Teanna
Anthony
Biology Departmental Outcomes
Biological Concepts
Demonstrate both in-depth and broad knowledge of the concepts comprising the biological sciences.
Throughout the biology department, there are several courses that enable students to demonstrate in-depth and broad knowledge of the concepts compromising the biological sciences. One course in particular is Bio 1315, introduction to Biotechnology. The main purpose of this course was to explore the use of technology and innovation to enhance science as well as the use of technology to create treatments and medicine targeting issues in science. Throughout this course, we learned about the use of gene therapy and genetic engineering to alter and manipulate the way genes work in order to treat diseases and other biological issues. Within this course, we explored many different companies and products that these companies make using biotechnology by incorporating several scientists such as microbiology, chemists and others to their advantage to create medicine that treat issues such as cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease and more. By research these companies, what they do, the biological mechanism behind the drugs they create and how they work, we were able to demonstrate the benefits and disadvantage of these innovations within science.
Integrate knowledge across sub-disciplines of biology.
Sub-disciplines
Throughout the biology department, the curriculum provided a variety of courses that in some sort were linked to each other as Isub-disciplines of biology as a whole. One course in particular where many sub-disciplines of biology were integrated would be Cancer Biology. In this course. students were reminded to many simple concepts that we learned in general biology and genetics such as the cell cycle, DNA repair mechanisms, specific In cancer biology, we had to understand the phases of the cell cycle and mitosis in order to comprehend how the disease can cause mutations during replication and transcription. In this course, we also had to have a general undersandgin of concepts learned in microbiology. In microbiology, we learned about the disease causing bacterias and microbes and how they manipulate specific functions of proteins, enzymes or genes for their own advantage. In cancer biology, we took this knowledge and applied it to several carcinogens such as infectious agents like H. pylori, that can increase the risk of cancer development by causing inflammation within the stomach lining resulting in the formation of ulcers. Many topics such as the ones mentioned above were integrated within each course, allowing not only a repeat of the information, but enabled students to apply general biological concepts in many ways.
Laboratory Techniques
Demonstrate basic laboratory skills, including quantitative (and qualitative) skills.
In several courses Ive taken within the biology department, I have been able to perform several labs and experiments that enhanced my laboratory skills qualitatively and quantitatively. In the Course organic chemistry, were learned about the structures of different chemical such as benzoic acid and ferrocene. In the chemistry lab, we took the information we learned about chemical structures to perform experiments such as recrystallization to purify chemicals, column chromatography to isolate chemical compounds and more. In the course, microbiology, I was able to perform several lab experiments pertaining to different microorganisms I learned about within the course. In the lab, we performed several differentiate test such as gram stains, negative stain, endospore stain, Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA), Phenyl ethyl Alcohol Agar (PEA), Phenol Red Broth (Sucrose), Triple sugar ion Agar (TSI), Citrate Utilization Test, Catalase Test, Litmus Milk Medium, Methyl Red and Voges-Proskauer Test, and Urea Hydrolysis Broth Test. In each of these labs, i gained skills such as how to properly create a sterile environment to conducted tests with microbe, proper pipetting skills, sanitation techniques, as well as properly executing waste from experiments.
Critical Thinking
Demonstrate critical thinking skills, including developing hypotheses and designing, conducting, analyzing, and interpreting experiments.
In various courses within the biology department, the use of critical thinking skills were utilized. Within the course Biology Seminar, I was able to create, design, analyze, and interpret experiments. This course enable me to purpose and develop an experiment that focus on a current issue within the field of science. For this course, I designed and created a hypothesis on how to treat Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. In order to design an experiment that solved this problem, I had to investigate and research what NAS was, how it affects the body and how it is currently being treated. After all of this information was gathered, I beg constructing my experimental plan. To create my experiment, I followed the standard scientific method by making a procedure for the experiment which included the materials I would need, the steps that I would follow to carry out the experiment, and the expected results I thought I would receive. This course allowed me to become a scientists because I was able to apply all of the laboratory skills in learned in other courses such as general biology and chemistry lab, microbiology lab, and organic chemistry lab to my own experiment that I designed from the ground up.
Written & Oral Skills
Communicate biological knowledge effectively in written and oral form.
In all of the courses taken throughout the biology curriculum, I was required to demonstrate my biological knowledge through forms of research papers, presentations (powerpoint, presi, e portfolio's, etc), and lab reports. In courses such as biomolecules, microbiology, chemistry and organic chemistry, I was required to write lab reports that displayed the purpose of the experiment, the background behind any materials or techniques used in the experiment, the procedure followed, the data obtained from the experiment, and the conclusions led to from the results from the experiment. In courses such as cancer biology, we are required to create oral presentations such as power points, to explain our knowledge of material read in articles such as the hallmarks of cancer and carcinogenesis. In courses such as pharmacology, we were responsible for writing a research paper that highlighted the purpose of pharmacology, the role or drugs, how drugs travel through the portal vein, and how to measure their effectiveness. All of these courses, I was able to demonstrate my knowledge through written and oral forms.
Scientific Information
Find, select, and evaluate various types of scientific information.
In various courses taken within the biology curriculum, I was required to research many different topics related to the courses I was taking and evaluate the information being provided by a variety of scientific articles, journals, papers, and experiments. In the course Scientific writing, one of the objectives in the course was to research and write a paper pertaining to a scientific issue or disease. For this course, we were required to search though databases to discover, apply, and interest scholarly written documents to help write our paper. In this course, I was able to not only determine the proper websites and articles to use for my research paper, but also apply their information in a way that displayed my knowledge of previous research done on the topic as well as show my understanding of the topic and incorporate my own thoughts and opinions. In other causes such s cancer biology, microbiology, and biotechnology, I was also responsible for finding scholarly articles and sources that detained to the material being taught in the course and apply it the assignments I was given in class. In all of these courses, I was able to find, select, and evaluate various scientific information and apply it to the material being demonstrated within the course.