How has this assignment and this class helped you to progress toward the SLCC Learning Outcomes? While Biology may not have required much debate, we were able to work with a partner in class to complete the above assignment. Assignments such as these allowed me to better learn certain topics which I felt less confident with. While one description may work for some, the human brain does not process the same as every other brain does. When a fellow student explains an idea, I find it is often simple to understand as other students are also learning these subjects for the first time. Therefore, we describe things in a basic and simplistic way as though we do not assume the other person already has background in the subject.
This Biology class has helped me with the following SLCC Learning Objectives. 1. Communicate Effectively. 2. Think critically and creatively. 3. Develop the knowledge and skills to work with others in a professional and constructive manner. 4. Develop computer and information literacy. 5. Develop the attitudes and skills for lifelong wellness. As mentioned before, assignments like the one above helped me communicate effectively with fellow students and ask questions when needed. I find that Biology can be both simple and difficult to understand. The main reason for the difficulty is due to rushing through material. The amount of information and topics the semester requires students to absorb is done so by memorization rather than complete understanding. Repetition is the key to helping others to learn these concepts. Unfortunately, the class does not have the time to be able to review information. We listen to a lecture, read at home, take an exam, find out what we got wrong, and then move on. We never go back and make sure students understand what was wrong and why. This is where repetition is key. I should be clear. This is not simply an issue with Biology 1610. This is a broad education issue. Students are expected to be responsible for their own confusion and while I don't necessarily disagree with this, if classes were given the time to help engage students more and review, I believe fewer would require outside help. For example, I would say Biology has helped me further my computer and information literacy skills, as I often used outside, online resources such as videos to help me understand aspects of certain theories and processes. The videos were extremely helpful, but I took an in person class to learn the information in person and hear it explained. I did not take Biology online, but felt I often needed outside online help to comprehend everything fully. I almost feel like I am wasting my time, especially when I work a full time job and attend school. My time is little and valuable, and finding balance in a normal sleep schedule, exercise, proper cooking, work, school and quality time with loved ones is constantly disrupted. I have been lucky enough to already have a deep interest in lifelong wellness, but Biology furthered my genuine interest in health as Biology explains how the human body is built and works in its most basic form. From atoms to molecules, macromolecules to cells, cells to tissues, tissues to organs, organs to organ systems, to complete living creatures. I truly enjoyed learning more about macromolecules even though I struggled with parts of it. And who knew Cholesterol was steroid! I don't know why, but that blew my mind. I love science, not always because its easy or because its simple to understand. But because science is comprised of both fact, what we already know, and a plethora of mystery. We often contradict our knowledge over time. I mean, Pluto was a planet when I was growing up. The more I learn about health and nutrition, the more I come to realize we don't thoroughly understand the workings of the human body. Claims constantly arise with what works and what we thought worked-- often later retracted. While I am thankful for the in person class and absolutely loved my professor, my love for science can be temporarily hindered when moving through high volumes of information. It is because I truly want to understand and ask millions of questions the moment ideas are first explained to me. But this is not plausible when getting through material is most important. I wish we would have had time to review in class, and work on review worksheets in class for the final. I guess what I am saying is I'd like to learn one on one and have the professor's every waking second to myself. Probable? Not so much. But a dream is a dream :) Thank you Melissa Hardy for always answering my questions and clearly showing your love of biology. Learning from someone who loves what they teach is truly a blessing.
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1. Reflect on how you thought about your relationship and obligation to animals and the environment before you took this course and how you think about it now that the course is over. Have any of your assumptions or understandings changed? Why? What assignments/activities/readings were influential in this process?
This class has dramatically changed me. While before the class, I was an advocate for animal rights and I continue to be now, I adopted a whole food plant based diet for the past 3 months now. I had already been interested in the vegan diet and I attended a plant based symposium just before the course began to focus on Moral Extensionism and animals. So I was really interested in the topics of debate and the p[philosophy. Growing up I had planned on being a Zoologist or working with animals in some capacity. I have always been a huge animal lover. I have spent about 10 years working on my health and fitness. I grew up with a mother who home schooled me about plants and nature while bike riding through the Yosemite National Park. She wanted to be a Park Ranger and majored in Outdoor Education. I am made of my passions for nature, health and animals. All 3 of these loves all led to one destination, a whole food plant based diet. And this class opened my eyes to a vast array of information and how the factory farming industry actually looks like. While a few videos I watched on my own regarding factory farming caused me to cry deeply, my heart can't fathom how people are willing to treat animals in such ways. It truly breaks my heart. I want to love all people, and I want to love all creatures. Love and kindness is incredibly underrated. 2. Make connections between what you studied in this course with what you’ve learned in other courses at SLCC or before. Make specific references to your work in this class and in the other courses. How did what you learn in other courses enhance what you learned here, and vice versa? In this class, we learned about Participatory Justice. Participatory Justice, as promoted by Iris Marion Young, a Political Theorist, is the protection of the democratic process. The idea that people should be able to participate in the things that can affect their lives, develop themselves and express their needs and thoughts. People from different cultural backgrounds, experiences and perspectives should all be able to bring their differences to the surface and decision making process. In the end, should decisions be made which disregard people's rights and dignity, the decision cannot be held as morally responsible. I also took U.S. Government & Politics this semester and Participatory Justice is definitely an approach which crosses between both courses. I think learning about these simultaneously helped me to create a link between how politics can help to shape Environmental Ethics. Ethics is not simply just philosophical debate, but is the debate between the people and their government, desperately searching for change. ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION: Pick one topic from the semester's "Case Study Workshops," and write a position paper based on that topic. During this semester, I also took Environmental Ethics. In the class, we learned about Participatory Justice. Participatory Justice, as promoted by Iris Marion Young, a Political Theorist, is the protection of the democratic process. The idea that people should be able to participate in the things that can affect their lives, develop themselves and express their needs and thoughts. People from different cultural backgrounds, experiences and perspectives should all be able to bring their differences to the surface and decision making process. In the end, should decisions be made which disregard people's rights and dignity, the decision cannot be held as morally responsible.
