As my last neuroscience course in undergraduate I have learned a lot more about how to apply the knowledge I have learned to practical things in life. During the semester, in this course we were able to learn the material the first few weeks and then apply our knowledge about the different neuro-pathways to the different research papers we would dive into each week. These research papers were typically about certain conditions and our last research papers was on Nootropics. Below are how Concordia’s goals transitioned into the neurochemistry course.
- Instill a love for learning
From this course, I learned more about the enjoyment of looking into certain questions to gain more knowledge on a question. In the age of the internet, almost any question can be answered, but it is a matter of getting to think of those questions that fosters more learning. In preparation for Wednesdays, we would gather questions we thought while reading and discussing the paper together to look into further and discuss with our classmates what we found. This helped me to get that spark for learning again.
2. Develop foundational skills and transferable intellectual capacities
In this course I learned how to communicate a more interesting story as it relates to science compared to just saying “and this is how this happens” with a lot of scientific jargon. One method that we used in this course was ABT, which formats the story as And, But, and Therefore. Which I found to be more affective at having someone who is unfamiliar with the science be able to understand it.
3. Develop an understanding of disciplinary, interdisciplinary and intercultural perspectives and their connections
In neurochemistry I was able to learn how to effectively write science in the form of a blog post and have good references/citations throughout. This overall will help to foster better communication as it relates to explaining “the science” especially since in the future I hope to become a registered dietitian. There is a lot of science talk in the field and acquiring this skill will help in my future career.
4. Cultivate an examined cultural, ethical, physical and spiritual self-understanding
I loved how this course related back to nutrition in unique ways, along with other disciplinary. Almost every topic we could relate it back to nutrition, which especially sparked my interest as a double major in both nutrition and neuroscience.
5. Encourage responsible participation in the world
The last goal goal Concordia has for liberal learning is to encourage responsible participation in the world and we did just that in this course. In our big group discussions on Fridays we were able to talk about the topic that week and tie it to what is going on in the world. While we did not take action with our discussions about certain things we brought more awareness to the subject and it was fun to hear everyone’s side on certain issues.
Overall, I am really going to miss my undergraduate curriculum and am going to miss this course. I am so happy that I got to end with neurochemistry as being one of my last classes, I have really enjoyed it. 🙂
