There was a point during week 2 where I went to talk to Jon Herron about our first paper, and he said something to me along the lines of "wow, for having never taken a Bio class before, you're very familiar with the vocabulary and methods!". This of course is untrue, as I actually took BIO 180 in my freshman year, but because it happened so fast i just had to smile, laugh and nod. So then it was too late to correct him. Classic!
While I felt a little guilty for even taking this class because there was some repeated content, I gotta say this version was a lot better at developing my skills as a scientist as opposed to as a student. It helped the practice of science to feel a lot more accessible and understandable, which I appreciate immensely.
You never start out college thinking you'll be looking at pictures of male duck genitalia, but then life surprises you!
Here is the first paper I wrote for this class, which taught me that due to a long history of rape, female ducks have evolved increasingly complex vagina-mazes to stop insemination, and in turn male ducks have evolved little corkscrew members! The more you know! Unlike in BIO 180, this assignment allowed me to look at current biological studies and to form my own opinions about them. More than anything this paper shows me getting more comfortable with scientific research and literature. One thing this class really tried to emphasize was how anyone is capable of reading a scientific study, and if you can't it's the writers fault for making it hard to understand. This boosted my own confidence in my ability to tackle scientific research, which will come in handy as I move forward in Psychology and start doing research.
I wrote a scientific study! With facts and statistics and analysis and everything!
This research project was the final assignment we had in class, and it allowed me to combine my interest in psychology (personality) with the issue of evolution and inherited traits. I posted a poll on Facebook, and (with some help from my mom sharing the link) I was able to collect a lot of data about introversion and extroversion comparing parents and their offspring. I recognize this study has many flaws, such as the fact that upbringing could have a lot more to do with sociability than genetics, but it was one of my first attempts in college to conduct research. I know that to graduate in Psychology I'm going to be doing more in-depth research in the future, but this helped me to dip my toe in the water, and realize that research doesn't have to be scary, and can actually be exciting when you look at something you're passionate about.