As a sophomore Biology major at Longwood University, I am able to examine my learning process to better understand the skills needed for success. There are certain goals and outcomes expected as a biology major which include developing an understanding of the concepts of biological science, developing the ability to collect, organize, and evaluate scientific information through experiential learning, and demonstrating the ability to communicate effectively within and across disciplines. Throughout my courses, so far at Longwood, I believe they have well prepared me with the skills and information needed for me to be a better student overall.
At the time of writing this I have completed three biology courses and I am currently taking two. During my first semester at Longwood, I took Biology 120, Integrative Biology. In this class I was able to develop my skills in identifying and describing major principles of biology since that course was an introductory to biology as a whole. We covered a little bit of every aspect of biology and by doing so I was able to grow my knowledge for the subject as a whole. With that course being my first biology course at Longwood it introduced the idea of evaluating, interpreting, and applying experimental design, as well as drawing conclusions from the results. We were able to design an experiment in groups and collect data weekly to develop results to eventually perform a formal presentation on them to the class. In addition to the formal presentation, we were able to write a research paper on our experiment which allowed me to develop my skills in preparing and presenting, orally and in writing, to audiences inside the sciences, since we only presented to the class.
In the spring semester of my freshman year at Longwood, I took Biology 250, Intro to Genetics and Cell Biology. In this course I expanded my knowledge on the major principles of cell and molecular biology. While this course had to abruptly transition to online as a result of COVID-19, I was still able to make progress towards my goals. Similarly to Biology 120, I had the opportunity to evaluate, interpret, and apply experimental design as a portion of the laboratory class associated with the course. Specifically examining SNPs of various traits to determine the genotype of the individual with or without the phenotypic trait. Throughout that experiment, I presented both orally and in writing to present my results to then present them to individuals within and outside of the sciences. As a part of my written presentation, I wrote a complete research paper, in which I was able to add to my knowledge of evaluating and interpreting data in scientific literature and other sources to write my introduction and discussion portions of my research paper.
The next biology course I took was Biology 151, Intro to Ecology and Evolution. This course allowed initial and meaningful progress toward my abilities to analyze critically and apply the major principles of ecology and evolution. This course specifically made me realize how to apply knowledge of biology to current issues in society. I had the opportunity to collect my own data on birth and death rates of individuals in Farmville, Virginia to determine the life span and the change in birth and death rates throughout the past 200 years. Another project I was did was examining the influence of pesticides on bird populations in the United States. In this project I was able to develop and add to my skills of collaborating in a group setting and presenting orally in a group setting within the discipline. This project allowed me to specifically develop my skills in analyzing and interpreting data from other sources since we were not using a lot of our own collected data, we had to gather all the information needed to draw a conclusion and any results from outside sources.
Currently, I am taking Biology 342, Biogeography. While I have not completed this course, I have still developed skills from the course so far. Specifically, applying major principles of ecology and evolution. So far, this course has allowed me to understand and interpret ecology and evolution as a whole. In addition, I have been able to develop my skills in writing in multiple contexts within the disciple when writing my literature review. While I have not completed this course yet, I believe this course will add additional meaningful skills to my goals.
I have taken three chemistry courses at Longwood so far, including Chemistry 111, Fundamentals of Chemistry, and Chemistry 211 and 212, both semesters of Organic Chemistry. By taking these courses I have been able to integrate chemistry concepts of relevant biological contexts. Specifically in the second semester of Organic Chemistry, I was able to learn how chemistry works in the human body, specifically certain sugars.
While I have added to many major goals from the courses I have taken so far at Longwood, there are still aspects that I have not mastered and need improvement on, or I have not yet taken courses that would add to my skills in those aspects. For example, I have not taken any physics courses yet, therefore I am not able to integrate physics concepts into relevant biological contexts. Also, I have not taken any courses under the organismal pillar of biology yet causing my knowledge of being able to apply and analyze the major principles of organismal biology.
Overall, the majority of my expected goals as a biology major have been completed, however, there are still a few that need improving. Even though the courses that I have taken so far at Longwood have well prepared me, my future biology courses will just add to my knowledge and skills to make me a better scientist and researcher overall.