A Repeated Observation
COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY | LEARNING | NOVEMBER 1, 2013
(I’m going back to school after working as a teacher for several years, so I’m older and more experienced than the other students in my introductory anatomy class.)

Student In My Group: “It didn’t change color, but we know that it’s a reducing sugar, so should I put down that it was a positive reaction?”

Me: “Guys, science is not just writing down what you think you already know. It’s about observation. It didn’t change color, so there was no reaction. That’s why reproducibility is so important. We could have done any number of things wrong. All we know is what we observed, so that’s what we put down.”

Student In Another Group: “This has to be a lipid, but it didn’t change color. Should I just put it down as positive?”

Professor: “Guys, science is not just writing down what you think you already know. It’s about observation. It didn’t change color, so there was no reaction.”

Me: “Did she just plagiarize me?”