Where have I seen this before?

From Biology 101

From Discovering Environmental Science

                Due to Columbus Day weekend and my spaced-out class schedule, by the end of Wednesday, I had only taken one class to reflect on. That’s biology. We had our second lecture run by Dr. Swenton about molecular biology. A lot of the material seemed vaguely familiar. I’ve taken biology before in my sophomore year of high school, but that actually wasn’t where the familiarity came from.
                After class, I went back to my dorm to work on an environmental science assignment. I opened my textbook and there was a diagram very similar to the one I saw in biology lecture. Environmental science is comprised of several different sciences – really, any science you want. It involves biology, chemistry, physics… The list goes on and on. The diagrams that looked similar, however, were actually from the chemistry review section of my environmental science book.
                It was interesting looking at the similar diagram from different class perspectives. In biology, we’re approaching this as more of an introduction to the structure of amino acids – which are parts of proteins. In the chemistry portion of environmental science, we are looking more closely at the charges and types of bonds involved between atoms.

                If you take a look at the two diagrams, you’ll see they are similar in appearance. However, the one on the bottom is two isomers of DDT. The scientific name for DDT is dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane – try saying that five times fast. You can imagine all the ways to study DDT in the environment – how it affects animals, water, etc. The diagram for biology, on the other hand, is a diagram of estradiol – better known as estrogen, the female hormone. That particular diagram was used to show us the structural differences between estrogen and testosterone, the male hormone.

                The two classes are starting to enhance each other because they are not on the same topic, but they work with similar concepts. Learning the same concept in two different ways allows a more diversified understanding of the material because I can understand structures from a biological and chemical perspective and think about how those slight alterations can affect the environment.

                Yes, it makes sense that science courses would be related, but just how related they are surprised me. Previous to this unit, biology focused on evolutionary history and environmental science worked with thermodynamics. How could these two things be more different? This concept won’t extend to all classes, but I like seeing how they can relate. What kinds of calculus could be related in management? Perhaps a financial application… Who knows until you get there?