Advice for a budding scientist
Dear Jonathan,
Miss Jones told me you want to be a paleontologist, a scientist who studies dinosaurs. Did you notice "pal" is the first word in paleontologist? Hey, you will be a dinopal -- a friend of dinosaurs! She also said you wanted a pen pal, so I thought you might like to read what I know about being a scientist.
The first thing I learned is to observe things carefully, then record my observations in a notebook. Write down the location and time of day, too. Later you can go back and determine how a plant or animal has changed since you last observed it.
Let's pretend, for example, you see a little bird flying around a lake in the morning. Every morning you record its size and color, what it sounds like when it calls to other birds, the time of day you see it and where it flies to and from. One morning you see it flying somewhere else and ask yourself, "Why is it flying here and not by the lake?" Scientist learn to ask really good questions!
They also learn to to ask the right questions so they do not get the wrong answers. Let's pretend again. You are hiking near the lake when you observe butterflies fluttering and bees buzzing around bright-colored flowers. You sit down and record what you see and hear. While you are writing, a very good question pops into your head: "What are the bees and butterflies doing to those flowers?" Later that day you go to the library to find an answer and write it in your notebook.
I record something else in my notebook. To find out what it is, let's pretend again. This time, you sit down in the grass near the lake and begin thinking how you feel about your watching. "I feel as if I am part of what I am watching. Do the birds and bees know I am watching them? Does my watching make them act differently than if I were not watching? In what ways am I like a butterfly? A flower? A bird or a bee? What am I learning from butterflies and flowers? Birds and bees? Why do I enjoy watching birds and butterflies? Feeling the soft, warm grass? Smelling flowers? Asking questions? Being a scientist is fun, even if I do not know why."
If you do these things, people will say, "That Jonathan is becoming a really good scientist. He studies things carefully, asks questions, looks for answers and records all of it in that little notebook of his. He told me he is going to be a paleontologist someday. I don't know what that is, but I know Jonathan will be a very good one."
I hope you enjoyed this letter. I am only an amateur scientist, so I study plants and animals for fun, not for money. But when you become a paleontologist, a dinopal, you will have fun and make lots of money too!
Your pal, Bill.
BILLY DEAN writes articles, short stories and poetry, runs and hikes the trails around Tehachapi and enjoys time with his wife and four cats. His column, "Touchstones," appears periodically in the Tehachapi News. Contact him gpsbilly@sbcglobal.net.
