The following two assignments were completed in my first semester as a Biology major at Longwood. In Integrative Biology, I learned foundational concepts for the different disciplines in biology. This class covered plant biology, cell and molecular biology, organismal biology, ecology, and evolution. In the lab portion of this course, I completed two half-semester long projects.

The first project consisted of studying the effects that different water types would have on the growth of plants. This project focused on concepts of plant biology, ecology, and some evolutionary aspects. As I watched the plants grow over the course of a few weeks in different planters supplied with different water sources, I witnessed first hand how nutrient availability is crucial to plants growth and was able to apply that concept to other organismal models learned in the lecture portion.

The second project focused on the effects that different beverages have on the microbial diversity of the mouth. This project focused on concepts of molecular biology, organismal biology, and ecology. As I witnessed the growth of different colonies on AGAR plates over the course of a few weeks, I obtained substantial knowledge on the importance of a healthy microbiome for organisms, the growth patterns of bacteria, and how they interact with each other as well as how they interact with humans.

From this course, and particularly these projects that I participated in, I think I have a well-developed understanding of the basic principles of biology. This course successfully laid a solid foundation for my upper-level classes to come.