#wrhess

Wow, what an awesome month! I feel like I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time, and I really want to keep working on this sort of stuff and get better. This entire experience was extremely satisfying – going from ideation to seeing it all the way through to the final video in the end. And then getting to be a part of Science Out Loud and filming with Elizabeth, George, and Ceri last week… it was just the best!

Things I’m most proud of…

1. Putting myself out there. I’m kind of an introvert, and so I was nervous about being on camera. I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress here, and at least I’m more used to seeing myself in video now. I think I still have a long way to go to find my style and to be more natural, but doing the Science Out Loud version (learning from and being coached by George and Elizabeth) helped me immensely. There just might be a recording of me talking like a robot to get me out my head, hahaha!

2. Taking a risk. I think the “Choose Your Own Adventure” in a lab came with some unique challenges. There was definitely more to film and piece together during editing. And being part of a busy lab meant I had to work around my lab mates’ schedules so that filming wasn’t too disruptive and to minimize the already loud background noise. I also had to keep checking that there weren’t any safety issues being captured for all to see in the video.

3. Being creative in filming and editing. First of all, I’m so glad my husband (Jeff) was able to help me film. We work so well together and we really did a lot of fun things on the fly to make potentially boring scenes more interesting. For example, initially we filmed all the hypothesis scenes static, with me standing in front of the hood. Then the next day, I wanted to try something different. So for one we decided to have me crouch down and pop up into the scene and then for the other I sat on a lab cart and Jeff pushed me into the frame. And for the explanation of the materials, I just love the sliding yeast and catching the soap (insider’s scoop – I’m really bad at catching things, so this was a pretty amazing feat!). Another favorite is the walk and talk at the end where I take off all my lab gear (channeling Mr. Rogers here!). I’ve never used any video editing software before, so I saw this as a fun opportunity to just jump in and try a lot of new things (thank goodness for YouTube tutorials). I experimented with split screen stuff, added some transitions, tried a stop-motion type sequence, added some boxed text for all the click-to-choose parts, did some voice over, and I used a tablet to draw the molecules.

Things I would have liked to work on more…

1. Audio. Definitely audio. My lab is loud with four gloveboxes and hood ventilation noise. My plan was to use the lav mic and record audio separately with my phone, but it turned out the mic wasn’t actually working so we just went with the audio recorded by the camera. I think using a mic would have helped bring out my voice, and if I had more time I would have also liked to try reducing the background noise with Adobe Audition.

2. Choices. Choices. Choices. I went back and forth a lot about how many choices to give the viewers. I would have liked for the viewer to interact more with the experiment portion of the video, but ultimately I chose not to do this because the roadmap of the video quickly became complicated and because of the way I wrote the script, the explanations relied on the experiment being watched in a particular order. With more time, I think I could have made it work, though, by filming more scenes so the explanations would have made sense.

3. My attempts at conversational. I really would have liked to re-film the explanation portions of the video. It still came off lecture-y and had some jargon. It was definitely better than what I had for the original script, but still needed more work. And on being natural and conversational - it’s funny because I felt like I forgot how to talk like a normal person as soon as the camera was in front of me. Practice helps.

4. And on killing darlings… I chose to completely cut my original ending. I really, really would have liked to have more time to go back and film a couple of my colleagues talking about how they use the scientific method as an ending to the video. I wanted to somehow bring it back to the people and the research being done at MIT, but the feedback about the disconnect between the process of experimentation (the purpose of the video) and the content of the interviews (the research elevator pitches) kept coming back to my mind.

5. A bigger reaction - make the reactions BIGGER and test them more beforehand. I think the elephant toothpaste rxn with yeast is not super reliable.

Other random observations...

1. Uploading high-res videos to YouTube takes a LONG time… an excruciatingly long amount of time. With the “Choose Your Own Adventure” format, I had a lot of extra videos to upload and it took forever, hahaha.

2. Lighting with glasses is hard.

3. Tackling challenges on the fly was so much fun – it wasn’t always easy, but we were able to bounce ideas off each other, be creative, and try new things.

4. You don’t actually realize how sleep deprived you are when you are truly enjoying what you’re doing.

5. I don’t think this would have been nearly as much fun if I did it all on my own and I think it would have been a completely different video. I had a blast working with Jeff and then with Elizabeth, George, and Ceri!

6. I have an even more serious appreciation for this process and the people who make videos after filming the Science Out Loud version last week. The re-worked script was so great - much more conversational and accessible. The lighting and audio was in a whole other league compared to my video. A lot of interesting camera work - angles, close-ups, movement, artsy stuff, b-roll. And all the coaching to help me be me on camera. I cannot wait to see it!

