You might be a scientist ...
   

         If you are curious and inquisitive ... meaning you have a questioning spirit and you ask a lot of questions. For scientists, an answered question leads to another question, and another question, and so on. You might like to take things apart to see how they work. Mr. Miller, when he was a young pre-teen scientist, disassembled four of his mother's metronomes (machines she used as a piano teacher to keep the beat) in an effort to repair one that worked perfectly. The outcome? A box full of metronome parts... which leads me to the next hallmark of the scientist. You might be one...

        If you are willing to make mistakes, and you are willing to take responsibility when you do. Scientists have a spirit that sees failure as a useful form of new and valuable information. Making mistakes and correcting them over time is how we learn. But doing so requires taking a risk. Science class is a place where you can take a wild, off-the-wall guess at answering a question and never be ridiculed or put down if you are wrong. Just think of how little babies learn to walk -- they fall down and we say YIPPEE, SHE'S DOING GREAT!!! You might be a scientist

        If you like to collaborate and are cooperative.  Although we often think of scientists as isolated, eccentric creatures that people steer clear of (like the scientist picture on the science lab door), scientists actually look like you and me and they share information every day -- through journals and conventions and just plain conversations on the phone or over the Internet. If you enjoyed talking with your lab partner about your space ship design or just about what you did after school, you might have collaborative inclinations. You might be a scientist

        If you are observant. Do you notice what your teacher is wearing? When she has cut her hair? Observation leads to questions that lead to experiments that lead to answers... that lead to more questions. But it all begins with observation leading to questions: "Where did all that mold in Ms. Cagney's student's spaghetti pot come from? Was it in the spaghetti to begin with? Why are there more spiders in the basement than on the third floor?" And you can ask the first graders how we observe -- using all our senses! You might also be a scientist

        If you are creative and like to draw pictures. The famous mathematician Albert Einstein drew pictures of his theory of relativity before he began to think about the math that explained it. I recall having to draw pictures and sketches whenever I was given a word problem in math. Do you like to think of new ways of doing things? Although we sometimes think that the arts are philosophically far removed from the sciences, in actual fact scientists are a different kind of artist, employing creative visualization to answer a question rather than create a painting or a dance. Another part of the creative spirit in the scientist is the keenness to see relationships. You might just be a scientist

        If you like some order and are fairly well organized, OR are aware enough to know that you need to be partners with an organized person. Why? Because scientists keep careful records of everything they do and think about. Part of practicing being a scientist is doing the same thing over and over again -- like when we write down the date and temperature each day we come to lab.

        Finally, you might be as scientist if you have none of the above qualities but you are tickled by science or some specific facet of science -- such as killer whales or bunnies. Perhaps you collect bugs or rocks, or you simply love science! That can be enough to send you on your way to a career in science.