methods next year I didn't know how to ask for help. Afterall, wouldn't it be hypocritical of me to not easily understand all of the concepts when I'd been complaining about school maths being easy? I'd been learning without a teacher in the previous year, so why couldn't I just do that this year? In the final exam we had, I didn't use a summary book and I borrowed someone else's CAS 10 minutes before the exam started yet scored 100%. That settled it then, I didn't actually need help or ask questions when it came to maths - I could do it all on my own.

At the start of next year I talked to a friend who also had aptitude for maths. We agreed that it didn't matter which one of us got dux (since we assumed it'd most likely be one of us) because we'd both do well on the exam anyway. Throughout the year I encouraged them to study and prepare for SACs, we worked through problems together, worked out short cuts and coded programs to use on our CASs. They still didn't do nearly as much practice as me, but this was someone who had learnt some VCE math content in year 8 for fun.

When it came time for the first SAC I had already completed all of the relevant questions in Checkpoints and felt quite confident. That changed. My teacher, it turned out, had a knack for creating problems more difficult than even MAV. Some of the questions were very reasonable, but my confidence shattered like glass and I couldn't think. I needed the answer from part a) to complete the rest of the question - but the solve function and my mind just weren't cutting it. Towards the end I finally figured it out, and rushed the rest of the questions; but not before breaking down in class when the teacher noticed me staring at the front page and asked if I was ok. At that point I wasn't even seeing the question, I was seeing my future rushing away from me. If I couldn't even do remotely well on this first SAC, then why should I do well in methods at all? I wouldn't. And I was confident so my other subjects I was confident in? Nope. I must be destined to perform poorly in those as well. My future seemed written in stone - I would be the great disapointment who showed a spark of potential and self-immolated in it. I got 53% on that SAC - my first SAC of year 12 (not the kind of thing you usually hear from people who got 98 ATARs but it's the type of thing you should probably hear more often).

After that SAC, I struggled to believe in my mathematical ability but was still too stubborn and self-concious to ask for help. I would answer questions well in class and when it came to the SACs I would be consumed by doubt and forgetfulness - which resulted in making a lot of "stupid errors". Over the course of the year it became clear that my aforementioned friend would get rank 1, despite me explaining concepts or questions to them more commonly than the reverse.


 In the revision lectures I went to I was the one answering questions, and a lecturer (not AN this was a school organised one) told me I'd probably get 45+. (That would've been nice.) Finally it was exam 1 day. I'd completed lots of practice exams and learnt from them, so I was getting around 100% on exam one and a bit lower on exam 2. I walked into the year 12 study room to wish people good luck and my friend/rank 1 told me I was going to be annoyed at them. I learnt that they had not done any preperation. That they had only written a sentence in their english exam, and were "screwed already so why bother trying". 

They were wrong - "annoyed" wasn't the most accurate description of my emotions at that point in time.

I worked my way through the exam, and attempted the last question early so I knew how to pace myself for the rest of the exam. My answer didn't work with VCAAs graph (it was actually the right answer, VCAAs graph was just weird) so I crossed it out and tried again. And again. And again. And in that moment, the graph was almost like the graph at the start of my first maths SAC.

This is not a story where I get a 45+ study score for methods. Because I didn't. I only got a B+ on that exam - and that alone would have been enough to make 45+ impossible.

This is a story about how I went home and cried, realising that my study score wouldn't amount to what maybe it could have been. Realising that my SAC scores would be low and probably my exam 1 score as well. It's a story about after hours of failing to do anything remotely productive I practiced math problems through my tears until they went away. I did better on exam 2 than exam 1.

When I got my ATAR my main reaction was disapointment at my methods score - I scored a C+ for my SACs.
It meant I would never tutor methods. It meant I wasn't a maths person. It meant I was less than I thought I was.
I'm not usually a vindicative person, but I was glad that rank 1 didn't dux methods

In my sem 1 maths subject, MTH1020, I cruised at the start and stopped putting in any reasonable effort in towards the end (I got bored because the content felt too easy and familiar). I still got a decent score, but it was certainly less than my potential. In my sem 2 maths subject MTH1030 I have not been cruising. I've been reminding myself that I'm here to learn - not to already know everything.

Now when I look at my maths scores, it means I'm learning. I'm trying. And so what if I don't full-mark the exam? That's just a reminder that I can keep learning and making progress.

It has taken a while, but my methods score doesn't mean all that much to me now. Maybe it was even a good thing - maybe without wanting to "prove myself" after methods I wouldn't have taken MTH1030 and wouldn't have the opportunity to do more maths next year.


The takeaways for year 12s reading this:
- it's ok if your  exam 1 desn't go as well as planned, there's always exam 2
- it's ok if your study score isn't what you wanted it to be
- it's ok if you feel a whole bunch of emotions about it anyway
- those emotions change overtime
- it's healthy to let go a bit of wanting to look smart / not wanting to look unintelligent


Best of luck to all of you :)

(questions are allowed if you ever have them)

Thanks for posting this mt <3

(Also, good luck for your math exam)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on November 14, 2018, 04:51:47 pm
I've finished exams! 
Still got course related things tomorrow and the day after but that's by choice so this is kind of the end of another academic year.

Today was enviro bio which is the first exam I've done on a laptop and I have to say that eassessment isn't all that bad for multiple choice.  We could highlight (in several colours), type notes,  flag questions we were unsure of etc. (And unlike normal,  we didn't have to use our phones to log on)

I found having an evening exam (maths) difficult & feel like I could've done better but the exam was fair and I think I did alright.

I still need to reenrol, chase up what's happening with the yr8 stem camp, and start working on my business for next year   but I'm glad to have assessment over. 

This isn't the end of my uni journey journal for this year,  but it is an end of sorts so...

emotional intelligence journey
One of the things I've been working on this year is my emotional intelligence.  The first this was really raised to me was at Alpine School in year 9. One of the things that the school is supposed to teach you is independence, but I was soon told that I was too independent and that I should focus on interdependence (and maybe actually ask people for help, open up to others more etc). This set the foundation for later leadership work on emotional intelligence, and since last year at RYLA I've been thinking about the power of vulnerability in particular.  This year I wanted to improve my emotional intelligence & specifically explore the power of vulnerability more - and both AN and GC have been integral to this. 

In GC this has manifested in my speeches as well as conversations in and out of the classroom. My main weakness in public speaking has previously been lack of emotional expression whereas now uneven distribution of eye contact is probably a bigger issue.  I've discussed my emotions  transparently more often and been significantly more open about things I dislike/d about myself and my past. 

At the start of this year I didn't know whether to make a journey journal or not because "it'd be boring and it wouldn't be interesting because I'm too closed off" (thanks fellow mods for telling me to make one anyway) but it's safe to say that I've been more expressive than I originally thought I would be. 

I've been humbled by the trust and openness of other users - whether by pm or on forums -  and their willingness to share their emotions and experiences. Sometimes I occasionally see an aspect of myself in others' words and more often than not I get to see a perspective I otherwise might’ve never known.  I'm proud and grateful for how supportive the AN community is - which wouldn't be possible without vulnerability.

Thank you
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on December 04, 2018, 10:48:17 pm
I've reenrolled. The STEM camp has been pushed back to next year due to paperwork issues *sigh* and I've done a fair bit of work on my business. I'm hoping that starting early makes next year less stressful, and that some small amount of profit might be produced. Things still aren't 100% how I'd like them to be, but got to start somewhere right?

I'll also be speaking to my highschool's 2019 year 12 cohort and might be helping out at a Monash science camp for high school students next year, but I'm not sure yet.

I've kind of been a burnt-out and sleep deprived mess for the past 2 weeks, but I seem to be functioning better this week so hopefully the next few days are also alright. Sleep deprivation in particular puts me in an oversharing mode so hopefully I don't derail this thread too much with that ahaha.

Uni grades are out and I'm happy with my marks. haven't scored below 70 in anything and a 70 average is what I need for my course so I'm content with that. I'm not sure if this has been at all noticeable from changes to my signature, (all study scores > just ATAR > neither) but I've been learning to let go of academic perfectionism and grades. Being in a different environment has definitely helped with this; I don't know if I could have adopted this mindset in high school.

