Welcome back to another Scientist Spotlight. Today’s scientist holds a near and dear place in my heart. Mr. Ken Mattingly was my 7th grade science teacher and the reason I decided to pursue a career in science. As he will talk about a little later, each year he presents students with the water box activity. That box, and my inability to figure out how it works, is what inspired my love of science. His class opened my eyes to the fact that science is amazing and could hold the key to many of the questions that popped into my head on a daily basis. He made science FUN and challenged many of the ideas I had about how the world, and science, worked. So, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you all, Mr. Ken Mattingly.
What made you want to become a scientist?
I just remember as a young child going to the public library and just gravitating to the science section. I was especially enthralled by astronomy. I bet I checked out every astronomy book they had and most of them twice!
When did you know you wanted to become a scientist?
I was going to college and wasn’t really interested in much and began to drift from major to major. I spent some time as an agronomy major, then a communications major, and then an English major. Now agronomy is a science major, and I worked in a plant science lab but there just wasn’t enough social interaction for me. I just couldn’t see myself working in a lab for the rest of my career. Then a couple of years later I was still struggling on what to do and finally realized I could teach science. That would let me pursue and share my interest in science, and working with students would give me the personal connections I also wanted.
What did you do to become a scientist?
I took as many science classes as I could in high school. I also took lots of science classes in college. Everything from biology to chemistry to geology to physics and so on.
What does your typical day look like?
Well, nothing is typical currently. However, most days consist of setting up experiments and demonstrations for students to carry out. Then working with students to develop their ideas of about phenomena and their conceptual understanding. That is simultaneously the most enjoyable yet difficult part of my job. The simple thing to do is tell students that this is the way it is or this is how it works. Unfortunately, the human brain doesn’t work that way. It is through the puzzling over what we see and holding those observations up against what we currently think that causes conceptual change.
What is your favorite thing about being a scientist?
My favorite thing is watching students gain a deeper understanding of the role science has in their everyday lives. When students see the connection between the chemical reactions that occur with the food they eat and the energy that is released to allow them to move and think and speak, they gain a greater appreciation for the wonder of the world around them. And if I’m able to impart some understanding of these connections between matter and energy, that’s pretty cool.
What is your least favorite thing about being a scientist?
In my role in science education, my least favorite thing is the student who refuses to engage with work. I realize we all come with different experiences and perspectives. I don’t hold any of this against a student. It’s just frustrating when they don’t dive into the material and give themselves a chance to see the underlying connections between so many phenomena.
What is your favorite random science fact?
The surface area of your small intestine is equivalent to the size of a tennis court. Think about that. Imagine taking a thin layer of paper that is the size of a tennis court and then trying to fold or wad it up and get it to fit the space of your abdomen. Pretty wild, right?
How did you decide what area of science to specialize in?
That’s the beauty of middle school science education. I teach some chemistry, some body systems, some energy concepts, and some weather/climate. But really I think my specialty area is communicating science. I loved science when I was growing up. I mentioned earlier about checking out books at the public library. However, when I think back on my middle school science classes I only remember two things. We did a leaf collection and a bug collection. That’s all the fun and interesting things I can remember from science class. AND I WAS THE KID WHO LOVED SCIENCE!!! What must the other kids have thought? So when I decided to become a science teacher, it was from the desire to share science with them so that they saw how cool and interesting it was.
If you weren’t a scientist, what do you think you would be doing for a living?
I’d probably be working in management at UPS. I had a job there while getting my teaching degree and was offered the chance to get into management but was committed to being a teacher. I suspect I’d have made more money doing that, but I’m not sure I’d be as happy and fulfilled as I am now.
What area would you NEVER want to study?
Herpetology.
What is your favorite animal?
I think hawks are my favorite animal. This is simply because I never saw them in the wild growing up. I lived on a farm, this was back in the 70s and 80s, and was constantly outside. However, I NEVER saw a hawk flying around. Now, if I drive somewhere for at least 30 minutes, I’ll see one. It’s soooo cool, but the sobering part is realizing I didn’t see them when I was young because of DDT. I knew about DDT back then. About how it nearly led to the extinction of the bald eagle. But I never really thought about how it impacted my local ecosystem. Seeing magnificent hawks flying around now really brings that idea home.
What do you like to do when you’re not being a scientist?
I’m a big sports fan and I’m an assistant coach for our girls’ high school basketball team. I like most college sports. Enjoy Premier League soccer. And play Flaherty Rook whenever I get a chance.
What is your favorite memory from the field/doing research?
Well since I teach, my favorite memory is the water box. Every year, for 27 years now, I’ve used this activity to teach my students to use observations and make inferences based on them. They then use the inferences to make a model of what’s going on inside the box. The short story is 3 cups get poured into the box. Nothing happens after the first 2 cups go in, but on the 3rd cup water starts running out the tube at the bottom of the box. After the water quits running out, we find that 5 cups came out. So students have to use their observations and make a model of what could be inside the box to allow it to work like we saw. So after a couple of days they want to know when I’m going to tell them what’s in the box. That’s when I tell them that I’m not going to tell them what’s in the box. Of course they want to know why and I explain to them that we have a model of the inside of the earth, but we’ve never been there. We’ve used all of these observations from volcanic eruptions, to earthquake waves, to crustal movement to come up with a model of what’s inside the earth. It’s our best model, but it can change with new observations. And we will probably never know for certain if we’re right or not. The box is an example of that. What matters is does your model explain the observations in a logical way? If it does, you have a correct model. If it doesn’t, you have some things to fix.
Thank you for joining me to learn more about Mr. Ken Mattingly and his journey with science! Personally, I am extremely grateful that he decided to go into teaching (and agreed to participate in our scientist spotlight)! We desperately need good teachers like him to continue inspiring the next generation of scientists (or artists, or historians, or authors). Teachers are the unsung, and taken for granted, heroes of our world. So go thank a teacher. Maybe bake them some cookies or give them a gift card for some good coffee. They work SO hard, especially in these crazy pandemic times (my mom is also a teacher, so I can attest to the massive amount of effort they are putting in right now to try and make sure kids have everything they need to keep getting the education they deserve right now). What teacher left the biggest impact on you? Let me know below and I will try and send them a little thank you card.
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