 Hi I'm Alex and UCLA undergrad studying biology and applied math. I am doing research on plant coexistence and I'm currently conducting a greenhouse experiment. Long before any formal training in biology and research and back in kindergarten I was already exposed to the concept of controlled experiments and the importance of using experiments to test our hypothesis. One day in kindergarten our teacher organized an activity for us to explore whether potatoes grow better in sand or in soil. She divided us into two groups, one growing potatoes in sand and the other in soil. Everyone in the sand group was very unhappy because they knew their potatoes wouldn't grow well but the teacher insisted that we use this experiment to find out if that was truly the case. Each group got their germinating potatoes randomly from the teacher and was asked to water them the same amount at the same time. Though the teacher didn't explicitly say the term controlled experiment she did touch on its essence which is keeping all but one variable constant. Unfortunately magic didn't happen and the potatoes did grow worse in sand. However everyone including those in the sand group enjoyed both the hands-on experience and the feeling of being able to back out their claim with experimental evidence.