I've done a little bit of prelearning for some of my maths next year and will probably continue that over the holidays, but it seems like I don't have access to the Mathematics and Learning Centre on Moodle atm, which is a bit sad.


Looking back I've had a lot of growth and development this year - which is what I really wanted - so although some things have been less than ideal I have a lot to be grateful for.


One of those is the people I have been around so thank you:

- to J41, for your support and encouragement - both this year and last
- to K8, for reaching out & your kindness
- to Calebark, for being AN's favourite reptile
- to Insanipi, for bringing brightness
- to PF, because how could I not feel rapport with you
- to Poet, for the courageous openness that builds connection
- to AngelWings, for the guidance of your wings
- to the math mods, for your dedicated examples
 I could go on forever so I'll wrap this up with:
- to everyone who interacted with the psych section this year - you made being a mod mean something
- to the other mods and the mods before - you've built these foundations
- to the users - this community is for you
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on February 24, 2019, 12:38:26 pm
Abbreviation help: GC = Global Challenges = my course, Bachelor of Science Advanced – Global Challenges (Honours.). We can pretend that calling it GC makes the title seem less pretentious :P

It’s been a decent while since my last post on here, so I thought I’d catch you up on what’s been happening with me. There have been a few catch-ups for a range of events but excluding those:

December:
Helped out with course interviews. This involved greeting the applicants, trying to soothe their nerves a bit, providing info about the course and being involved in discussions with staff about the interview process etc.

January:
More volunteering for course interviews. Mainly international applicants in these ones.

Spoke about science and my motivations for studying it at MySci, a Monash event run by the science faculty for high school students studying science. One of the graduating GC students spoke with me, and they were from the team doing an honours project I was highly interested in (sustainable sourcing of food for zoo animals), so it was an added bonus to be able to chat with them.

Led group discussions / q&a about studying science at SEAMS camp, a Monash event run by Access Monash for students studying science. At the training for this I networked with other Access Monash mentors and it happened that one of them would be a mentor leader for my mentor group.

February:
Couldn’t go to pre enrollment as I was camping with friends at the time, but a coursemate who went to a few of the interview days was there and able to speak with them so at least they could still get a 2nd year perspective. Also didn't speak to the year 12s from my highschool as I was unwell on that day.

Access Monash Mentor training was better this year than last imo. The activity which people seemed to get the most from was one about examining privilege and recognising that if a mentee isn’t engaged there could be a bunch of reasons why that have nothing to do with us, the mentors, or their choices. Having gone to a highly underrepresented school myself it was strange to see people going through the activity and not pitying people in those situations but seeming to make a bigger deal of them than myself or my classmates seemed to. I don’t think I’m doing a great job of explaining it, and obviously the same situation can have different impacts on different people, but it just felt kinda weird.

I participated in the first year global challenges camp as a mentor which was a brilliant experience. The incoming cohort are a brilliant group of people, and I hope that our year levels keep interacting with each other throughout the degree. We (the mentors) were also able to run an activity, which was particularly fantastic. We’ll be writing up a guide so that it can be ran again on future camps; I hope that future years find it as beneficial and engaging.

The day after camp was an amazing race mass^3 (Monash Advanced Science and Science Scholar Society) ran for the first year students. Seeing as I’m the events co-ordinator for mass^3, it was slightly stressful to have this the day after camp but we still managed to get things sorted. There was a roughly even balance of GC and research students (in terms of participants and volunteers) which was fantastic to see as I hoped for the event to help bridge the gap between research and GC.


Feb isn’t over yet, but the only other GC event I’ll be part of this month is an o-week welcome bbq where all year levels of GC will be mixing. All of the first years should be there and several people from my cohort have indicated that they’ll be there too.




Thankyou everyone for all of your support last year; it's great to dive into this one :)

Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on March 16, 2019, 12:51:55 pm
I've avoided the month of absence warning!

My schedule each week looks something like this:
Monday:
8am - 10am  math tutorial (got the same tutor as I had for MTH1030 last sem which is fantastic!)
11am-12       math lecture
3pm - 5pm    ecology lab
 
Tuesday
8am - 10am   math tutorial
10am - 1pm   GC workshop
1pm - 2pm     math lecture
2pm onwards I usually hang around chatting with other GCers and studying

Wednesday to Friday I have the remainder of my lectures, which I livestream from home. Livestreaming is great since it allows me not to travel in & I get to sleep in rather than waking up super early.


Impact through science
I thought that 2nd year would be my least favourite in terms of GC, but I'm really enjoying it so far. Sure, creating a pitch deck and being assessed on it within the first 2 weeks of classes is stressful and we'll probably all get bad scores since the rubric criteria was essentially impossible (eg. one of the HD requirements was world-standard design & another was having the person marking your work consider investing), BUT there's something nice about doing things despite a high chance of failure. (If anyone wants to actually look at my pitch deck lmk & I'll send you a link.)
In other business-related news, I've updated the website with new prices & improved its formatting. Unfortunately, in making the homepage better on desktop I made it terrible on mobile & tablet so I'm going to need to add some more CSS in there to fix that (shouldn't be too hard but I haven't gotten around to it). I've got a meeting with my co-founder next week, which will be great to get more clarity on things (plus I'm also keen to just see them again) :)
On Wednesday my cohort had the chance to meet with some great people with experience in start-ups who shared their stories, answered our questions and talked to us about our businesses; I'm grateful to everyone for being so involved and making time in their busy schedules to be there.
Next week we'll be digging more into our business ideas & I'm keen to see more about what people are planning - it was hard to get a deep nderstanding in the 1 minute pitches due to the very short timeframe. We'll also get to hear more about internships & exchange which I'm very keen for. I've waited to contact organisations about interning there until this so it'll be great to have this session.

Other science
We had our first field trip for ecology last week in the Dandenong Ranges. Plant identification was very difficult, even with the guidebooks and notes we were given - I can't wait to get more proficient at this, and I think I'll look up common species in advance before our next field trip (to the ocean!!!). I'm hoping to get some experience doing research this year but I don't have specific plans around that yet. I'll attend the CURIE (undergrad research center) invitational on Tuesday & I'm keeping my eye out for opportunities through the biological society - if anyone has advice I'd be happy to hear it :).

My math units have been mostly covering prior knowledge so far but I'm sure things are going to get more challenging as semester progresses. I was sent an email at one point saying that I'd gotten a very low score in the diagnostic test and to withdraw from the unit before census date, and a few hours later another email saying that that was an admin error due to my scores not being entered in Moodle. I was shocked by first first email and still apprehensive after the second so it was good to get confirmation in my tute that my diagnostic scores were ok.


Access Monash

I've now been matched with 2 mentees in the Access Monash program and accepted the community leader's scholarship. I met one last week and will meet the other tomorrow - it's good to be working with VCE students this year (and both of them are interested in biology so double-win). I hope they both continue with the program rather than dropping out, but I can only wait and see what happens I guess.


I hope you've all had a great start to semester! :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on May 12, 2019, 01:49:32 pm
It's me again!

Last week was completely hectic and if my coping skills hadn't improved since year 12 I probably would've had a break down of some sort. Luckily, they have improved and I didn't feel too overhelmed.

Monday I was absent due to illness (which I'd had over the weekend as well) and is the first time I've missed a lab at uni. Luckily I didn't miss much. Unfortunately this also meant missing a math tute and lectures.
Tuesday I had a math assignment due which I'd intended to get done over the weekend but being unwell made that significantly harder... nonetheless I completed nd submitted it on time
Wednesday I had a midsem test, we only had to answer 4 questions, 1 of which was on the assignment and  which was covered in Tuesday's lecture but for some reason I still struggled to remember the answers. I know I won't have gotten full marks but I'm not stressed over it either. I also had a biology report due at midnight from our trip to the ocean to examine life living between the low tide and high tide mark. I was expectionally keen for this seeing as I've wanted to be a marine biologist my whole life, but in the end I didn't spend as much time on the report as I would've liked. That being said, it still took a while (1 of the graphs took me easily over 10 hours to make) even using pivottables in excel to make analysing the data easier. 
Thursday was spent working on another math assignment due Friday.