Last thoughts… this was the best class I’ve taken at MIT! It challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone, to try new things, and to appreciate the process as much as (or more than) the final product. I’m happy to have had this experience with all of you!

Title: Experimenting in the lab

[Title, music, cuts of me walking through the lab, putting on gloves, safety glasses, lab coat]

Welcome to The Lab! Let’s take a look at the materials for our experiment. [Camera pans around to lab bench]

[YouTube link on the bottle of H2O2] [Pick up the bottle of H2O2]  

This is hydrogen peroxide. You may recognize it from your first aid kit at home. If I left this bottle sitting here, the hydrogen peroxide would eventually break down into water and oxygen gas. This process - when you have chemical compounds that break apart to form smaller, simpler substances - is called decomposition. Since this is normally a slow process, it wouldn’t be very exciting for us to watch, right? We need to add something that will speed it up – a catalyst.

[Pan back around to lab bench and have YouTube link on the packet of yeast]

Here we go - yeast! Yeast produce an enzyme called catalase. Actually, your body has this enzyme, too! Organisms make this enzyme to protect against hydrogen peroxide damaging cells. This catalyst is the special sauce in our recipe. Catalase speeds up the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas. But how does a catalyst speed it up? Picture this - I want to roll this ball down the hill to my friend at the bottom, but there is a big, tall rock in the way. I could get the ball over the big rock, but it would take a lot of time and energy. I look around and find a spot with smaller rocks that would be easier to get the ball over and down to my friend. For hydrogen peroxide under normal conditions, there is essentially a big rock in the way – so the breakdown is slow because it takes a larger amount of energy to get over the barrier. But with catalase, the rocks in the way are smaller. This different pathway doesn’t take as much energy so the reaction happens faster. We need to add one more thing to our experiment!

[Pan back around to lab bench and have YouTube link on the bottle of soap]

We are going to add some soap! The reaction is going to produce a lot of oxygen gas. This would normally be released out into the air, but by adding soap, the oxygen will get trapped in the soap bubbles instead. This foam is going to help us see what’s happening during the experiment.

We’re ready for the experiment! [Do one elephant toothpaste reaction] But wait… we’re not done yet. What would happen if we changed the recipe? Now that we know all the pieces of the reaction, we can play around with the recipe to try to better understand the factors that influence it. This is what a scientist does. So what are we playing around with when we change the recipe? Variables! There are three important variables to an experiment. Something that you change, or manipulate, is called the independent variable. After you change something, you then wait to see what happens to something else – the dependent variable. Everything else should stay the same because we want to be sure that the independent variable is causing the change in the dependent variable. Which variable should we change in our experiment?

[Hold up H2O2 and yeast - Viewer clicks to choose]

 [H2O2 script]

Let’s make a hypothesis! What do you think will happen if you change amount of H2O2? [Viewer chooses hypothesis]

If I increase the concentration of H2O2, then ______________.

[Focus group on Monday: get hypotheses from the kids]

[Experiment is the same for each hypothesis – just a different ending for the revisit]

Here we have four beakers filled hydrogen peroxide mixed with water. Each beaker has a different strength, or amount, of hydrogen peroxide: 5%, 10%, 15%, 30%. We only want to observe how the amount of hydrogen peroxide affects how much foam is made during the reaction. We don’t want to change anything else so we’ll use the same amount of yeast and soap each time. Let’s do the experiment and test your hypothesis.

[Camera frames H2O2 vials on bench - viewer chooses H2O2 concentrations to test] [Spontaneous dialogue during experiment]

[Next segment depends on hypothesis]

You predicted that _______.

[Correct] What we saw supports your hypothesis! But, remember, it’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about what we learned in the process.

[Incorrect] That’s not what we saw during the experiment. But, remember, it’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about what we learned in the process.

As we increased the H2O2 concentration, we saw more foam formation. But why? Let’s look at the chemical reaction: 2 H2O2 -> 2 H2O + O2. H2O2 is a reactant and water and oxygen are products.  When 2 molecules of H2O2 decompose, one molecule of oxygen is formed. So by increasing the amount of H2O2, the amount of oxygen formed through the catalyzed decomposition reaction also increases. More oxygen results in more foam!

You just learned about a cool reaction, but more importantly, today, you were a scientist! Scientists don’t have a recipe book to follow, so this process of experimentation is how scientists approach solving problems. Just like the scientists that study new materials for solar cells to power your home, or research a cure for cancer, you can be a scientist by following the scientific method. 

Ask questions, make predictions, experiment, observe and measure, analyze data, formulate conclusions, and always ask new questions.

Now, go experiment!

[Link to click to experiment with the other variable.]

