Dr. Samantha Fowler's Story

Some of my earliest memories are of me asking my mom questions like why do I have brown eyes like her and not blue eyes like my dad? or why do all the puppies in Freeda's litter look different from each other? Her answer was to my questions was pretty much the same every time: "It's genetic". Naturally my young mind wanted to know exactly what is "genetic"! I was told I could learn more about it in high school biology.

Fast forward to 10th grade..... I was so excited to finally be taking biology so that I could learn more about genetics! I attended school every day in the hopes that the teacher would start genetics. Then one day I woke up with a bad fever and I couldn't breathe. My mom made me stay home from school and go to the doctor. It was bronchitis. I was told to start antibiotics and rest a few days. So the next day I told my mom I felt fine enough to go to school, and off I went. So I get to school only to learn that my biology teacher had covered genetics the day before. Yes. In a single day. On the only day that I missed. I was NOT happy. I asked the teacher if I could come after school or during lunch so she could teach me what I missed. She told me to get the notes from a classmate. Here I was, a student eager to learn about something, begging my teacher to teach me, and she was telling me to just copy the notes from a classmate (a very clueless one at that). It was then that my unhappiness turned into anger. I told her that I would have her job.... that one day I would be a biology teacher and do it better than her.

I did copy the notes from my classmate. It was the basic stuff: Mendel's pea plants, dominant and recessive, Punnett squares, etc. From there I figured out the rest... how and why organisms are so different from each other, how the ones that live will pass on their traits, and those that die will not (assuming they died before creating offspring), how conditions in the environment can affect who lives and has offspring and who does not. So when my biology teacher spent her ONE day on evolution, I already had this Darwin guy figured out, because it just made sense. I honestly had no idea why the teacher seemed so uncomfortable all of the sudden.

So I made it through biology, but by the time I finished high school, I had given up on the idea of teaching. (My parents weren't too keen on the idea.) Instead I went through a series of majors until I finally just said the heck with it; I'm going to do biology because that is what I like. I went to graduate school and discovered two things: 1. I felt right at home while teaching, and 2. some people really, really didn't like the idea of evolution, and I had no idea why. So I finished my masters degree and taught high school for several years before going back for my PhD in science education. I wanted to do more research on why some people don't accept evolution and whether or not they really understand genetics and the rest of biology. I also learned a LOT of other interesting stuff along the way.

Anyway, so here I am. I finished my PhD and jumped at the chance to come to Clayton State and teach biology and work with students who want to become biology teachers. If you are thinking about taking a biology I class from me, I can promise you that I will spend much, much more than a single day on genetics, and I will never turn down a request to help you understand what you are learning in class.