Next week I'll be catching up on things I've missed, hopefully meeting up with both of my mentees again (I'm not putting much info about this on here because obv student privacy is important, but suffice to say I'm keen to keep working with them), and working on more assignments (luckily not quite so many this time). As the events co-ordinator for mass^3 (Monash Advanced Science and Science Scholars Society) I'll be helping out with an Academic Mixer we're running Tuesday night, which will be a good chance to meet academics and catch up with friends from research and other GC year levels. I'm not expecting to see 3rd year GC students but hopefully a decent amount of 1st years are there.

In GC we're supposed to be practicing our business pitches everyday until our assessed pitches in week 12 and some teams were chosen without warning to do practice pitches last week. The stressor for me in this isn't so much that I'm not ready to pitch my business (even though I'm not really) but that my business isn't ready to be pitched. This week I should focus on making sure I can gain evidence and hopefully traction. I've got some ideas for this but ideas aren't worth much if they aren't put into motion - I can't afford to neglect this (well, I'd survive not making profit but hopefully you get what I mean).


Excitingly, I'm also going to a meet-up for those of us selected for the Global Leaders Experience. Over the break between semesters we'll be spending a week together in Monash Malaysia building our international networks and working on the challenge "How can different generations work together to maximise the benefits of AI in our cities?". I'm not sure how many people are coming to the meetup but there are 15 of us from Monash Australia & I hope most of us can make it (we'll be joined with students from Warwick and Monash Malaysia during the program but obv not expecting them at the meetup). I've never been overseas before and given how competitive the application process was I'm sure all of the participants will be highly driven and interesting people - keen and excited is an understatement.

Anyone who has been to Monash Malaysia, Malysia generally, or simply been overseas feel free to hit me up with stories and/or advice :)

Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Joseph41 on May 13, 2019, 04:26:54 pm
Monash Malaysia - so exciting. Very jealous. Some of my experiences here but more than happy to answer any questions about the campus or w/e if you have any. :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on July 25, 2019, 07:52:58 pm
A lot has happened since my last post so here's an update!

Global Leaders Experience
The GLE in Malaysia was fantastic! I'm now the only person out of my mum, her siblings, my cousins, my brother etc. to have gone overseas so I didn't have much of an idea of what international travel would be like but I'm definitely keen to go again (and hopefully catch up with some of the friends I made from the University of Warwick and Monash Malaysia). The leadership theory side felt like chill GC revision and most of my learning was from the conversations I had with other students. We had some industry/organisation site visits and there were speakers who came in to talk to us - which were also valuable ways of getting more insight into Malaysia.

If I hadn't recently signed a 12 month lease I would definitely be strongly considering exchange to Monash Malaysia but..

I live near campus now
I've moved into a share house very very close to campus; no more commuting 4 hours a day! I'm pretty used to things like making dinner, cleaning, general chores as I've been doing them for years anyway but it's still a different feeling being 100% independent now. I'm excited for attending lectures in person and therefore being able to walk up to the lecturer and ask them questions afterwards, being able to capitalise on free food and events at campus more and being able to spend time on other productive things rather than travel.

So what I am studying this semester?
- BIO2022: Evolutionary ecology. I'm not particularly excited about this one, but it's going to be useful for developing skills and understandings that'll help me later on. There's not much information up on Moodle yet so hopefully I get more keen when that's released
- BIO2040: Conservation biology. Keen! The only contact hours is one 3 hour workshop with lots of content being provided online (dw, this isn't why I'm keen - even though being able to already complete all of my w1 work has been a plus). A significant reason why I'm keen is that looking in the unit guide there is assessment based on arguing a particular stakeholders pov about an environmental issue. In this type of situation in the past I've usually been given a pov that's not focused on conservation (e.g. in GC last year we had a model UN type situation where I was in the group representing the coal association, in highschool I convinced a bunch of classmates that whaling was fine for an English debate, also in highschool debated argued for fracking etc.) Whatever stakeholder/issue I get I'll be happy :)
- MTH2232: Mathematical statistics. This is the final unit I need to finish my mathematical statistics minor! It's been very motivating to think back on some of the content I covered in MTH2222 last sem and see how it links into statistics used for science & hopefully MTH2232 builds on that well.
- SCI2502: Impact through science 2b. Look, there's a lot I don't know about what's going to happen in this unit but I do know that I'm keen to catch up with my coursemates and Djuke again.


Exams & results
Exams happenned and I was there for them. Felt a bit betrayed by the MTH2222 exam since the practice exams were so similar, lulling me into a false sense of security and the actual exam was more difficult but I still did ok - even if not up to my usual standards. All of my exams were at the start of exam season so there wasn't much time to prepare but that also meant having a longer break so I guess it roughly balances out. Last semester I had my lowest results (so far anyway) but I did intentionally choose units that challenged me and had a weird sem so it doesn't really bother me. I feel that this next semester could be my best so far (I've thought that basically every semester but I've had my reasons and this time it's for real) so let's see how that goes :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on October 02, 2019, 08:52:21 pm
My last update was before semester so here's a quick update:

BIO2022 > BIO2040
Definitely didn't expect this, but although BIO2040 sounds great on paper I often find myself wanting to disengage in that class during the first hour (which is lecture-ish style). Maybe that's just an unavoidable hazard of the unit being geared to teach conservation principles to students without science backgrounds whereas y'know.. it's my major. For a unit without an exam it also feels very memorise-ish at time. I'd rather be marked on whether I understand and can apply the content than if I can remember an author's name and year of publication during a closed book quiz. One thing that BIO2040 has done really well is giving fast, regular, and detailed enough feedback.

On the other hand, BIO2022 has been pretty great. I find the lecturers engaging & I've been learning new things in both lectures and labs. BIO2022 has also felt like the most quantitatively focused bio unit I have done so far, which definitely helps me view it positively. It's a really nice mix of logically thinking through principles, seeing how these play out in the real world and have been tested, and then applying that to data in a lab setting.

MTH2232 is alright. We've recently gotten up to hypothesis testing which is more related to what I wanted to get out of it. The first half was probability and the 2nd half stats, and I was getting a little sick of probability. Unfortunately, I have neglected MTH2232 a bit over the semester and I should fix that. The unit-co-ordinator/lecturer follows the provided notes and uses different colours for clarity which is a plus. I just find it hard to keep that balance between challenging enough that I'm engaged and not so challenging that I'm struggling in maths.

SCI2502. The first half of semester was spent on corporate innovation. This was very similar to entrepreneurship but more codified, less hands-on, and themed in a corporate setting. It was decent but not as engaging as other GC units have been. At the moment we're back to our 1st sem teacher and looking at systems change. Systems change is pretty broad, but here's an example to explain a little: If people in a community are getting very sick regularly, you might decide to intervene by fundraising to have doctors visit and provide medicine. But, if you haven't changed the underlying reason why they are getting sick, they'll just keep getting sick and eventually people won't want to donate anymore because they'll feel like it's hopeless. On the other hand, if you're able to for example, discover a cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative to an activity that's polluting the communities water supply, you're more likely to create lasting change. In systems change, the focus is on addressing underlying causes to create systemic, replicable change.



Some other things:

- On the weekend I was very fortunate to be able to lecture biology, chemistry, and psychology at the QCE lectures. Absolutely loved talking with QCE students, working with QUT staff & students, and collaborating with my fellow lecturers. If you're reading this, and you were there, please take my sincere thanks :)
I'm keen to continue doing what I can to help out with the transition to the ATAR system and wish you all the best of luck.

- I'm now the president of the Monash Advanced Science and Science Scholar Society. When I first joined the committee I was the only GC-er and now we have 50-50 Global Challenges - Research representation (including in the executive team!). I've got high hopes for the committee and the society in general, so let's hope that comes true
 


I thought this semester would be my best one so far. I don't know if it will be academically, but that's fine because in general it has been :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on October 24, 2019, 10:23:44 pm
It's week 12 (last week of semester) and I'm not sure how I feel about that. It'll be good to have more time and I feel like I haven't overpacked my holidays with things to do for a change. Well, that's not strictly true but most of the things I'll be spending time on don't have dates attached which means I'm more "free". I've still got 2 assessments left (1 a tiny quiz for conservation bio that I've already done the work for and the other a 20% reflection for impact through science which I've now "done" multiple times - will probably tweak again tomorrow)

In terms of exams I have 2: Evolutionary ecology is an electronic exam on the 12th of November at 6pm & mathematical statistics is a normal exam at 2pm on the 19th of November.

