Sunday, July 6, 2014
By:
A shortened week with the holiday coming up on Friday! But so much to write about nonetheless. All of the interns had a wonderful time exploring more of D.C. this past weekend. On Saturday we made a trek into Georgetown, and although it was not our first time exploring that part of the city, it was certainly one of the more memorable ones! We decided that we were going to try out a new restaurant - leave it to a bunch of physics majors to become amateur DC gastronomy experts. Doing our homework we stumbled across "Thunder Burger & Bar," which markets itself as serving "gourmet burgers" and other food. The price certainly seemed a little more gourmet that we were used to, but it was well worth it. I can only speak for myself, but I'm pretty sure that all the other interns were absolutely ready for a good sandwich. Everyone seemed to have had a small breakfast or not eaten much at all up until that point. I had a "Showdown at the Border" sandwich and it was delicious. Our server was incredibly knowledgeable about the menu and apparently he had tried almost everything on the menu, so definitely no complaints about them! All in all it was a great time. Afterwards we headed deeper into Georgetown and found ourselves walking along the waterfront. We stumbled upon a very cool fountain and I managed to snap a picture of it as the water was colored and blasting into the air. We headed back towards Foggy Bottom after our waterfront adventure. Some of the interns went back to the dorm, but Jake, Ashley and I stopped for milkshakes to top off the evening. A gastronomical night for the ages!
In work this week the four of us have continued on with our lesson plan work. As the calendar edges toward July 18 and we prepare for our meeting with the other researchers working on the topic of African-Americans in Physics and Astronomy, we are giving more thought to how we're going to present what we've created so far and where we intend to bring the project to by the end of the summer. As I've mentioned previously, I bring a political science background to our work, so besides preparing a presentation about all the very useful pedagogical tools we're working on, I have been thinking about concise and informed ways to present how the four of us attempt to frame our lesson plans, annotated bibliography entries, and other materials. Consciously incorporating and communicating different perspectives into the teacher's guide necessitates an intersectional approach to race and gender in our effort to understand and communicate our research into the experiences of historical and contemporary African-American physical scientists. Mindfully approaching their disciplines in this manner is something I believe will help drive innovation and interest in STEM work overall. Thus, this past week I have been working hard to present this well for our meeting on the 18th!
I can never believe how quickly time flies.We're now over halfway done and it seems like I just got into town. I surely overstate how quickly the best of days go, but it's true. I'm sure there will be even more excitement going into the long holiday weekend and a great deal of people in the area!
Simon Patane