Back

Three Semester Review

Over the last three semesters, we have examined how the scientific understanding of the physical world and its living components (including our own species, our behavior, and our society) is more completely comprehended when we take into account time (whether the "deep time" of evolution and geology, or the smaller scale of human history). How has your experience as an Earth, Life & Time Scholar helped in this understanding that you would not have received if you were not in ELT?


The Earth Life and Time Scholars program has allowed me to gain a different understanding on the physical world and its living components. The scholars program has utilized both in and out of classroom experiences to analyze the study of the history of the Earth and human history. Through additional readings and lecture we were able to explore the many different topics encapsulated in our scholars. These topics included discovering what science is and how it is misinterpreted by much of society, understanding the basic geological history of the Earth, understanding evolution, and the ongoing evolution of society. Through out the past three semesters there have been individual activities which have stuck with me. One lecture that I found particularity interesting was the second semester “Life in Darwin's Universe Natural Historical Perspectives on the Search for Life on Other Worlds”. This lecture questioned the probability of life on other planets. Then if there is other life out there, it questions the probability that those life forms share relatable human characteristics, technology and a curiosity similar to ours. Through analyzing the factors in Drake’s equation of probability for the number of civilized communities in the Milky Way technologically advanced enough to communicate, we were able to find that there were many more factors that were not yet incorporated into the equation. The numbers show how unique our civilization is, that for every other organism on Earth, each would have different factors if we attempted to find another species out there. Knowing how unique our civilization is only adds to the uniqueness of each individual. Genetics tells us that the chance of each individual person being who they are is 2^23x 2^23, not even taking into account genetic phenomenons such as crossing over or mutations. The numbers produced by Drake’s equation and our own genetic variance shows us how truly unique we are as a human society but even as individuals. The readings in The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond provided insight into human evolution. It gives an overview of the topics covered in introduction to Archaeology while providing new less traditional and more controversial spin to the information. It allowed us to look at human evolution in a similar manor to other animals while figuring out what makes humans distinct and has allowed for our societal evolution in addition to our physical one. Diamonds Guns Germs and Steel picks up where The Third Chimpanzee leaves off examining the rise and fall of human civilizations, and the environmental factors that affected which civilizations rose and the rate which they rose at. While The Third Chimpanzee strives to answer the question why did Homo Sapiens evolve they way they did making us who we are today, Guns Germs and Steel searches for the answer to Yali’s question, why did some civilizations become more powerful faster than others. These books incorporate Earth Life and Time’s emphasis on understanding our past so that we may improve the future. They also focus on educating the ignorant in a convincing truthful way. These books, in addition to lectures give Earth Life and Time scholars’ an advantage in understanding physiological differences between peoples as well as those between underdeveloped and advanced countries. Participating in Scholars programs, field trips in class projects and discussions, have been both educational and entertaining. Scholars in New York, April 2008, provided opportunities to hear Dr. Merck and Dr. Holtz talk about their fields at the Museum of Natural History. At the Museum of Natural History after hearing their talks we were able to go explore. The evolution portion of the museum was fascinating, tying concepts from scholars to previously learned evolutionary concepts and then again to the next semesters Introduction to Archaeology. The exhibit provided casts of skulls of proto-humans which we were able to examine. Another exhibit contained the bones of a chimpanzee and one of a human, being able to compare these two specimen side by side allowed us to see many differences and similarities, truly showing the evolutionary similarities between the two. This program allowed for us to have an opportunity to learn from what the museum had to offer and to share background knowledge about exhibits with fellow scholars in a peer oriented learning situation. Being in scholars has introduced me to some of my closest friends on campus. We share many differing opinions on everything, making this year’s political election a debate filled event. Although we share differing opinions we have been able to use those opinions to see that although we have different ideas we still have a lot in common. We are able to see the issues and after debating realize we are arguing the same point to then laugh and discuss the issue. Being able to talk about issues with people you know are educated about the topic helps to generate a comfortable environment where you will not be judged by your friends but you are still able to talk about controversial subjects. Being in scholars gave me the opportunity to meet these people and form great friendships with them. I believe that the Earth Life and Time program will be beneficial to me in the future. I have meet life long friends through the program who have helped me adjust to college life and will continue to be there in the future. The concept of how scientific ignorance plagues most of society has made me more aware of what I read and both how I interpret it and how others can interpret the data. The topics covered in the later semesters of colloquium have particularly pertained to my interests, especially those involving human evolution and that directly related to it, this will hopefully help me to find the path I am looking for in relation to future goals. The practicum project will hopefully aid me in future presentations and project which will be ever present through out any career. When I first chose to be apart of the Earth Life and Time program I was not sure if it was something that I would be interested in. After three semesters as an ELT scholar I am happy with my decision to be apart of this program. It has given me the opportunity to meet great friends as well as discuss topics I had addressed in other classes in a new manor. The lectures provided insight to entertaining topics that pertained to our study of Earth Life and Time, while still addressing issues that come about in both daily life, global warming, and in the classes that many of us were taking at that time, such as cladograms from BSCI207. The opportunities given to students, whether fieldtrips into DC or New York or even study abroad opportunities to the Galapagos or Arizona, allow for unique learning experiences which will stay with us for a long time. I am incredibly glad that I chose to be a part of this program, while pinning down exactly what I have learned from this experience is hard to describe I feel that it was the right choice which will affect me through out the many years to come. In the words of my roommate, “it was a life changing decision, and I am glad I made it”.

Last Modified: November 20, 2008