 I'm going to have to make sure I actually study for evolutionary ecology (which I'm much more comfortable with) and don't just focus on stats. The thing is, even though I did VCE bio and psych I never approached them as "content subjects" or sat down and memorised definitions or examples. To walk into the exam room as confidently as I want to I'm going to need to remember case studies, authors & dates. Genuinely thinking about trying to teach you all 2nd year ecology to brand the knowledge into my brain. Let's see how I go.

At the end of our mathematical statistics lecture today our lecturer put up a poll asking how confident people were that they would pass (the lecture theatre burst into laughter, it was a nice moment) and I found myself selecting "very" (the max confidence option) which put things into perspective a bit. Yeah sure, math stats is the unit I'll probably get the lowest mark on this sem but I still think it will be ok. I don't have a strong reason to stress over it and I should remember that.

non-assessment stuff
Next Monday I'll be presenting to the Monash Warwick Alliance Board about my experiences in the GLE (that cool leadership thing in Malaysia before semester started). I've set up a group chat with the other students presenting on this (from Monash and Warwick) so we can figure out coordinate what we're doing.

Before then, though, I'll be helping out with a highschool visit to Peninsula campus (through the Access Monash Mentors program). I'm not familiar with Peninsula but I'm confident I'll be able to learn what I need to on the day. I'll also be helping out with a few other highschool events at Monash campuses throughout November so it's also likely I'll get used to the campuses as I go.

Being president has been more hectic this month than I thought it would be. Our treasurer resigned, and the only time we can elect a new one is in the first week of semester next year. Luckily, the previous treasurer has agreed to help out as co-op treasurer and there's someone who wants to be treasurer. (Not having a treasurer and no one indicating interest in the role was a stressful time.) We're holding a study event next Thursday and will be doing a bunch of planning over the holidays to hopefully make next year great! Being the first GC president of mass^3 is neat but it's also pressure & expectation which I hope I live up to.

I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting here but let's now move on to news I found out today...

I've been selected to volunteer with the IUCN skink specialist group! Very exciting news, I absolutely love the IUCN's work, mission etc. & have for a while - my 8 year old self would be very happy for me. I'll be helping draft species assessments (i.e. is this skink endangered? critically endangered? etc.) and "other similar tasks".


On a different note, between last entry and this one I've turned 20 which made me realise everything I'd accomplished thus far was something I'd done before 20. My year 8 self wouldn't have expected this but I've got a great foundation for the rest of my life & amazing friends to help me into it. The future is bright and highschool fears are often incorrect.

Best of luck to you all with your exams and stressors, and for those who are struggling rn, I fully believe you can and will go from surviving to thriving. You've got this. We've got this.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: K888 on October 25, 2019, 09:53:58 am
Quote
Before then, though, I'll be helping out with a highschool visit to Peninsula campus (through the Access Monash Mentors program). I'm not familiar with Peninsula but I'm confident I'll be able to learn what I need to on the day. I'll also be helping out with a few other highschool events at Monash campuses throughout November so it's also likely I'll get used to the campuses as I go.
Oooh you'll like Peninsula, Bri!
It's also a very easy campus to navigate around, took me less than one day to learn where everything is. The buildings are all labelled by letters, which is infinitely easier to understand than all the weird addresses at Clayton haha.

Just an fyi that there are some swooping birds on campus, but the only ones I've heard of have been at the popup cafe down the bottom of the campus (past A and C buildings, near the bus bay). I've personally never been swooped, though.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on November 27, 2019, 12:21:23 pm
Oooh you'll like Peninsula, Bri!
It's also a very easy campus to navigate around, took me less than one day to learn where everything is. The buildings are all labelled by letters, which is infinitely easier to understand than all the weird addresses at Clayton haha.

Just an fyi that there are some swooping birds on campus, but the only ones I've heard of have been at the popup cafe down the bottom of the campus (past A and C buildings, near the bus bay). I've personally never been swooped, though.

K888 was right about me liking Peninsula (and I didn't get swooped!) but imo very wrong about letters being an easier system. Give me Clayton where we have street names and numbers any day. I understand building L being the library but everything else seemed very arbitrary. Luckily, when I was on campus tours it was with a final year physio student so they knew where everything was. I've also had a few year 8 days at Caulfield recently and both times all of the mentors there have been from Clayton so I was leading tours but that's pretty straightfoward since Caulfield is basically a big hollow rectangle. I've gotten quite positive feedback from the mentor leaders which almost makes me sad I'm not continuing the program next year but not continuing is the right decision for me given that I can't do everything and still function well.

Update on mass^3 (Monash Advanced science and Science Scholar Society): at our emergency general meeting next year - which we have planned for Week 1 Monday, Semester 1 - we'll also be needing to re-elect our secretary in addition to electing a new treasurer. For the moment, the access that comes with treasurer and secretary is on me & I'm not really happy with this concentration of power & responsibility - it'll be good to have it transferred at the start of next sem. The study event went pretty well, we've had a committee meeting since then and done some more of the paperwork required. The start of next year there's a fair bit to plan but the committee is getting a bit of a break to wind down and relax after exams first. Not going to spoil anything but if anyone reading this is applying for the Global Challenges or Research degree get keen! (you can also join mass^3 even if you aren't in those courses but you wouldn't get voting rights)

In terms of exams, contrary to my concerns in my last post, I over prepared for evo eco and under prepared for stats. In the end, even if I get a score I'm unhappy with for stats I'm glad I chose to push my learning but minoring in something I was less comfortable with. Next semester I'll only have 3 units (+internship unit I'll be doing later) and two of those will be bio units with the other being a selective so it should be pretty chill. There was an opportunity for involvement in research for bio students but only if they met a grade benchmark in 4 2nd year bio units. I had the grades but I only did 3 bio units this year so I couldn't apply. Oh well. On the other hand, I've got a meeting about the IUCN volunteering tomorrow which is exciting :D. I'll be helping out with a highschool event on campus before and after that so should be a busy day but a good-busy one.

At this point in the year I also want to take the time to reflect more generally about my goals for the year.
The thing I really wanted this year was to move out of home & I've done it. Moving into a sharehouse with 3 guys I'd never met before was a bit of a risk but I'm so glad I took it. My mental health and wellbeing has improved substantially and I feel more in control of my life and able to face stressors. On the other hand VCE psych students might remember that major life events - good or bad - are stressful and having a lot of them in a short time frame can be overwhelming. Within the space of a few weeks I moved house, went overseas for the first time, and came back. It wasn't long after that that semester started and I feel like I still haven't caught up with everything: the good and the bad. I haven't read a book in months & there's still a fair bit to knock off my (mental) to do list before I'll do that. That being said, I don't regret the major decisions I've made this year at all; this semester has clearly been my best semester so far in terms of my life and well being. I can't wait for next year to steal that record from it.


AN has become a bigger part of my life this year and I'm very grateful that that could be the case. I can't wait to see what the forums look like this time next year and the users who have joined or stepped up their involvement. A few years ago I hadn't made a single post on atarnotes and now I've made 3000. It's strange to think that back then I didn't know if I'd be able to meaningful contribute or if anyone would want to hear my perspective and that that kept me from posting. It makes me think of this image I don't have on hand where someone looks at a beautifully decorated cake and goes 'my cake isn't as beautiful and great as their cake :( ' meanwhile, the audience's reaction is basically 'yay! Two cakes! :D'. Respect and upvotes is nice and all but ultimately you're giving the reader/question-asker/community something from you & the value of that isn't diminished by what other people bring.


Next semester a significant chuck of my support network will be overseas on exchange and it's reassuring to know that, even though a bunch of close friends will be leaving, there's a bunch of close friends here who I can lean on too.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Erutepa on November 27, 2019, 05:29:49 pm
Not going to spoil anything but if anyone reading this is applying for the Global Challenges or Research degree get keen! (you can also join mass^3 even if you aren't in those courses but you wouldn't get voting rights)
I think (mainly from hearing about your experience at Monash, chatting to others and rummaging around the internet) that I am starting to lean towards going to monash next year for the research degree. As such, I shall take your advice and get excited for mass^3. Of all the things i have heard, I think I am most looking forward to the chance to meet and network with professionals (I think you mentioned something about this previously) - I here thats a very crucial aspect of having any success in science research (networking and knowing people).
The thing I really wanted this year was to move out of home & I've done it.
Thats reallly cool!
I am planning on moving out of home next year (ideally in January, but if not definitely in the first half of the year) so I would love to hear what stuggles you faced through the process and how you overcame them. Are there any tips/wisdom that you have gained through the process that you wish someone told to you earlier?

