At Concordia, it is always emphasized that we BREW, become responsibly engaged in the world. Neurochemistry, as a capstone course is a class in which one could BREW quite a bit, maybe in the way of just having a different perspective about certain things in today’s society, like bulimia, obesity, autism and other disorders or diseases that can affect the brain. After taking this capstone, I feel I know a little bit more about these diseases or disorders than I did previously, and have a new view of regarding certain aspects of them, like how the brain works differently when it encounters high fat r high sugar diets, or how much can happen to the brain during development in the womb.
My capstone experience has also given me skills in being able to figure out how to read difficult articles with a lot of unknown topics in them and still get something out of what the article was trying to say. It is a skill that will be useful in the future, as I am a student that wishes to continue on in my education in science and being able to tackle these articles will assist me further down the road. It will enable me to learn on my own no longer needing to rely on teachers and assignments to learn.
This capstone course was very outside of the box for a science class, involving many other topics of discussion that were all interrelated to science, like debates in the sports world about concussions or legalization of cannabinoids for either medical or recreational use. We covered topics that are prevalent to topics in the new. Instead of covering some material and then there will be a test to regurgitate it all, we learned science gradually and hand in hand with the real consequences of this science if it is not working properly.
Neurochemistry was a class where the students taught each other a lot of the times, which was helpful to my learning it better if I was teaching it, or my understanding it better if it was being explained to me in terms that most all of my peers could understand. By learning in this way, we were all accountable for doing our work on time, for if not then others would not get the information they needed, thus it was an effective way to ensure that work was being done in the course without the necessity of turning in a worksheet every day.
Concordia has truly helped instill a love of learning within me, I enjoy going to classes in my majors and am excited to see what more I can learn before I leave. While neurochemistry was not the subject that I am most interested in within chemistry, I still found that it helped grow my love of learning. It gave me the tools that I need to keep learning on my own past college, as I now feel more confident in researching online and learning about science through methods other than a textbook or a lecture.
Capstone Reflection
