The First Week of School

This is the first full week of school, but unfortunately, I have had to call in sick. On Sunday night, I found out that I had appendicitis, and had to have surgery. Everything went well, and I am now home recovering.

This experience has gotten me thinking about all of the interesting research questions that I would like to study:

• What is appendicitis?
• Why do humans have appendixes?
• Why do some people get appendicitis while others do not?
• How do you know that you have appendicitis?

Of these four questions, I know that one of the signs of appendicitis is that you get a pain the right side of your abdomen. When I got to the emergency room, they had to do a special test called a CT scan that verified that I really did have appendicitis.

I have always enjoyed science, and when I was a kid, I used to like to do experiments and study different subjects. My first research project was about the gila monster, a large lizard that lives in very hot, dry places, but not Kansas. My teacher taught me how to take notes on my topic, make an outline, and then use my notes and outline to write my paper. Years later, I learned that I enjoy studying other topics, as well, like history, and music, and current events. I also learned about writing research questions.

Today, when I teach my students how to do research, I usually help them find research questions that they are the most interested in studying. Life experiences, like the one that I have just had, often influence people's interests in research topics. Whatever you like to learn about, any topic that you want to study, feel free to let me know how I can help you as you pick out library books and do research in your classes.

See you in a few days.

Mrs. Nowlin