AN has become a bigger part of my life this year and I'm very grateful that that could be the case. I can't wait to see what the forums look like this time next year and the users who have joined or stepped up their involvement. A few years ago I hadn't made a single post on atarnotes and now I've made 3000. It's strange to think that back then I didn't know if I'd be able to meaningful contribute or if anyone would want to hear my perspective and that that kept me from posting. It makes me think of this image I don't have on hand where someone looks at a beautifully decorated cake and goes 'my cake isn't as beautiful and great as their cake :( ' meanwhile, the audience's reaction is basically 'yay! Two cakes! :D'. Respect and upvotes is nice and all but ultimately you're giving the reader/question-asker/community something from you & the value of that isn't diminished by what other people bring.
Well done on 3000 posts! Its such an amazing feat that speaks to your inspiring dedication to the community.
That last sentiment is a very good one to keep in mind - although it does bring up the health concern that you have put 3000 cakes out into AN.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on November 27, 2019, 09:48:37 pm
I think (mainly from hearing about your experience at Monash, chatting to others and rummaging around the internet) that I am starting to lean towards going to monash next year for the research degree. As such, I shall take your advice and get excited for mass^3. Of all the things i have heard, I think I am most looking forward to the chance to meet and network with professionals (I think you mentioned something about this previously) - I here thats a very crucial aspect of having any success in science research (networking and knowing people).Thats reallly cool!
Thanks! We definitely do run networking events with academics and professionals (usually later in the year), there's also faculty specific networking ran outside of mass^3 which you can participate in as well :) One thing I would also add here is don't underestimate the power of talking to your teaching staff and asking them questions about their work after lectures, in labs etc.

I am planning on moving out of home next year (ideally in January, but if not definitely in the first half of the year) so I would love to hear what stuggles you faced through the process and how you overcame them. Are there any tips/wisdom that you have gained through the process that you wish someone told to you earlier?
Hmm.. I was fairly well prepared & already had lived in a rental place w/o my parent for some months by the time I did it but here's my thoughts/advice:
- Paying for stuff is scary, so give yourself a bit of breathing room with your estimates of living expenses and have a buffer you can fall back on if needed
- I was surprised by how little time people had between listing a place and wanting someone to move in
- If you're potentially going to move in with randoms, have a specific profile that's fairly strict - it's better to rule out or be ruled out early than to discover you're incompatible after paying bond, having moved etc.
- Know your tenants rights & be aware that your landlord may not always stick to all of them
- Look well in advance so you can get a feel for what's out there and what reasonable prices are
- Packing & unpacking will take longer than you think it will - mark the box which has your scissors in it
- If moving into a furnished place, make sure you have the right linen size for the bed.

Well done on 3000 posts! Its such an amazing feat that speaks to your inspiring dedication to the community.
That last sentiment is a very good one to keep in mind - although it does bring up the health concern that you have put 3000 cakes out into AN.
Thank you!

That's about 3 cakes a day since my first post so hopefully each has been shared by a fair few people :D
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: K888 on November 27, 2019, 10:13:26 pm
Re: letters for building names at Peninsula - yep, should have said it's easy once you know which building is which haha. Which doesn't take long because there's not many buildings. Before you learn of each building it is definitely confusing lol

Congrats on all the things you've achieved this year, Bri. It sounds like its been a massive year for you and I'm excited to hear about your adventures next year. Your ability to multitask a lot of responsibilities has made me reconsider my abilities and wonder about challenging myself a bit more!
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on November 28, 2019, 08:44:55 am
Re: letters for building names at Peninsula - yep, should have said it's easy once you know which building is which haha. Which doesn't take long because there's not many buildings. Before you learn of each building it is definitely confusing lol

Congrats on all the things you've achieved this year, Bri. It sounds like its been a massive year for you and I'm excited to hear about your adventures next year. Your ability to multitask a lot of responsibilities has made me reconsider my abilities and wonder about challenging myself a bit more!

Thank you!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you get up to next year too :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on March 13, 2020, 07:23:38 pm
Really quick update from me as I haven't posted in here for ages.


Had a pretty hectic summer and just finished Week 1 (since Monash removed o-week, pushed back semester start and made week 1 online due to coronavirus).

Atm I'm most keen for BIO3011  Research methods in biology, then ECC2-some-numbers-I-can't-remember Prosperity, poverty and sustainability (Also known as PPS), and then BIO3111 Applied ecology. I probably should feel more keen for applied ecology than I do right now and I'm guessing that'll build throughout semester but yeah...   Also, BIO3111 and BIO3011 are VERY easy to confuse when I'm reading an email, timetable etc. so maybe some of my enthusiasm for BIO3111 will be transferred through that :P

In mass^3 we did some rescheduling and replanning due to semester dates being thrown off by the coronavirus decisions but now have a timetable for the semester. We also did a working bee / mini renovation of the common room so hopefully it'll be a good welcoming space for the new advanced science students when they'll probably visit for the first time soon :D


Anyway, that's the speedy update done. I've been unwell recently but am better now and will scramble to catch up on things before returning for a more comprehensive update.



2020 has been a long 3 months; best of luck to everyone for whatever the next three throw at us.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on April 16, 2020, 10:59:49 am
Heyo, update here

Ok so I've kept that order of which units are my favourites but after the first lecture applied ecology did get much better and I am learning valuable info in it. Had the first assessment for it due this week (which is mid sem break) which was pretty straightforward except for the incredibly restrictive wordcount.

On the same day as that was due I was trying to fix my settings for backing up files to OneDrive automatically which included temporarily losing 2 years of files from my laptop. Now I know how to avoid that but yeah... wasn't great. I was hoping that fixing that would fix an issue I've been having where RStudio hasn't been loading the tidyverse package. I've now invested many hours in trying to fix that googling solutions, changing pathways, uninstalling and reinstalling things etc. Still haven't fixed whatever the issue is.

On the plus side I can use the RStudio cloud version for my research methods assessment instead and I'm not having the same issue there so it's not like I'm going to lose marks on my assignment due to this. I've done all the coding work on my assessment and was able to copy this across, just need to do figure captions and written statements interpreting the data. I find saving on the cloud version to be unreliable so I am still going to keep trying to fix my issues with using the desktop version.

Prosperity poverty & sustainability hasn't had a big assessment yet but we do get marked on "discussion logs" on a Moodle forum where we collaborate in groups to make reading summaries & discuss the ideas from the readings etc. Marking is individual based on your contributions but I still think I'm lucky to have a pretty good group. There's 1 person who hasn't contributed much at all but that's a lot more manageable than if most of the group didn't engage.

I'm waiting out the shutdown at mum's place rather than in my sharehouse. I had been really liking being able to go on campus to study in the early days of semester but it's not exactly essential for me to study there so I haven't done that recently. Online learning is pretty ok for me so that's not a big issue. After doing eng lang in year 12 through DECV this is much easier than that ahaha. Kinda sucks not being as able to learn the practical skills in Applied Ecology from actually going into environments, identifying taxa, making transects and quadrats etc. but it's not like I'm doing any wet lab (what most people probably think of as a lab)  heavy units like chemistry.

The thing that's hardest for me in this situation is not the direct effects on me but how it's impacting others. In my course, the only time you can go on exchange is the 1st semester of 3rd year, so this year most people in my cohort had exchange planned. As you can imagine, those plans that were carefully made and constructed to fit within our course map have been disrupted with the need to return to Australia while they still could and as their host unis closed. I feel for the high school students and teachers who are adapting on the go with lots of uncertainty - particularly in the qce system where there's the added stress of it being the first year with external assessment. I've got a cousin going through year 12 VCE atm too and can see how this is influencing his learning. My heart especially breaks for people who are having their wellbeing seriously disrupted by this and/or don't feel comfortable and safe in their homes.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on July 29, 2020, 11:14:03 am
Hey everyone,

about to start sem 2 and a lot has happened so here's an update!

