As part of my Biology minor, I took “Introduction to Ecology and Evolution” to expand my knowledge from the typical cellular level of biology to larger plants, animals, and ecosystems. In previous biology courses that I took in high school and in college, I consistently felt as though I was always re-learning the same material for each class because it was usually based around cells and DNA. In BIOL 251, I finally had the opportunity to learn about bigger (literally) and better topics.
This course was a combined split section with Honors and non-Honors students. We all met at the same time for our lectures but had virtual labs separately because Honors students had one extra course project. The additional Honors course project was on the environmental impacts that systemic racism has on an environment. Specifically, we read research on what type of correlational patterns can be seen in areas of low versus high socioeconomic areas and how those patterns affect the ecological life around them. Here is the article that we read!
Another interesting opportunity that I had during this course was to give a virtual presentation at the university’s research symposium. The following link is to the PowerPoint that my group and I presented at the end of the semester.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-Y6UKCNRMaO-ub1XpI6h7ZJiKAFpqIKVw5PAnLxnD3U/edit?usp=sharing