Developing Observational Skills | Yuko Takeda, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
2022.11.15
On a weekend news program, I saw a story about high school students who discovered that sea urchins have a front-to-back directionality. This new discovery overturns conventional wisdom in the biological world. Their verification through meticulous observation was highly praised, and I was captivated by the comical time-lapse footage of the sea urchins' movement.
As the information was fragmented, I searched online and learned about the achievement of the Sea Urchin Team from the Biology Club at Kumamoto Prefectural Seiseiko High School. They won the Grand Prize at the Marine Challenge Program National Convention 2021 in March.
They reportedly noticed the directionality of the sea urchins' movement while filming the purple sea urchins raised by the biology club in time-lapse. While it is said that sea urchins, being radially symmetrical, have no front-to-back directionality to determine their direction of travel, the students valued this observation that contradicted the established theory and began working to verify it.
Their experimental design from that point on was brilliant. They devised ways to keep experimental conditions constant and eliminate external stimuli. For example, the report showed a photo of them using a ladle to move the sea urchins, so as to avoid the influence of physical stimuli or the experimenter's body heat. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of the sea urchin sitting majestically in the ladle. The report also conveyed their inquisitive attitude, the fun they were having, and their love for sea urchins, as they took further steps like trimming the spines to a uniform length to account for their influence and dissecting specimens to check for any bias in their internal structure, thereby verifying one question after another.
And while they have gained new knowledge by repeating hundreds of observations while changing the conditions, the initial discovery made through observation is what is truly important. This is a principle common to all fields.
As professionals specializing in nursing, we too must cultivate our ability to carefully observe our subjects—people and their lives. From discoveries that are free from preconceptions, I hope we can pursue the essence of phenomena and advance the field of nursing.
(Reference) "Radially Symmetrical Sea Urchins Had Directionality"
Sea Urchin Team, Biology Club, Kumamoto Prefectural Seiseiko High School