Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Auditing is Awesome


Auditing natural science courses is absolutely wonderful. Today in “Climate Change: Physical Science Basis,” we heard about how dendroclimatic reconstruction works. Dendroclimatic reconstruction involves using trees as a proxy for direct temperature measurements, exploring tree growth (measured by ring width and densities) in trees whose growth is dominated by temperature fluctuations.
I have missed my natural science courses for several years at Michigan State University when I shifted into all social science classes.  (Social science classes are absolutely fabulous. This post should in no way be taken as a dismissal of the value and utility of the social sciences.)  It is nice to be back in these kinds of lectures. Even nicer? I’m allowed, via auditing, to simply absorb knowledge and enjoy indulging my curiosity rather than fighting to ensure I memorize the “appropriate” facts necessary for the exam.
Life is good.

1 comment:

  1. This post makes me happy :) Yay for indulging curiosity (and for tree rings)!

    ReplyDelete