The Undergraduate Scientist

One does not truly know what a vertebrate is…until they’ve taken BIOL 204. BIOL 204 is a 3-credit course that teaches the phylogenetic relationship between vertebrates as well as their physiologies from a comparative point of view.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

There is a lecture and a lab component to the course. The lecture content was easy to understand, but there was a lot of information that we had to know. Thankfully, Stella was a really nice and approachable professor, and she always took the time to answer our questions.

The lab enhanced my understanding of the topics we covered in class by providing the opportunity to examine structures in more detail; we even got to dissect a pigeon, a rat, and a dogfish!

There were lab quizzes (in the style of group discussions) at the end of each session, and two lab exams, where we circulated the room and answered questions related to structures on display. Continue reading →

Looking for an online course to take? Consider ATSC 113, a 3-credit science course that teaches weather concepts related to flying, snow-sports, and sailing.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

All of the assignments and midterms were online, except for the final, which may be taken online or in-person depending on the section you’re registered in. There were weekly readings and quizzes, two midterms, a bonus project, and a final.

The assessments were multiple-choice, and the answer options were quite straightforward. Most of the weekly quizzes had two attempts, so I could learn from my mistakes. 

This course requires self-learning 100%. There aren’t any live lectures; you learn everything from the online readings (no textbook to purchase – yay!). Continue reading →

We all know that journal articles can be a challenge to read, so how does the general public stay updated about scientific breakthroughs or findings? CHEM 300 is a course that focuses on the different levels of scientific communication and how to write targeting different audience groups.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

The scheduling was a bit weird for this course. There were two 50 minute lectures and one 90 minute lecture a week. The shorter lectures were very interactive and contained activities that you would not expect in a chemistry course. I remember Dr. Kil made the whole class throw their hands up speaking gibberish just so he could emphasize that embarrassing yourself in a presentation isn’t the end of the world.

The bulk of the work was outside of lecture time, as this was a writing-intensive course. Admittedly, the longer lectures were a bit dry as sitting through 90 minutes of someone teaching you how to write and present can be tedious. Continue reading →