Learning Journal Unit Eight
How did you like the course overall?
Overall, despite the difficult nature of the course, I enjoyed taking the introduction to biology course. Moreover, the material covered in the class enriched my knowledge regarding the variety of species and organisms that inhabit our world and has inspired me to become a more proactive steward of my environment.
Would you recommend any changes to improve it?
In my opinion, the introduction to biology course would benefit from the implementation of self-quizzes. This change would augment the students ability to ascertain their retention and understanding of the course material and in all likelihood, would result in students obtaining overall higher scores on the official exams. …show more content…
For example, the textbook describes how when no sources exist to control the number of urchins in the ocean, they devour kelp to such an extent that entire regions of seafloor become barren (Open Learning Initiative, 2015, p.246). Furthermore, scientists discovered that in areas populated by sea otters, kelp forests thrived as sea otters would dine on the urchins and would drop their empty shells onto the sea floor thereby frightening away urchins from the region (Open Learning Initiative, 2015, p.246). This interaction is important as kelp forests are a keystone species as they support a wide variety of life and the plants are harvested by humans for various applications (Open Learning Initiative, 2015, p.246). At one time this interaction was threatened by humans hunting the sea otter to near extinction however, scientists have reintroduced the species to areas where they had been wiped out, aiding to restore balance to the environment (Open Learning Initiative, 2015,
How did you like the course overall?
Overall, despite the difficult nature of the course, I enjoyed taking the introduction to biology course. Moreover, the material covered in the class enriched my knowledge regarding the variety of species and organisms that inhabit our world and has inspired me to become a more proactive steward of my environment.
Would you recommend any changes to improve it?
In my opinion, the introduction to biology course would benefit from the implementation of self-quizzes. This change would augment the students ability to ascertain their retention and understanding of the course material and in all likelihood, would result in students obtaining overall higher scores on the official exams. …show more content…
For example, the textbook describes how when no sources exist to control the number of urchins in the ocean, they devour kelp to such an extent that entire regions of seafloor become barren (Open Learning Initiative, 2015, p.246). Furthermore, scientists discovered that in areas populated by sea otters, kelp forests thrived as sea otters would dine on the urchins and would drop their empty shells onto the sea floor thereby frightening away urchins from the region (Open Learning Initiative, 2015, p.246). This interaction is important as kelp forests are a keystone species as they support a wide variety of life and the plants are harvested by humans for various applications (Open Learning Initiative, 2015, p.246). At one time this interaction was threatened by humans hunting the sea otter to near extinction however, scientists have reintroduced the species to areas where they had been wiped out, aiding to restore balance to the environment (Open Learning Initiative, 2015,