BIOLOGY
I am a future Gynaecologist
I AM ON PRE-MED TRACK AND MAJORING IN BIOLOGY
MY MAJOR OUTCOMES
As part of SUMMIT 400 my Biology Major objectives helped me experience the following outcomes
Quantitative and Technical Skills
In my first year I took Introductory Biology courses which also offers a laboratory class. In my first semester we learnt how to use different instruments like microscopes, analytical balances, pipettes, chemicals and other measuring instruments. With this lab class I was able to learn how to measure and observe things using the different instruments in the laboratory. This enhanced my technical and quantitative laboratory skills.
Scientific Inquiry
In my second semester I took another introductory course which explored more advanced series of experiments. These experiements helped me learn how to ask specific questions to solve certain problems. This inlcudes formualting a hypothesis or prediction, creating a series of methods to support this hypothesis by conducting an experiment. The main experience that resonated in building my scientific inquiry skills is the Mutation and Natural selection lab were we explored the main techniques scientists use to study how mutation and natural selection can affect Molecular Evolution.
Communication
My Biology literature and laboratory classes helped me improve by communication skills through presentations, in class discussions and writing lab reports. The homeworks and presentation assignments we got in class required that we use different scientific terms that helped me improve my scientifc vocabulary. The whole process of preparing presentations was a very important experience for me as it helped me conduct research on my topic. I was able to learn different applications of the Biology principles and ideas we learn in class in the outside world. The lab reports helped us improve our scientific writing skills as we describe our experiments and analyze the results by explaining why we got to a certain conclusion.
Computational Skills
As a Biology major student, I learnt how to use different websites and softwares to carry out different calculations when carrying out quantitative analysis exercises. This includes learning ho to use BLAST which is an alignment tool that helps us analyze DNA sequences for different species. This makes it easier to compare similarities between different species and know the reasons for these similarities or differences.
Biological Principles
My Biology major helps me understand different Biological Principles and their application in the society. For example the study of plants and natural selection helped me understand how scientists develop pest and drought resistant strains of plants. Other Biological principles helped me understand organisms at a molecular and cellular level by studying the different processes that helped them survive and produce offsprings in the environment they are exposed to.
Critical Thinking Skills
The main way that my Critical Thinking skills developed was through the inclass case studies. Here we would apply the theoretical knowledge we learnt from our books and our professors into a real life scenario. These in class exercises helped me practice how I can apply my Biology konwledge to solve a problem for example a disease that a specific person is exposed to.