I did fix the issue with tidyverse not loading (uninstalling and reinstalling some more fixed it up).

Those assignments went well, only lost 1 or 2 marks in the research methods one and got 100% on the discussion logs which was cool. In the end I didn't maintain my grades being that high and ended up with HDs for the bio units and distinction for PPS. All of those units would've benefited from me studying them in a time where I was better able to put time and energy into them but I thought they were all pretty well run regardless.

I'd be very surprised if research methods in bio isn't my favourite bio unit in terms of coursework at the end of my degree. A frustration I did have is that it was clear that the tutor marking my work for the last assignment didn't have much aptitude for code and didn't really understand mine - c'mon guys, a loop nested inside an if statement is not exactly that complex (esp for a week 12 assignment)... and when a (different tutor) marked my report some of their comments went against what I had been told by the lecturer or were otherwise objectively wrong. Some of their comments were completely valid but it still sucked and at the time I was too busy stressing about end of semester to chase up people whose emails I didn't have. Again, I can't complain too much as I did end up with a HD anyway and far more importantly I learnt a lot but it was still a bit upsetting to get those marks back in a unit where I'd had multiple students say they learnt more from me than the staff. I really believe in the unit and I'd still encourage people to take it, I could tell a lot of thought went into the design of the unit and the teaching staff very genuinely believed in what they were teaching, and I think the skills gained from it are very important etc.

I got off a bit on the wrong foot with applied ecology as it felt to me a lot like it was preparing students to go out and get a consulting job after uni (and that's not what I'm interested in, I don't really want to be getting my pay from developers etc... ). When I step back and look at the content it is things that if I'd seen in earlier units I would've loved, like how you decide which areas of land should be put in a reserve and the different algorithms used for this. In a different semester I think I would've really enjoyed this unit and it sucks that we missed out on the practical skills side of things. I would've liked to be able to pick a research problem and choose between data sets (like we could for research methods) for our report but I understand why that wasn't practical. It also would've been impossible for us to go and collect the data ourselves like in previous years. I clearly remember at the start of semester attending a lecture in person (- seeing the pieces of paper marking out where we were allowed to sit for distancing -) and the lecturer brightening when they saw they actually had an audience. To me that almost represents the whole unit, they tried what they could for it being online but this is a unit that really struggled with that.

Prosperity, poverty, and sustainability was an interesting unit. This was my first non-science unit in my degree but in the end when talking about things like climate change it was a pretty big bonus to already be pretty exposed to topics surrounding that, how anthropogenic climate change works etc. It was weird to be on the other side of economics saying "Look at me! I'm a science! See look, I use data!" and felt like a role-reversal of when I'd been the only psych student in my physics class. The difference of course being that psych is a science and economics (as far as I can tell) is not (evidence based decision making doesn't have to be scientific in nature??? why fight so hard for something that doesn't truly fit?? you don't need to be science to be worthy of respect??). There were videos posted up for each topic rather than lectures which I thought worked well and the peer-marking system was great (lots of feedback since you have multiple people marking your work) but on the other hand having tutes/workshops be videos + forum rather than real-time didn't seem to work. It's very hard to have a conversation rather than comment-and-never-look-back when people are on at a whole range of different times. I would've preferred tutes to be ran like the help sessions with students then going into discussion together after the content (which could be recorded and posted as a video) so that we could actually discuss.


In semester 2 I'll be studying trends in ecology, indigenous studies, macroeconomics, and impact through science 3b. I have more to say but this is long already so I'll leave it here for now :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: hums_student on July 29, 2020, 03:59:48 pm
The difference of course being that psych is a science and economics (as far as I can tell) is not (evidence based decision making doesn't have to be scientific in nature??? why fight so hard for something that doesn't truly fit??
I will not hesitate to fight you.

How did you find Tidyverse, by the way? Would you say it's necessary for learning and using R properly? We didn't learn Tidyverse for my R subject but we had to use ggplot2, which I think is included in Tidyverse.

I'm doing macro in sem 2 as well, interested to hear how you find it. :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on July 29, 2020, 04:36:57 pm
I will not hesitate to fight you.

How did you find Tidyverse, by the way? Would you say it's necessary for learning and using R properly? We didn't learn Tidyverse for my R subject but we had to use ggplot2, which I think is included in Tidyverse.

I'm doing macro in sem 2 as well, interested to hear how you find it. :)

Uh oh.

If you present a stronger argument than using data & evidence -> science, then I'm happy to listen.


I don't think you need tidyverse but I really like it and found it very useful. Hopefully you agree that ggplot2() is great. I never want to make an excel graph again. I also liked doing a lot of data manipulation work using tidyverse. I really like piping, which allows you to take the result of one line of code and make it an argument of a function in the next line without binding it to anything.

example

e.g. first code chunk is get the rivertrawls tibble and group the rows together with the same subcategory. Then filter each of these groups so only the 1st row in each group is kept. Then show the subcategory of each the remaining rows, ordering them by their subcategory. (In the end you're left only with 1 row for each subcategory displayed in alphabetical order).   
(https://i.imgur.com/5UYJyV7.png)

I've downloaded some satellite data of the ocean (showing cholophyll concentrations) to learn how to analyse this but the stuff for that seems to be more old style R. I'm hoping that after I get comfortable with it I'll be able to translate it across into being compatible with a more tidyverse way of doing things.

I'll try to keep updated more often! I think macro will be good (otherwise I wouldn't be taking it since it's an elective) - hopefully that turns out to be the case for both of us :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: hums_student on July 30, 2020, 08:32:25 am
If you present a stronger argument than using data & evidence -> science, then I'm happy to listen.
my very scientific reasoning
maths + assignments with right/wrong answers = science. fight me.
Tidyverse looks really neat! Yeah ggplot2 is great, way superior to excel. We used Stargazer which also gives some nice looking tables when doing regression analysis, but tidyverse looks more versatile.

All the best with sem 2! :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on August 05, 2020, 11:32:18 am
my very scientific reasoning
maths + assignments with right/wrong answers = science. fight me.
Tidyverse looks really neat! Yeah ggplot2 is great, way superior to excel. We used Stargazer which also gives some nice looking tables when doing regression analysis, but tidyverse looks more versatile.

All the best with sem 2! :)

I haven't used Stargazer before. We're always told for out reports to format our tables using what we've generated from R but not copying it. I'll have to check it out at some point.

Good luck to you for sem 2 as well! :)





I haven't had classes for all of my subjects yet but here we go:

Monday: I had classes from 8am - 1pm with no break (trends in ecology 1 hour lecture followed by a 4 hour impact through science workshop which also clashed with a macroeconomics lecture. My TuteSmart year 10 maths class is also on Monday so a busy day for me to be sure.

Trends in ecology: I think I'm going to really like this unit. When I was doing the readings I wasn't quite sure how relevant they would be but I'm glad I did them as it gave more depth and context to the lecture without being one of those cases where the lecture just rehashes the readings anyway. Essentially we were talking about how when you look at a species you can find rules for it and predict outcomes because it's not that complex, when you look at a huge scale you get general trends which can be fairly easily understood, but when you look at the middle it's a complex mess of detail and interaction that's exceptionally hard to find rules for. In fact, it's looking increasingly like a lot of what ends up happening with communities (which species are dominant etc. ) is mostly random. I've got another lecture for this in about an hour, which iirc is focused on how people are trying to understand communities and also quickly looking at Charles Darwin (& how the person with such a huge contribution to ecology wasn't really an ecologist).

Impact through science 3b: It was so good to see the other people in my cohort again :). This unit is also the first time we've had Jake who is basically an assistant lecture that was in the first cohort of global challenges to graduate. The actual class content could've been useful condensed a bit more but thankfully we did get small breaks during the class which allowed us to quickly grab food etc. Very importantly, we found out what our projects are, what partners we are working with and who is in our team (this class is kind of a mini-honours). My team is 4 people (only 1 of whom I've worked with before in-class and that was only for 1 assignment) and we're working on improving how citizen science (i.e. non-scientists helping science through things like data collection) is used for the Marine Mammal Foundation. Half of the team has worked with MMF before, our main point of contact is with an ex-GC-er who I've done a speech with before (& so briefly met), and our majors collectively are in chemistry, ecology & conservation biology, and zoology. We've got a team meeting today and have organised a meeting with the MMF team for later in the week, we've been doing a bit of research and thinking to pick apart the context we're working with & I'm keen to have the meeting. This project works really well with my interests in marine biology, science engagement in the broader community, and data analysis for biology so I'm sure this is going to be a fantastic experience.

