Prior to college, I had a basic knowledge of some biological concepts from my upper level high school courses. At Longwood, I started my Biology path with Bio 120, an Integrative Biology class that highlights the major biological principles and lays the ground work for later classes. This class provided a review for what I had already learned, while also adding a few more topics that helped prepare me for other classes.
The understanding I gained in 120 were built upon in Biology 250 – Introduction to Genetics and Cell Bio and Biology 251 – Introduction to Ecology and Evolution. I was able to get hands-on experience in the labs which helped me fully grasp the concepts we were learning. In the lab for 251, I did a group project where we swabbed our DNA to identify traits from Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms. I developed the skills to run PCR and identify simple strands of DNA, a task that would be useful in higher level courses.
In the 251 lab, I collaborated in a group to study the tunneling behavior of ants in different environments. I took this before 250 and it gave me the opportunity to work on reporting my observations in the lab. I was also able to track the development of the ants throughout the course of the semester and reflect on their behavior as the weeks progressed.
These introductory biology courses helped identify and go over basic biological concepts. I was able to build off these concepts and developed skills in preparation for upper level biology courses and I will continue to work with some of these concepts.