Throughout this course, I have fostered all five aspects of liberal learning and been able to apply all of the skills I have gathered while learning here at Concordia.
Instill a love for learning.
I have found myself immersed in group discussions and building off my classmates throughout this course. What helped me instill a love for learning was the open nature of the course layout that allowed for our own interpretations of the material discussed in class. During Friday group meetings, as students and young neuroscientists, we built off one another and grew together as one rather than alone. Learning was made enjoyable. Learning was viewed as a time to socialize and share our findings, rather than sitting in a chair for a few hours, taking in regurgitated information from someone leading the class.
Develop foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities.
Throughout my time enrolled in neurochemistry. I have developed strong communication and cooperation skills with fellow peers. These are skills that I can apply to almost any discipline and day-to-day life. some examples are post-undergraduate research, future employment, this, and this coming semester of classes.
Develop an understanding of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and intercultural perspectives and their connections.
We have explored many topics during this course and approached them from various angles. These at times included viewing the topics at hand through the lenses of nutritional, psychological, pharmacological, and anatomical viewpoints. The differing perspectives allowed me to develop a greater understanding of the true nature and the complexity of the subjects studied. Had we only focused on neurochemistry, I believe we would ultimately only be receiving and trying to make sense of a single piece of the puzzle. While this would have helped us indeed become more well-versed in the course material, it would bar us off from thinking “outside of the box” and exploring while using neurochemistry as a guide to help us formulate our own opinions and answers.
Cultivate an examined cultural, ethical, physical, and spiritual self-understanding.
The course helped me realize a science culture that praises data and numerical language. While this can help provide evidence and support arguments when it comes to other scientists, what is failed to be considered is what a broader and less well-versed audience can take away from it. To others not in a scientific discipline, all of the numbers and data entries can be overwhelming and be seen as just a bunch of chicken scratches or numbers thrown onto a page. Scientific literature needs to be more relaxed to attract larger audiences and inform them of our findings. Ethically, this change is also a great thing to consider. It no longer will “bar off” non-scientific disciplines from learning, questioning, and providing input on our work. It would allow for equality in terms of legibility.
Encourage responsible participation in the world.
The diversity of approaches to the topics discussed in class helped me realize how complex some of them are, as mentioned before. Suppose we are to one day tackle the disorders mentioned in class. In that case, we will have to rely on working together as peers and as members of a large scientific community to formulate different approaches and methods of attack for treatments. We simply can not begin to treat or aid in treating these disorders if we choose not to take responsible participation in a larger community that grows off of the bright minds within it.
Final Remarks
My experience gained throughout this semester will help contribute to my future goals in neuroscience research. Being someone conducting the research, it is critical that I understand how to work in a group and not only communicate amongst those in my group, but with my audience as well. Being enrolled in a liberal arts institution allows me to better understand my field of study not only on its own but with an interdisciplinary understanding and a sense of social responsibility.
