Prompt 13

Quite frankly, I didn't have as much of an interest in this class when I first enrolled. It isn't a part of my major, but I wanted to boost my science GPA for medical school, so my friend who took it told me that the instructor and class format was really good. Coming from a private Christian school background, I had a very broad sense of what evolution was. I knew vaguely about Darwin's theory, natural selection, common ancestor, and speciation, but I guess I did not know much of what it entailed. I was interested to take the class because I never had a class solely focused on it, and even though I had come from a Christian background, I think it was important to understand it firsthand rather than second. Learning evolution in this class changed what evolution really was to me, and I can understand the zeal for it. The majority of the content didn't really contradict my beliefs or cause me much worry once we got into it. I really appreciate how Dr. Tobler delivered the content in a way that was understandable, even to those from a more soft science background. From the beginning of the class, I realized the evolution was a trickier definition than what I initially thought it entailed. Even fitness and selection itself were not terms that I understood correctly. We learned about how environment and genetics can play a game in the whole process in itself. Not going to lie, the whole genetics portion of the class still confuses me, and I don't think I would have made it through without the help of our trust TAs. Through the fun example of "role reversal" from the pipefish to the sexy son hypothesis, evolution can manifest itself in different ways as organisms adapt and survive. Evolution does not even have to occur slowly, as we saw through the R exercise for COVID-19. All of these concepts were something that I had a very shallow understanding of and were very interesting to learn through this class. 

I really had to learn about persistence and reading to understand the material. Graphs are notoriously one of my weak spots, so I was glad that I was able to strengthen that area of my knowledge since we did so many with R. I definitely underestimated R; I thought with a bit of a coding background it wouldn't be as high of a learning curve but I was definitely wrong! I was apprehensive once we started, but it ended up being a very useful visualization tool. I think this was definitely the most I have ever reached out to my TAs, but honestly I'm glad I did. Usually I shy away and figure out things myself, but I was really glad that I asked them for help. I struggle with analyzing data and applying it, but I definitely saw myself change there. In summary, this class was extremely useful and had a very productive structure for someone like me. I appreciate the emphasis on actually learning the material while being able to correct mistakes. I gained a new appreciation for this field of study and of R, and I am glad I took this class by recommendation.

Comments

  1. Ally JensenMay 5, 2021 at 12:50 PM

    Hi Joanne! I also came into this class hoping to boost my GPA. It does have a unique format, but it worked really well for me. This class definitely helps with interpreting data, and the coding was difficult for me at first too. Luckily, the TA's were always willing to help. Great post!

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  2. Christopher AnMay 7, 2021 at 4:47 PM

    Hey Joanne, I also wanted to boost my GPA. But I kind of fell behind with the modules, but I was able to get back up. Interpreting and reading graphs were also my weak spots too. I couldn't imagine what it would've been like if Evolution was in-person, and as Dr.Tobler mention in the beginning of the class that in the previous semesters they would read 20 different graphs during lecture.

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  3. Prutha GajakasMay 7, 2021 at 8:53 PM

    Hi, I also found that I strengthened by ability in data interpretation and reading graphs. I also liked how the class was set up and liked how the information was presented in a format that was easy to understand.

    ReplyDelete

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