Students should be able to identify and describe the major principles of Biology.
Longwood University’s Biology Program is designed in a format to allow students to explore various broad concepts to help them specify their area of interest while also broadening their knowledge along the way. Throughout my time at Longwood, I have been able to take various courses that fell under three categories: organismal, cell and molecular, as well as ecology and evolution. Within these categories, I was allowed to choose courses that explored topics that were the most interesting to me. Out of these options, the classes that I chose to take within each are Human Anatomy and Physiology 1, Genetics, and Evolution.
During my Human Anatomy and Physiology course, we were able to expand our knowledge on the skeletal and muscular systems of the human body. One assignment that stood out to me was our Fingerprint Lab where we had to define and explain the various aspects of fingerprints and how they can be documented. From this, my group and I were assigned to create a testable hypothesis. This lab assignment was preceded by the class being assigned with a general audience article explaining the same topics from the lab. Throughout these assignments, I was able to expand my knowledge on organismal biology through being able to explain and define specific concepts. This lab assignment and general audience article can be found below.
BIOL 301 – General Audience Article
During my Genetics course, we were tasked with writing a group research proposal in which my group focused on using CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genome of a fruit fly, specifically the WFS1 gene. This research proposal was then turned into a poster presentation for Research Day here at Longwood. This project not only allowed me to advance my lab skills, but also helped the class learn about the various parts of the genome and DNA. This poster presentation can be found below.
BIOL 324 – Poster Presentation
During my Evolution course, we were instructed to write a term paper in which I chose to write about how changes in gene expression have influenced human evolution. Throughout this paper, I discussed how changes in gene expression can occur on smaller scales, such as within a population, and on a much larger scale, that gene expression changes are one of the most influential aspects of evolution in humans. This paper allowed me to define for myself how human evolution is influenced while advancing my knowledge on the human genome. Assignments that allow me to dive into correlation topics such as these have grown my interest in evolution over my time here at Longwood. This term paper can be found below.
By allowing me to take courses in different key concepts of biology, Longwood was able to help me grow my interests in these topics as well. Taking classes like these allowed me to expand my knowledge to new horizons and become a more well-rounded biology student over my time at Longwood.