Environmental Ethics is all about the discussion of what acts and decision can be morally justified. Throughout U.S. Government & Politics, I actually feel like my voice is less effective than before the class. And my reasoning is as follows. During the course, we completed a discussion regarding "Campaign Finance". After looking at the numbers, incumbents were almost always reelected. They often had the most money to spend on their campaigns, but unfortunately, the majority of their funds came from large corporations which run our society. For example, gas and oil industries, meat industries, gambling and alcohol corporations. And of course, the idea is that a candidate will support these industries after they have funded their campaigns. I do not consider myself a naive person. However, the older I get the more and more money seems to be the culprit of oppression, discrimination, environmental racism, and corruption. Take even the food industry today. In the 50s, companies first started to realize that sugar was addictive, so they added it to all their foods in order to retain customers. Since then, the food industry has really exploited the laws, finds loopholes and produces toxic foods as opposed to foods that fuel for the human body. With that being said, the U.S. Government & Politics course has made me more aware of how are government actually works. Before this class, I didn't know what the word "incumbent" meant. I didn't know the history of how our political parties were started or that there were even more than the Republican and Democratic parties which existed. I didn't know that members of the House of Representatives were elected by the people and that the Senate was elected by House members. I didn't and honestly still don't understand quite a bit of it all. Our government has so much more that goes into it's working gears than one would have thought. But even though, there is still much I don't understand, I am grateful for a further insight into the field. I most enjoyed the history of the political parties. I grew up in Upstate New York and my family and I traveled to Boston and Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and Benjamin Franklin's grave. I learned that Paul Revere was under 5 feet tall, as tall as his gravestone he was. You know the man on Samuel Adams beer? Did you know that's not Sam Adams? It's Paul Revere! Sam Adams was so ugly with a hunch and an unattractive face he was not wanted on the bottle, but "Paul Revere Beer" sounded awful. I learned that while in Boston. It amazes me that not only do we face so many issues in government that even our history is incorrect. We celebrate Columbus Day, to recognize a man that did not discover the Americas. Leif Erikson, a Norse explorer from Iceland, was actually the first European to discover North America. Then why do we celebrate Columbus? Because he conquered the Native Americans, aka...he slaughtered them and forced them out. Why is our country based on a lie. Why do we force the prettier picture to represent us even when it is not the truth? I think this concept is what continues to rule, not just America, but the world. During the opening ceremony of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, stood a massive statue of a woman who represented freedom for all, and women were not allowed to attend. So a group of women activists rented a number of boats and surrounded the island. Small efforts like these are the ones which will have big effects later on. I still believe small changes can build up to large outcomes. However, I think we will need thousands of small changes to truly make big differences to last through for generations to come. ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION: Take a concept or a philosopher that you learned about in this module, and engage with it creatively: maybe make a flyer that highlights, visually and textually, the most important/meaningful idea/insight you encountered, or in which you explore how the ideas you’ve learned in the module help you understand an issue or a moral dilemma in new ways.