Indigenous science So. much. reading. Partially because I went ahead and did a bunch of extra reading for the general section on the reading list rather than just our week 1 readings. Part of our week 1 readings is 3 hours of watching the First Australians documentary and  given that we're quizzed on it the actual time taken is easily longer. I prefer reading a slab of text rather than watching a video so this is hard but oh well. Week 1 seems to be a lot about giving more context and dispelling myths about Indigenous peoples (e.g. the hunter gatherer myth, how many people nations & languages there were on this continent, timelines etc.). This is definitely an area where I have a lot to learn and I'm glad I'm doing this as a unit where we get the chance to learn from and have discussions with Indigenous scientists because it's hard to know what to learn when you don't know what you don't know; I'd find these topics very hard to learn independently. I'm sad for how much knowledge has been permanently lost and/or destroyed but I'm hopeful at much is able to be learnt.

Macroeconomics haven't caught up on my lecture yet. As hum_student pointed out - maths + assignments with right/wrong answers. Atm we're going over things like GDP calculation and Moodle is giving my an overabundance of emails from people posting to be added to a group chat (why didn't someone set up a link to collect names rather than everyone individually replying and spamming us all?). One day the flood of emails will end. I had blissfully forgotten that first year units were like this. Fortunately, some of the discussion posts are actually useful for learning from and clarifying concepts.

Edit: in the time it took me to write this I received half a dozen macroeconomics emails :/
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on November 12, 2020, 09:59:39 pm
hello again.

I have a macroeconomics exam on Monday so I've been doing some prep for that then the week after a trends in ecology exam. Indigenous science and impact through science 3b don't have exams so in a week and a half might be my last exam ever. I'll still have uni next year but I don't know of any honours years having exams and challenges honours certainly doesn't.

A few people in my cohort will be graduating this year with a bachelor of science rather than staying around and getting bachelor of science advanced - global challenges (honours). It's unfortunate that they don't get any recognition for being in gc but I guess it is what it is.

The way that honours works in global challenges is that you work in a team for a client and both of those are picked by gc staff. We'll find out what we've been assigned next year when we start in February. Hopefully I get a client brief which works for my team and gives good opportunity for skills development.  The course director knows me well and what I want to get out of honours so fingers crossed.


It feels more dramatic to me that QCE exams are so far through than my (undergrad) studies drawing to an end. I do want to do postgrad eventually but I'd like to enter the workforce fulltime for years first. It's been suggested that since none of us (in my cohort) took gap years that we could do that after graduating but I can't imagine having a year of free time & I'm financially independent so that's a consideration too.

Anyway, not sure where I'm going with this, I'll probably post again soon (for my jj standards anyway)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on January 02, 2021, 11:56:40 am
I don't do new years resolutions but this new year felt different to me. I'm visiting my family atm and on new years eve when it hit midnight and everyone else said 'happy new year" I couldn't bring myself to say it. Ironically, it was going on the internet that helped me feel a bit better about the world. Being reminded about poet's running progress and talking to pf lifted my mood. Yeah, things can be bad but we can get through it.

About 368 days ago I called a mental health team on a close friend for the first time. I was terrified and didn't know what I was doing. Now I can call 000 and know what they'll ask and have a pretty good idea of what to say. I was living in a share house where we didn't talk to each other. Now I live in one where we miss each other when we leave for a while. I was without an internship and now I'm doing a fantastic one.

I still struggle a lot with guilt. I can't be everything for everyone and sometimes things slip. I had this tradition from the first year of uni / first year of my being a mod where I would read through the VCE year 12 journey journals that had been recently active from start to finish and write a message for the journaller which I would send before results. If you're a year 12 Victorian reading this, you might know I didn't do that this year. I've read every page of Ashmi's PDT folio, know about Geoo's passion and perseverance through missing the "best" part of chem, empathise with the academic pressure Cat in the Hat feels... but when December 30 showed up it took me by surprise. I wish I could've been more there for all of you during 2020 and in a way not preparing for the VCE class of 2020 is the right symbolism for how I've felt throughout the year. I wish I could've given more & I know I'm not the only one who has felt that way. I'm not looking for validation here, I know I've still done good things, I just haven't lived up to who I would've liked me to be in this year.

2020 might be over but its impacts aren't and that makes it harder for me to celebrate the new year. knowing that in many ways we're not restructuring the systems that perpetuate these problems doesn't help. Increased pressure on environments and animal consumption resulting in another zoonotic disease? Guess we'd all better just point fingers and wait for the next ebola or COVID-19. Cut foreign support & pretend like it isn't used strategically to help Australia too I guess. Ignore global warming so we have have mosquitoes expand their ranges rapidly (plus a whole host of other issues) sounds just about in-line with this.

On the plus side, I can remember the mantra I've heard before at conservation and sustainability panels. How do you keep up hope? You remember all the people fighting the good fight. I know so many people who are empathetic, intelligent, kind, resilient & working to make things better. We have everything we need to make a better future, we just need to communicate it in a way that others will be on board with the changes. I believe that most people, if given the choice in an accessible way, would choose to help others & themselves. Learning more about what's wrong can be overwhelming and sometimes paralysing but when the shock has passed knowledge remains.

2021 is not a fresh slate from the impacts of 2020 but our knowledge and experience isn't wiped away either. We've got this.



--- I'll try to actually talk uni things in my next entry :P ---
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: whys on January 02, 2021, 01:06:24 pm
Hey Bri MT,

Firstly, congrats on getting through this year successfully and for everything you've accomplished. You are a cherished presence on the forums and we wouldn't have it any other way. You have supported the class of 2020 so much this year, as well as other year levels. Thank you for offering your knowledge and wisdom to help us on our own paths. It's okay to be disappointed, but I hope you also know what a big help you've been around the forums with your many helpful posts and amazing contributions.

P.S. I also felt the exact same way - it didn't really feel like a new year when everything from 2020 was bound to carry over. It sort of just felt like a new extension of 2020 to me, but with every new year comes the opportunity to bring about good change and reflect over what went wrong so we can do better.

All the best for 2021!
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: ashmi on January 02, 2021, 01:57:47 pm
Hey Bri!🐢🐢

I just want to say, thank you for the honest journal entry. A big round of applause to you for making it through 2020 and all the progress that you have made has definitely been noticed by many on the forums. As whys has mentioned, we always feel your constant support no matter what situation we all seem to be in and the advice/encouragement you give is something we all treasure. It is perfectly fine to feel like you haven't accomplished anything you wanted previously, it's 100% alright.

Just like you and whys, to me, 2021 doesn't feel like a new year at all, in fact, it feels more like 2020.5, especially with all the impact 2020 had on us. However, we can always try new things and hopefully improve our quality of life for this year. Seriously though, thank you for everything you have done. Also, I do remember that time you messaged me in Year 11 before results came out and let me just say, I never forgot what you did. Take some time to relax and rest up💕

Good luck for this year and we are always here for you!

Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: The Cat In The Hat on January 15, 2021, 08:20:56 am
Hey Bri!🐢🐢

I just want to say, thank you for the honest journal entry. A big round of applause to you for making it through 2020 and all the progress that you have made has definitely been noticed by many on the forums. As whys has mentioned, we always feel your constant support no matter what situation we all seem to be in and the advice/encouragement you give is something we all treasure. It is perfectly fine to feel like you haven't accomplished anything you wanted previously, it's 100% alright.

Just like you and whys, to me, 2021 doesn't feel like a new year at all, in fact, it feels more like 2020.5, especially with all the impact 2020 had on us. However, we can always try new things and hopefully improve our quality of life for this year. Seriously though, thank you for everything you have done. Also, I do remember that time you messaged me in Year 11 before results came out and let me just say, I never forgot what you did. Take some time to relax and rest up💕

Good luck for this year and we are always here for you!
I second this.

