Three Semester Review

My experience in ELT was amazing. The lectures, projects, and field trips were definitely enlightening about the aspects of the real science world. One of the best parts of ELT was that we didn’t just learn about scientific facts, but we also learned about all of the aspects of being a scientist. I mean by this in saying when it comes to the steps of the scientific process to the how scientists get there work out to the general public. Also I learned about how the general public believes science information given to them without thinking about it or investigating it themselves.
One specific project that I accomplished in ELT for the fall 2009 semester was Reporting on Science: Real Science and the News Media. This project was designed to teach us that an article that is published online or in a newspaper from a scientific experiment is not exactly like the discoveries that the scientist conducting the actual experiment was trying to accomplish. The reason for this is because the media wants to make articles that pull the attention of the general public even if that means stretching the truth. On my specific article and scientific journal comparison there were major differences. One of those differences is that in the scientific journal they were talking about where oxygen levels on the moon Europa exist. In the article they talked about that, but then went on to talk about the possibilities of life on Europa when the journal did talk about life on Europa at all.
Another specific project in which I found very interesting was in the spring of 2009 semester we did an activity on homeopathic drugs. I found this very interesting because of how the general public uses these drugs and they believe that they work. These homeopathic drugs have a very low percentage of the active ingredient in them which makes them seem like a placebo effect. I got out of this lecture and project that sometimes in the medical market, some drugs don’t have the active ingredient in them so pharmaceutical companies are trying to make easy money off of people. Also this taught me that the general public believes things they hear about science when they are not true, and don’t investigate things for themselves. This taught me not to always believe what I hear.
One of the other things that I really enjoyed in ELT was the field trip to the Koshland Museum in the fall of 2009 semester. The part of the museum that I found most interesting was the exhibit that talked about how important antibiotics and vaccines are for the human population for survival. The statistics that were shown at these exhibits were quite astounding. The main point that I got out of the exhibit is that how important the medical field is for human survival and how fast viruses and pathogens spread throughout a community.
Not just in ELT, but in other classes also have I learned about the same things. In BSCI222 Principles of Genetics we learned about what scientists are able to do. We learned about the Human Genome Project and the OMIM website in which you can find out where each gene is located on different chromosomes. This taught me the capabilities of what the science field can do.
Another class in which I was taught about the scientific process was in BSCI106 Principles of Biology 2. In this class we were taught about how certain populations are affected by other populations in a given habitat. I feel that this taught me the macroscopic aspect of environmental science and how some populations could be affected by little changes.
Living in this living-learning community of College Park Scholars has helped me learn many things through many of my friends that I have made. Whenever I needed help with something somebody was there to explain it to me. Also it was very good because many of the people who were living on my floor and in the scholars program were also in my other classes so I was able to study with them and interact with them easily. The living arrangements due to the scholars program were probably one of the greatest things that have happened at the University of Maryland.
During ELT I have done many activities. I believe that during class everyone participated in a way that they personally contributed. During the small group projects everyone in my group participated equally in answering the questions thoroughly. Also during class everyone was content on the lecture material. Also during the field trips everyone learned about different things that interested each person individually.
By being in scholars I have met many intelligent people with their own values and ideas about various topics. I enjoyed this fact very much due to me learning about different opinions. When it came to other people getting into a “challenge” with me, I responded by telling them my opinion on the topic and why I think that way. This is one thing that I really enjoyed about being in college. By meeting other people and learning about their beliefs it has expanded my learning greatly.
ELT has enlightened me a lot and has prepared me to become more successful in the future. One of the most important things that I have learned about in ELT was how to make a website. I think that this is a very important thing to learn, and I will be utilizing this skill for the rest of my college career and life. Also in my professional career I am going to be doing research of some type. By being in ELT I have learned about all of the steps of being a scientist and all of the things that they go through.
Earth, Life, and Time is one of the best classes that I have ever taken. It has prepared me greatly for my future life in college and for my career. I believe that ELT has single handedly taught me about the science field in a way that most other classes don’t.