This Observation activity took place at the Water Lab in the first half of the class. However, different from Observation 1, we were not being asked to write the post directly after the Observation nor were we reminded during the lab to record any sensory information. Thus, this Observation was more like a memory practice, an interesting test to see how we remember things differently. For me, I totally forgot about to take note on the Observation during the lab as I was fully concentrated on the information taught by the instructors. The only drawings I did after we came back to classroom was already 30 min past the lab experience. The drawings were mainly about the equipment I used as they were something completely new to me.
Fig. 1 – Drawings of the instruments used at the lab
In my memory, the lab room was smaller than our classroom and had desks mounted to the back wall and the left sidewall. On the front wall of the room was the hanging screen for projection of slides. There were two rows of table, placed horizontal to the sidewalls, with black chairs – not stools finally as they had lab coats hung over on the back – aligned on each side of the tables. Overall, each table row had 6 chairs on one side and 6 on the other, all facing the table, so the whole row can be separated into three four-people groups. I was in the middle group, sitting on the rows of chairs closest to the door of the lab, so my back was really close to the whiteboard on the wall. On the grey table top, we had all the equipments ready. On my left hand side there was a box containing tubes of bacteria extractions and a stack of 5 plates. There was also a box of gloves in size Small. I still remembered after I saw the size, I looked over to the table on the left and noticed a box of size L gloves for their group. In the middle of the table there was a glass bottle labeled No. 4. Inside was some clear transparent liquid with pieces of black particles precipitated at the bottom. On the rightsize of the bottle was another box, similar to the one containing bacteria culture medium, but in red and only half four small tubes that numbered 1, 2, 3, and 5. Beside the red box were some beakers and five long droppers. we also had a plastic-coated data/ instruction sheet on the table as well as safety goggles. The light was pretty sufficient, but the AC was a bit too powerful…I felt cold even with lab coat on. I was even thinking if the bacteria in the water could still be alive under this temperature. There weren’t much chatting, only the questions from instructors to the group members were filling the room. I guess each group was like a little system, with members that operate instruments and members recording data. There were also people who just enjoyed their time secretly texting with their phones under the table. I also noticed after this observation practice that compared to the sensory information, I was more leaning towards remembering the physical objects in the surroundings, and I tended to memorize details by relating one object to another, whether the relationship is the quantity or the quality, the positions or the sizes.
