Tyler's Blog Death of Destiny

End of Term Wrap Up

This is my End of Term Wrap Up for Winter 2009 (following last term).

BIOL 200 – Biology 200 - Cell Biology I: Structural Basis
Dr. Alicia Mazari
Monday / Wednesday / Friday
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Credits: 3

BIOL 200 was probably my favorite lecture course this term. It was basically the first portion of Biology 12 (the cell), but in much more detail. In short, we discussed enough to explain pretty much this entire (beautiful) video:

Yes, I've probably posted that video at least 3 times now. I can't help it; I love the music XD Anyhow, this course had 2 components: a lecture and a tutorial. The lecture was very interesting. My professor, Dr. Mazari, was always enthusiastic about her class, an attribute that seemed to be passed onto many of her students. I know many students who would sit in her class just because of her enthusiasm. She also spent a long amount of time on problem solving, which was very much useful for exams. On that note, BIOL 200 might have been one of my favorite courses because of the exam type: it was based largely on problem solving (not memorization; we got a cheat sheet for any troublesome vocab). The tutorials, although my TA Mark Scott was good, weren't as useful. Although they were often used simply for post-tests (unit quizzes), the times we did projects weren't very helpful in learning the course material. I think a problem may have been that too much things were crammed into such a small space. We often had to leave problems half answered or half explained because the students had to rush to their next class (and other students were starting to pile in). Nonetheless, the course was overall quite enjoyable (despite my not doing as well as I think I could have). It's obvious why this course is mandatory for anybody in a biology program.

BIOL 240 – Biology 240 - Experimental Design in the Life Sciences
Dr. Carol Pollock, Nikta Fay, Dr. Kate Zeiler
Tuesday
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Credits: 1

BIOL 240 was one of my 2 favorite courses this term. It was the second year version of BIOL 140. That is, it was about the same amount of work... ...for half the amount of credits. It's also the last year that this course is offered... Anyhow, I really enjoyed working in the lab this term. There were only 2 things I didn't like... 1) I didn't get to work with viruses and 2) my organism, Tetrahymena sp., was not a bacteria. Besides those minor details, I really enjoyed the experimental design of this course. We got to design our own experiment, carry it out, and then present the results. Carol, Nikta, and Kate were all very knowledgeable and fun to work with in the lab. Their work in the lab definitely made it an enjoyable experience.

CHEM 233 – Chemistry 233 - Organic Chemistry for the Biological Sciences
Jackie Stewart
Monday / Wednesday / Friday
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Credits: 3

This was my second time with Jackie for a chemistry course (the other time being CHEM 121). Jackie was definitely a great professor. CHEM 233 is known as many things, including the pre-med student weeder course. Jackie helped to turn down a bit of the intensity of the course. I didn't do great in the course, but I did better than I expected--especially after learning of CHEM 233's reputation. Although, I think the main reason why I didn't enjoy this course more was because of my arbitrary decision to dislike chemistry. I noticed that in studying for CHEM 233, when I was actually getting caught up with the material, I was enjoying the material--especially when it was chemistry was directly related to what I was learning in cell biology. To future takers of CHEM 233, it's not as bad as people often say. And if you're worried about the fail rate, it decreases substantially every year. So technically, future takers have less to fear than I did... ...if you have to take this course, good luck!

CPSC 211 – Computer Science 211 - Introduction to Software Development
Margaret Dulat
Monday / Wednesday / Friday
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Credits: 4

Along with CHEM 233, this was another death course for me. CPSC 211 has the opposite reputation of CHEM 233; it is supposedly the easiest computer science course (besides CSPC 101)--even easier than its predecessor CPSC 111. However, it wasn't an easy course for me. Early on in the term, I decided I didn't like the course, so I think that's what ultimately screwed me over. I don't think it was as bad as I perceived, assuming I didn't totally bomb the final exam this morning. Margaret was a good professor, although I think I would have enjoyed her lectures better had I gone into the course with a better attitude.

GEOB 102 – Geographical Biogeosciences 102 - Introduction to Geographical Biogeosciences: Climate and Vegetation
Dr. Simon Donner, Dr. Lori Daniels
Monday / Wednesday / Friday
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Credits: 3

I enjoyed both halves of this course: atmosphere and biogeography. I found the geography to be really enjoyable. However, one thing that irritated me about the course was it was largely memorization and no problem solving. In fact, most of the final exam this morning was pure memorization of facts. It's kind of depressing. Anyhow, Dr. Donner and Dr. Daniels were both good professors and knowledgeable about their fields. Our "lab" TA, Chris Borstad, was also very helpful, especially in clearing up ambiguities about the assignments. Note I called it a "lab" because although they're categorized as a lab on the SSC, they were optional blocks where we could go to get help on any assignments if we wanted it. Anyhow, I recommend this course to anybody interested in geography--it's an interesting subject and not just some science filler course for arts and commerce students.

MICB 203 – Microbiology 203 - Basic Microbiology Laboratory
Karen Smith
Monday
12:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Credits: 1

This was my other favorite course for this term (until the final exam). It was a lab course based mostly around bacteria, although we did have one lab where we got to work with bacteriophage (<3). Doing all the experiments was definitely exciting. It's always exciting to see labs from lectures implemented in the lab. Whereas BIOL 240 did a lot of the BIOL 200 experiments, MICB 203 did a lot of the BIOL 112 experiments (such as DNA transformation). This class consisted of a lab portion and a tutorial portion. Karen made the tutorials interesting and brought the philosophy of science frequently into discussions. Both Karen and our TA Matthias Fischer made the labs a fun environment. Although this course was filled with grad students getting credit for a microbiology lab, I recommend this course to people interested in seeing how microbiologists work (even if it's a just brief glimpse :P). Oh, the one thing I didn't like about this class was the final exam. Although the course was pretty much entirely lab work, the final exam suddenly pops up and it's just like "SURPRISE. You have to memorize all the reagents, protocols, and explanations for all of the experiments we did this term." And of course, it's being largely memorization made me dislike the final exam. Still, the lab component make this course worth taking.