Student should be able to collaborate effectively in a group setting within the discipline.
Throughout my time at Longwood, group work has been used in all of my courses. This ranges from general assignments, experiments, and presentations. Completing so many group assignments has allowed me to grow more confident while working with others. There is no guarantee going into group work that all members have the same ideas or topics in mind so it’s important to learn how to mold it all together. Some of these assignments we were allowed to pick who we worked with and others they were assigned. This allowed us to work with people we already knew we got along with while also seeing how we could adapt to working with unknown people. Some of the classes that stand out the most that I worked in group situations were in Introduction to Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, and Senior Assessment.
During my Introduction to Ecology and Evolution course we were assigned a semester-long group project with the people of our choosing. For this assignment, my three peers and I completed a project the used death rates to create survivorship curves based on sex, location, and time period. While completing this assignment, my group mates and I had to divide up the work and complete our individual section. Whenever one of us ran into an issue, we asked the other group members for help so it could be solved. We also had to choose which datasets we were going to use as a group and that allowed everyone’s input to be heard. This project was turned into a presentation that was shown at Research Day here at Longwood. This final presentation can be found below.
During my Genetics course, we were assigned a semester-long project where we had to select a fruit fly gene to be targeted and removed by CRISPR-Cas9. The main points of group work for this assignment came from choosing the gene, dividing the lab work, and creating the poster for Research Day. Individually, we researched potential genes that we would be interested in learning more about and then we all shared them with each other. Ultimately, we came to a collective decision to use the WFS1 gene. Even though I worked with my friends during this project, we still ran into some differences of opinions in the formatting of our poster. We reached a decision as a group and the poster turned out better afterwards. This final poster can be found below.
BIOL 324 – Poster Presentation
At Longwood, every biology student is required to take the Senior Assessment course during their last semester. During my time in the course, we were assigned two separate group presentations that discussed the broader impacts of the topic of our choosing. My group decided to discuss what the broader impact was on invasive species. The first assignment for this entailed us creating a presentation that discussed a critique of a paper on our topic. The paper we chose discussed the ability to predict the spawning potential of an invasive carp species using models and simulations. Critiquing this paper meant that my group members and I each needed to individually read the article and then come together to discuss what we thought was most important to include and this led to a difference in opinion. After some discussion, we reached an agreement and the presentation turned out very well. This final presentation can be seen below.
BIOL 488 – Broader Impact Presentation
Longwood incorporates a good amount of group work throughout the various courses. I have not only grown in my confidence to work in a research setting, but I have become more confident working in general professional settings as well. I have seen this growth from my freshman year until now and I cannot wait to use the skills I have learned as I continue my academic journey and beyond.