The Boney Blog of Nowhere.

BIOL - 1010 -- Intro to Biology

Instructor: Melissa Hardy

·         How does this assignment connect with what you learned in another Gen Ed course? Make specific references to your work in other classes.

In working on my Issues paper for this class, I was able to recall information I learned in my English 1010 course about structure and citations. I was also able to use techniques for source citation and the creation of a works cited page/bibliography from the Computer Essentials course that I took alongside this one. As such, I  am proud of the way in which I was able to structure and polish my paper in terms of citation. 

·         What impact did the assignment have on you or your understanding of the world? Did it challenge any of your assumptions?

I wrote my paper on the question of whether or not genetically modified foods should be sold in the United States. I learned quite a bit that surprised me about this field while doing my research. Not only did I find new information, but much of what I felt while writing the paper seemed to contradict what I thought I felt about the subject. In the end, I came to believe that a true scientist will always opt for experimentation and development. And since I consider myself to be of that mindset, I am all for the actual production of such foods, and in support of the sale of them, as well. I wouldn't normally have thought right off the bat that I would be on that side of things, but researching and writing my paper seemed to shed light on some concepts that I wasn't really considering at first. 

Look at SLCC’s General Education learning outcomes and describe how this course/assignment has helped you progress toward at least three of these outcomes.

I am a firm believer that all education benefits the student. At the time I was enrolled in this course, I was already set to become a Mathematics major, so it's not necessarily a part of my chosen field of study. But even if one can't find immediate relations between the material they have to study and the material they  want to study, I still think that a better understanding of the world is necessary to contribute anything to society. I also believe that if you don't benefit now, you will later. All knowledge is incredibly important and precious to me. As such, not only does this class fill a general education requirement for me, but it also opens up the possibility for me to take a higher biological science class and appreciate the complexity of what it has to offer me, and it also allows me to understand the world more clearly than I did before I took the course. Indeed, a student in a basic biology course might understand the world a bit more clearly than some people the ate pretty high up in the world, and that is a sad concept. That is another reason that I hold knowledge in such a high regard and seek to obtain as much as I can in life.