Also, I feel honoured to be mentioned. :)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on January 15, 2021, 11:33:37 am
Thanks everyone :) Feels like a bit of a role-reversal to have younger students reassuring me but in a way I think that's what the community is all about - people helping out when they can, how they can. Also I feel like I should mention that I picked those names as recently active examples but there are certainly lots more VCE journals than that :D

Apparently we'll get access to the Moodle page (at Monash this is where you find information about your units) on the 25th of January - exactly 2 weeks before we begin induction for honours. At the moment we don't have much information: we don't know what we will be working on, what teams we will be in, who our academic supervisors will be, who our industry supervisors will be.... I would be very surprised if we get our client briefs before induction but hopefully Moodle does give us a decent amount of information.

For anyone who has read insanipi's honours journey or is otherwise familiar with science honours you might be able to see that global challenges honours is a bit different. We work in teams with our cohortmates we've gotten to know over the past 3 years (yes, our honours is year long teamwork) and are assigned a client/Monash partner. As the global challenges site describes it:

"Unlike a traditional honours program, our students work with industry during their final year to tackle real world problems. Our students bring a whole suite of new entrepreneurial and scientific thinking to your business problems." - https://www.monash.edu/global-challenges

I could be wrong here, but I think honours will be more chill compared to 3rd year where we did consulting + also had to balance 3 other units. Previous honour students have given me hope here. It's also going to be the first year where I'm not on the mass^3 committee.  I definitely feel that I made the right decision not to run for re-election, having one less commitment should be helpful.

The biggest thing I'm looking forward to with my uni work now is seeing the other gcers again in person (we've been told our induction weeks will be in person). I especially want to see my cohort but as the year progresses it would be good to catch up with the 2nd 3rd years again and to meet the incoming 1st and 2nd year students. In a strange way, it was almost like 3rd year was preparation for our cohort to be going our separate ways soon and not seeing each other around on campus.   feel ready for this to be my last year of undergrad and to then venture out into the workforce fulltime. I'm ready to leave the structure of uni classes behind. I'm ready for this final year.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: homeworkisapotato on January 18, 2021, 01:35:08 pm
Hi BriMT! I've always read your journal but have always been very intimidated to reply! Your final year sounds very insightful and fun! Do you know what you want to do after uni or are you going to live in the moment and think about that later?
Looking forward to the net update :D
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on January 18, 2021, 02:51:39 pm
Hi BriMT! I've always read your journal but have always been very intimidated to reply! Your final year sounds very insightful and fun! Do you know what you want to do after uni or are you going to live in the moment and think about that later?
Looking forward to the net update :D

Hi!

I hope I don't give off too much of a scary vibe, thank you for following and replying :)

We've actually just gotten access to the Moodle page, not much info on there yet but it's still a nice thing to have. Hopefully it is both insightful and fun! The induction week topics look useful which is a good start.

After uni I want to focus on working for a while and some years later I want to do postgrad. Since the end of last year Monash has started sending me job emails for science grads and most of the ones that come up are some sort of data analytics thing. I like analysing data but more importantly I want to go into a role that I see as working towards a good cause. There are some roles that come up as environmental consulting which matches well with my skillset but if it's going to be helping companies exploit environmental legislation gaps then I'm not all that interested. I'm not sure if that fully answers your question but I hope that gives you a better idea!
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on February 05, 2021, 10:42:47 am
I have some things to catch up on and lots to get done today so I'm going to keep this short:

I start honours induction on Monday. I'm really happy with everything about my project: the external partner, Monash supervisor, my team (I'm working with a classmate I haven't worked with before but she's very driven and easy to get along with), and of course the project itself. This has meant that I am now super-keen for this academic year.

it's not a task I'm going to start on just yet but I'm looking forward to writing the lit review. I haven't done one before but it's going to be really interesting to see how other people have approached my focus in the project which is the spatio-temporal modelling side of things (coding is going to be crucial for this).

Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: ArtyDreams on February 05, 2021, 11:48:24 am
Good luck Bri  :)
I'm excited to see where the year takes you!!
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on February 27, 2021, 02:14:54 pm
Good luck Bri  :)
I'm excited to see where the year takes you!!

Thanks Arty! :)



Update!
[I thought about saying o-week update but I'm not exactly following the standard undergrad timetable anymore so that seems useless]

I'm now doing the project without a teammate. This is kinda strange (everyone else is in a team of at least 3) but mostly I'm really really grateful that I still get to do the project!
[Note to future gc-ers reading this: please don't take this to mean you can opt into a solo project, that's not how it works]

Reading the literature feels fantastic because it's very clear that the work I'm doing is genuinely new and useful. I also love how new the eDNA field is. Previously in high school and uni someone else it's been about repeating what someone else has done, doing a write up with the same motivations on the same data as your peers. Now I get to work on my piece of the puzzle and that's very motivating.

I've been spending some time in the global challenges honours office & we're slowly making it into really being our space that reflects our cohort. It's good to have a space where I can specifically focus on that and really get into that headspace. Out of all the projects in our cohort this one is definitely the one I want to be in but it's still very interesting to hear about the range of other projects

I have also been putting more intentional time and effort into taking care of my health & that's  paying off; I feel like I have more energy, I have more positivity, it's easier to focus etc.

My first assignment (the literature review) is due in 3 weeks. I'm a bit concerned about the 10 page maximum (including references!) with double spacing and 12pt font but I guess that just means I'll need to focus on what's most important. I really think that references are going to be the main issue here but we'll see.   @ people who have written a lit review before, how did you go with the page/word count?
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on March 07, 2021, 09:13:40 am
I feel like I'm getting somewhere & I'm starting to see what I'll actually be doing in my project a bit more.

Before there was a part that was like:
- meant to figure out this thing
- ok but how
- ????? I'll just work on this other aspect for a while

Now it's more:
- I have to keep in mind x, y limitations but here's an upper estimate
- to narrow that down, I can use this info from this field and combine it with that info from another field & that should mean...

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of answers I still don't have, but this feels nice.

Only two weeks until the literature review is due (eek)
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on March 17, 2021, 08:31:55 pm
Literature review due in 2 days!

I'm currently on the clayton-caulfield shuttle bus,  had no idea it ran at this time but I'm glad it does. There's something nicer about working in the office rather than sitting at my desk at home. I think most of that is the people and the remainder is having a dedicated space. 

I should probably have dinner,  but then I'll go back to working for a while.  Luckily I don't need to do major modifications but I won't have heaps of time to work on it tomorrow & tomorrow is Thursday so I'll sleep better if I get more done tonight. 

Just need to make sure I sleep enough to be able to think properly tomorrow. 

Edit: a counterpoint to the people idea is that I much prefer campus at night. It's so peaceful then.
Title: Re: A turtle's exploration of the world of science & leadership
Post by: Bri MT on April 13, 2021, 08:15:38 pm
wooo! Avoided the 1 month warning!

Handed in the literature review, then yesterday I gave my intro talk. Originally it was going to be earlier but the dates were pushed back. I ended up working pretty late on Sunday since I noticed an issue in my code for the graphs but I ended up fixing it (and more importantly having pretty graphs)
 
I received positive feedback & had a lot of questions asked which was nice :)

I'm pretty lucky that since I'm not doing field trips I'm not needing to do risk assessments, ethics applications etc. I'm working with data that was collected before 2021 so I get to already be doing analysis which is v cool & a fairly unique position at this time of the year.

I've got a breakfast socialising/ networking event at 7:45 tomorrow so I probably won't stay on campus too much longer tonight but I showed up late today so I like to make up that time if I can (to an extent at least). I needed to come in today anyway as I had left my phone in a lecture theatre yesterday (whyyyy do formal clothes designed for women have tiny pockets if any) then had to go prepare for my presentation & after that the room was booked with back to back classes until 7pm so I didn't get a good chance to look :( Fortunately, I got my phone this afternoon.  (Shout out to the cohort-mate who picked up my phone yesterday and dropped it off in the office).

My next assessment coming up is the individual thesis due in 2 months. Definitely going to get started on that early.

Side note: I actually got the Easter public holidays! I'm so used to not getting them that it was a surprise when they happened. Didn't get midsem break off but I wasn't expecting to so that's alright.