Final Project Reflection Questions:
1. I do feel like I somewhat answered this question down below in number 2. I think anytime you have a piece where all the elements work together and are visually appealing they will help the message. Both pieces were clean and simple yet effective that reader's would help to focus on the words and the spirit of the Redford, Zim and their passions. I think an appeal to pathos is best created when we make connections with people. The Egyptian pyramids would be only a cool structure had it not been for our understanding of how difficult it would have been for hundreds or thousands of people enslaved in it's building. Why is Stonehenge so remarkable? Because of our curiosity of those who took time to build such a masterpiece. Who cares about any old festival which shows movies, unless the story of it's importance and beginnings are shared. Humans are empathetic creatures. Take even an appeal to Kairos, which regards to using a specific time. The example we had in lecture used Christmas. Christmas is generally connected with so many emotional feelings like nostalgia and cozy, family, fun filled times. Ethos, an appeal to one's credibility. We used credible sources to make our points because we feel these titles are of higher standing, and that, with title, comes more experience. I think the visual elements I chose created a clean platform for which my words and images could inspire the message. 2. I think both of my pieces appeared pretty professional looking. I think the colors I chose both were well representative of the message of each piece from the sunset colors of the Sundance piece to the playfully pink shades connected to Zim's home and his profession in my infographic on political cartoonist, Zim Zimmerman. I think they both looked clean and allowed reader's to focus on the message being presented. 3. I struggled most with my infographic on Zim. I struggled a few times to decide how exactly I wanted to organize the piece and what information would be most valuable to include. There wasn't a lot of information about Zim, which was odd since he was a big part of the cartoonist history, so that led me to some difficulties with my choices. Luckily, since I did grow up across from his home, I had some prior knowledge of the man behind the pen. 4. I would have liked to alter the cover page of my magazine profile layout on Sundance. It's fine for a school course, but had it been a piece to be released to the public professionally I would not be happy to put my name on it. Bu the rest of the piece I think looks great and I really loved the side story about The Egyptian Theater, the home of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City. I'm the person that if I were to keep analyzing the pieces, I would always find something to alter, but overall I think both pieces turned out well. Student Choice Reflection:
Assignment Chosen: Profile In Print 1. Honestly, I disliked the cover page, after going through multiple options and even making a collage from scratch, I mentally could decide anymore. However, I really liked the story I wrote and my favorite part was the side story about the creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston. I also thought the title I came up with, "The Man Behind the Wonder" was really clever and perfect for the piece. While I feel somewhat cheesy picking a superhero, I really enjoy educating people about Wonder Woman because she wasn't simply a cartoon to make money off of. She was inspired by a man who actually thought women were superior in every way to men, and he was an advocate for women's rights. I love the story behind Wonder Woman and I think she is a vital piece of history. 2. I had not before created a magazine profile. To learn about side stories and text breakdown throughout the piece was very useful in creating my magazine profile for my final project. Considering the side story in both my Profiles in Print piece and my final persuasive piece on Sundance are my favorite parts, the skills I gained definitely helped show me how a side story should not be a space filler, but rather should enhance the article. I think both side stories enhanced the pieces. Function of Art: Originally, I chose Persuasion & Conviction for this piece as a means to persuade people about the importance of political cartooning. I can also see how this piece would fit into Substitute Imagery. This is because I am attempting to convince my audience of local Horseheads residents of the importance of images which need to be preserved.
Function of Art: Persuasion & Conviction
The Sundance Film Festival is well known, however, for those who aren't aware of the true origins and meaningful existence of the festival this piece is meant for local Utah residents to encourage them to support their local community and the genuine support it raises for diversity and hope thorough storytelling. I wish I could do a survey to find out how many born and raised Utahans have made it to the festival. I believe the results would be quite low. Robert Redford believed so much in protecting the local land in the Provo Canyon and hopefully fellow Utahans will begin to appreciate the work Redford has accomplished and set up for generations to come. Perhaps, I am able to persuade locals to even take part and volunteer in future years. Reflection Questions 1) What connections have you had from what you’ve studied in this LW course with what you’ve learned from other courses you have taken at SLCC or have learned before taking this class? Make specific references to your work in this class and in other courses. How did what you learned in other courses enhance what you learned here, and vice versa? While I have taken a number of different communications courses during my time at SLCC, these past courses have helped me communicate and befriend many different students in the class from a multitude of backgrounds. I will most miss my fellow students which made waking up at 6:50 am each Saturday much easier. Kickboxing is more difficult to relate to other courses as it is more of an active pastime and less academic I would describe, but having a scheduled weekly workout makes consistency and self discipline much easier when it comes to maintaining an active lifestyle. Perhaps by scheduling times for schoolwork and future fitness, my mind will feel less overwhelmed by the work and time it takes to balance a full time work schedule, school, sleep, time with my husband and working out. 2) Reflect on what you thought about fitness and lifelong wellness before you took this course and how you think about it now that you have completed the course. Have any of your assumptions or understandings changed? Why? What assignments/activities/readings were influential in this process? How will you approach what influenced you differently in the future?
Honestly, fitness and nutrition have been a big part of my life over the past 10 years or so. I grew up playing soccer year round, but put on considerable weight after both of my knees gave out on me. My eating habits were of a normal teenager, but I was not gifted with a metabolism to not see the side effects of my poor eating. I feel very lucky to have started my fitness journey not to lose weight, but to be healthy. The majority of my weight shed itself from making small changes to my diet and slowly making more significant changes over time. I later got into for consistent and more intense fitness and continued to see changes in weight loss, but also started to see changes in the muscular shape of my body. I have always enjoyed martial art workouts which is why I chose Kickboxing as my requirement for Lifelong Wellness. While over the past few months I went through some situations which caused me great physiological pain and heartache, I have let my fitness routine dwindle. I hope that Kickboxing has helped me get back to my routine as I dearly miss the feeling of being fit and strong. |
AuthorAnne is 25 years old and originally from the Bay Area, California, but grew up in the small charming town of Horseheads, just south of the Finger Lakes Wine Country in Upstate New York. Archives
April 2019
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