 [Yeast script]

Let’s make a hypothesis! What do you think will happen if you change the amount of yeast?

[Viewer chooses hypothesis]

If I increase the amount of yeast, then ______________.

[Focus group on Monday: get hypotheses from the kids]

[Experiment is the same for each hypothesis – just a different ending for the revisit]

Here we have four beakers with different amounts of yeast: ½ packet, 1 packet, 2 packets, 3 packets. We only want to observe how the amount of yeast affects how fast the foam is made. We don’t want to change anything else so we’ll use the same amount of hydrogen peroxide and soap each time. Let’s do the experiment and test your hypothesis.

[Camera frames yeast on bench - viewer chooses beakers with yeast to test] [Spontaneous dialogue during experiment]

[Next segment depends on hypothesis]

You predicted that _______.

[Correct] What we saw supports your hypothesis! But, remember, it’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about what we learned in the process.

[Incorrect] That’s not what we saw during the experiment. But, remember, it’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about what we learned in the process.

As we increased the amount of yeast, we saw the foam was formed faster. But why? In each experiment, the amount of hydrogen peroxide was the same. Chemical reactions have fixed stoichiometry. This means that every two molecules of H2O2 breaks down into two molecules of water and one molecule of oxygen. This doesn’t change, even with a catalyst, so each reaction we did produces the same amount of oxygen. But, this is a catalyzed reaction. When we increase the amount of yeast present, there is more catalase enzyme hanging around to break down the H2O2. So when the extra catalase gets through the stock of H2O2 faster, oxygen is also released (and foam formed) faster.

You just learned about a cool reaction, but more importantly, today, you were a scientist! Scientists don’t have a recipe book to follow, so this process of experimentation is how scientists approach solving problems. Just like the scientists that study new materials for solar cells to power your home, or research a cure for cancer, you can be a scientist by following the scientific method.

Ask questions, make predictions, experiment/observe/measure, analyze data, formulate conclusions, and ask new questions.

Now, go experiment!

I’m glad I was able to come back for the last portion of class yesterday! I love how creative our group is, and how everyone’s ideas are so unique. 

I’ve been recorded once today, so I’ll type this one out. ;)

Wow, what a great workshop today! The script critique, in particular, resonated with me. I talk science to my colleagues every day, so the types of conversations I engage in and the writing I do seem to be skewed more towards the technical side. Because this style has become so second nature, it was difficult to write the script draft with an accessible and conversational voice. And also in a way that was appropriate for a video format. It’s like I need to reconnect with my younger self that wrote about things outside of science. Rewrites will help!

A script! This is just the intro stuff so far - I realize now that the script is going to be kind of long for the “choose your own adventure” chemistry experiment. I didn’t even get to the variables part yet...

[H2O2 decomposition reaction happening as I walk by a lab]

Welcome to The Lab where you get to be the scientist! What you just saw was a demonstration of a decomposition reaction, where a molecule breaks down into different chemical species. Now, let's go experiment!

[YouTube link to “Enter The Lab”]

But before we get started...

[Walk into lab, clips of putting on personal protective equipment]

Remember to experiment safely!

We just observed the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, or H2O2. Let’s explore the components of the reaction.

[YouTube link on the bottle of H2O2] [Pick up the bottle of H2O2] This is hydrogen peroxide. You may recognize it from your first aid kit at home. [Walk over to a lab window with the reaction written on it] The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide actually happens slowly over time, splitting up into water and oxygen. But wait… what we just saw was happening really fast! There must be another component to this reaction.

[Pan back around to lab bench and have YouTube link on the packet of yeast] Here it is – a catalyst. [Pick up yeast packet] In this case, yeast! Yeast has an enzyme called catalase. You have this enzyme, too! Hydrogen peroxide is damaging to cells, so the function of catalase is to catalyze the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. Now, what do I mean by catalyze? Earlier I mentioned that hydrogen peroxide breaks down slowly over time. A catalyst speeds this up by providing an alternate reaction pathway that has a lower energetic barrier, which results in the rate of the reaction increasing. Lets look at this a different way. [Walk over to window to draw] I want to roll this ball down the hill to my friend at the bottom, but there is a big, tall rock in the way. I could get the ball over the big rock, but it would take a lot of time and energy. I look around and find an area with smaller rocks that would be faster and easier to get the ball over and down to my friend. This is what the catalase enzyme in yeast does. It provides a different pathway that enables the hydrogen peroxide decomposition reaction to occur at a faster rate. We are going to add one more thing to our experiment.

[Pan back around to lab bench and have YouTube link on the bottle of soap] We are going to add some soap! The soap doesn’t take part in the reaction, but will help us make our qualitative observations during the experiment.