Student Comments About Bios 202
Below are selected responses to the question, “How have your views of biology (or your views even more generally) changed by taking this course?”
“My views on many aspects of biology have greatly changed as a result of this course.”
“This class made me far more interested in animals and evolution in general, to the point where I would actually read about some of the things we learned outside of studying for the class, out of personal interest.”
“My general world view has changed greatly from taking this class.”
“I do not take my bodily structures for granted any longer. By studying the comparative anatomy of different organisms (when we talked about homologous and analogous structures when looking at fossils), I realized that we have 2 limbs for a reason, that we have 5 fingers including an opposable thumb for a reason, that we are bipedal for a reason. Looking at our historical record, fossil records of humans and other organisms, I am now able infer how our physiological characteristics have evolved.”
“The world is filled with more diversity than I thought. I didn't know of all the different types of organisms that inhabited the world.”
“The course significantly increased my interest in the field of anatomy and physiology, which I had initially thought would bore me. It was extremely interesting to learn about the various circulatory and respiratory systems.”
“My daily perspective has changed so that it incorporates a biological understanding of the world around me.”
“I have been reminded that biology is not just about memorizing facts. The different graphs and research discoveries that Dr. Solomon shared in class were fun and interesting, and they helped me realize that biological discoveries are constantly being made. They are not necessarily set in stone, so biology cannot be just "fact-memorizing."
“This class overall has helped me gain an overwhelmingly fresh perspective of what it means to be alive and my connection with nature.”
“I took an anatomy/physiology course senior year of high school, however looking at the major systems of the body from an evolutionary perspective made understanding the same physiological processes easier.”
“I am a chemical engineer, which means most of my science background comes from physics and chemistry. My viewpoint on biology has been for the most part that it is simple a bunch of memorized facts and nothing much beyond that. However after learning what I have in EBIO 202 (especially when it comes to body systems) I have realized that it is much more than that. It's about finding the why behind the situation. By looking at patterns, trends and past facts about other similar areas, we can deduce a lot about the why of nature. It is much more than reading a bunch of facts but how we can use those facts to dig deeper into the unknown of what makes it all work.”
“My views about biology have completely changed from taking this course.”
“I am the product of billions of years of modifications from a single cell. I knew that we evolved from the simplest of organisms, but now I have a better understanding of what it means. Much of our physiology and anatomy is derived from earlier species, and many aspects are still relatively inefficient and illogical in our current context. It is an interesting perspective that I’m glad to have gained.”