Closing Letter
19 June, 2012
Dear Mr Kass,
As you know, my name is Harsh Desai and I’ve just recently finished SBI3U, Grade Eleven Biology. It’s been a very long and interesting journey from the beginning of the Semester 2 when I only had my limited grade 10 knowledge of biology, to now, where I have my detailed knowledge of various things in the biological world; such as biodiversity, genetics, evolution and internal systems. In grade 10 biology, we mostly learned about internal systems and how they functioned. However, since the sciences split this year, biology contained a lot more information and we were able to learn about a lot of different subjects that we were not able to cover in grade 10. Before entering this course, I did not really know much about viruses, bacteria or vaccines. Most of my information came from news channels during the swine flu pandemic, but after this course, I am able to make connections to real life. I am now able to explain how viruses such as swine flu spread can infect the human body and the internal systems. Also, I learned a lot about evolution. Since I do believe in religion, I was slightly skeptical at the beginning of the semester regarding evolution. However, as we learned about Darwin and his finches, it started to appeal to me a lot more. Now, I believe that the theory of evolution is respectable and very possible. One more topic that I learned more about this year was genetics and inheritance. I’ve always known that a child has some characteristics of the mom and some of the dad, but I have never known how that actually comes about. Now, I can explain that inheritance is determined by the genes of the father and the genes of the mother, which are made up of alleles and are randomly selected to create us.
At the beginning of the course, I said that I had a few learning strategies that helped me to study. I did follow the learning strategies I suggested (such as asking for help and doing my homework) and they generally did work. However, I also developed other learning strategies as the course went on and it was clear that I needed to have variety in my studying otherwise it would get depressing. For instance, I started a new technique of organizing the information I had in my notes into tables. This way, I could easily access the information by looking at categories (e.g. Viruses -> Types -> Treatments, etc). I still think that getting someone to assist me by asking me random questions about the topic, was the most effective studying technique for me throughout the course.
At the start of grade 11 biology, I said that my strength was spending my time perfecting assignments and making sure that I’ve done as much as possible to make it presentable. After reflecting on the past few months, I would say that I did manage to maintain a level of quality in my assignments, but there were a few difficulties I faced, such as a tight schedule and heavy workloads at certain periods of the course that prevented me from fully putting as much effort as possible in any one piece of work. I also said that my weakness was the fact that I procrastinate often. Looking back at this course, I would agree and say that was my weakness throughout this course. This, along with bad time management resulted in some problems from time to time.
To improve this course for future grade 11 biology students, I would suggest lowering the work load a little bit because the enormous jump from grade 10 expectations to grade 11 expectations can catch many students off guard and result in lower marks for them. Maybe start off gradually, and then take the work load to what it normally should be in grade 11. Also, I would recommend making group-oriented assignments worth a little less than individual assignments because if a student ends up in a group with a partner(s) that are not as responsible, all the workload would fall onto their should and heavily impact their mark.
In the end, I believe that this has been a very fruitful course for me to take. I’ve gained plenty of invaluable information that will help me later on in life and according to my career choice of psychiatry. Grade 11 biology has had a profound impact on me not only by teaching me the course content, but by showing me the importance of time management and putting effort into all of my work (not just a few important assignments). I believe that by implementing the knowledge gained in this semester, I will be able to become successful when I take biology again in grade 12.
Sincerely,
Harsh Desai
Dear Mr Kass,
As you know, my name is Harsh Desai and I’ve just recently finished SBI3U, Grade Eleven Biology. It’s been a very long and interesting journey from the beginning of the Semester 2 when I only had my limited grade 10 knowledge of biology, to now, where I have my detailed knowledge of various things in the biological world; such as biodiversity, genetics, evolution and internal systems. In grade 10 biology, we mostly learned about internal systems and how they functioned. However, since the sciences split this year, biology contained a lot more information and we were able to learn about a lot of different subjects that we were not able to cover in grade 10. Before entering this course, I did not really know much about viruses, bacteria or vaccines. Most of my information came from news channels during the swine flu pandemic, but after this course, I am able to make connections to real life. I am now able to explain how viruses such as swine flu spread can infect the human body and the internal systems. Also, I learned a lot about evolution. Since I do believe in religion, I was slightly skeptical at the beginning of the semester regarding evolution. However, as we learned about Darwin and his finches, it started to appeal to me a lot more. Now, I believe that the theory of evolution is respectable and very possible. One more topic that I learned more about this year was genetics and inheritance. I’ve always known that a child has some characteristics of the mom and some of the dad, but I have never known how that actually comes about. Now, I can explain that inheritance is determined by the genes of the father and the genes of the mother, which are made up of alleles and are randomly selected to create us.
At the beginning of the course, I said that I had a few learning strategies that helped me to study. I did follow the learning strategies I suggested (such as asking for help and doing my homework) and they generally did work. However, I also developed other learning strategies as the course went on and it was clear that I needed to have variety in my studying otherwise it would get depressing. For instance, I started a new technique of organizing the information I had in my notes into tables. This way, I could easily access the information by looking at categories (e.g. Viruses -> Types -> Treatments, etc). I still think that getting someone to assist me by asking me random questions about the topic, was the most effective studying technique for me throughout the course.
At the start of grade 11 biology, I said that my strength was spending my time perfecting assignments and making sure that I’ve done as much as possible to make it presentable. After reflecting on the past few months, I would say that I did manage to maintain a level of quality in my assignments, but there were a few difficulties I faced, such as a tight schedule and heavy workloads at certain periods of the course that prevented me from fully putting as much effort as possible in any one piece of work. I also said that my weakness was the fact that I procrastinate often. Looking back at this course, I would agree and say that was my weakness throughout this course. This, along with bad time management resulted in some problems from time to time.
To improve this course for future grade 11 biology students, I would suggest lowering the work load a little bit because the enormous jump from grade 10 expectations to grade 11 expectations can catch many students off guard and result in lower marks for them. Maybe start off gradually, and then take the work load to what it normally should be in grade 11. Also, I would recommend making group-oriented assignments worth a little less than individual assignments because if a student ends up in a group with a partner(s) that are not as responsible, all the workload would fall onto their should and heavily impact their mark.
In the end, I believe that this has been a very fruitful course for me to take. I’ve gained plenty of invaluable information that will help me later on in life and according to my career choice of psychiatry. Grade 11 biology has had a profound impact on me not only by teaching me the course content, but by showing me the importance of time management and putting effort into all of my work (not just a few important assignments). I believe that by implementing the knowledge gained in this semester, I will be able to become successful when I take biology again in grade 12.
Sincerely,
Harsh Desai