Connections to Past Knowledge - Part III - The 3 Themes That Bind

There were actually more than three. However, the "ties that bind", at least to me, are these:

• Amino Acids
• Nucleic Acids
• Metabolism

In terms of how they connect to more than one topic, it's actually more than that. Everything interconnects. Understanding how proteins form amino acids, which lead to the formation of nucleic acids - that are based on sugars - and how we are put together genetically, which further lead to how we utilize sugars to live, are what it has been all about.

In Biology 413 we were introduced to amino acids as well as the processes of transcription and translation. Exploring these themes further in this course was instrumental in understanding how we are formed, and much of what we learned is similar to learning a new language. In many ways, understanding how amino acids are used to form nucleic acids can be thought of as learning "the language of life."

Much of what I knew before I came was what I have learned through the training I received up through Paramedic school. I was certainly familiar with the TCA cycle, but not to the degree I learned it in this class. One thing that occurred to me is that knowing how we metabolize the glucose we utilize is important in understanding how Diabetes affects that cycle.

The way the concepts were taught in this class were almost linear. Buy they really weren't; they all came together. At least in my mind they did.

Overall, it occurs to me that the grade earned isn't as important as the understanding that the information we acquired in this class as well as the concepts we learned about. I will try to keep that in mind in the future.