If you’re heading toward picking subjects (senior or otherwise) it can be difficult to get unbiased advice from people around you. Teachers want students in their classes, peers who already study it often love or hate it, and those who have never studied it, don’t have enough knowledge to offer decent advice. We’ve decided to start a new article series to fill the gap, talking about what to expect in the subject, some pathways they can lead you on, challenges that might arise and important skills learning will offer you.
In this article, we’ll be discussing the subject I hope everyone colour codes as green: Biology!
Biology is the study of life; from the smallest cell to the largest and most complex ecosystem. The word biology is the combination of two Greek words, bios, meaning ‘life’, and logia meaning ‘the study of.’ When you move from studying science in the younger grades, you move from memorising facts and data and into understanding the complex links between all living systems.
What you actually study will depend on the state system you are a part of, but it’s likely you’ll cover things like; genetics, evolution, human body systems, biodiversity and environmental change. Like all sciences, there will be an important focus on scientific thinking; asking questions, running experiments, and learning how to interpret and report on data.
One excellent argument for studying biology, is how tangible and important the knowledge you learn is to work done in career pathways. Genetics help to explain inherited conditions and modern medical advances like gene therapy. Ecology helps us make sense of things like climate change, conservation, and protecting endangered species. If you turn on the news, something discussed will have links to biology, every time.
If you choose to pursue STEM after school, biology can lead you into fields like medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, veterinary science, environmental science, marine biology, and biotechnology. In fact, any health pathway (including psychology) benefits from the study of biology, which includes study of the human brain and body!
For a subject so dependent on fact and data, it can seem like biology would be hard skill focused entirely. However, important soft skills like analysing data, thinking critically, communicating scientific ideas, and working collaboratively with your peers are all built into every biology curriculum. Biology is also a very detail-focused subject, so you learn patience and accuracy each lesson.
Now it’s not all blooming Petri dishes and colourful diagrams – biology has its challenges. For one, it can quickly become very content heavy. There is a lot to learn, and it can feel like a constant mix of diagrams, definitions, and processes to recall and remember. Sometimes when students first begin, they report finding the level of detail tricky to get their heads around. This is a subject where keeping up with your revision (re. doing a bit every day) will be really important.
Overall though, if you’re curious about how the living body works, and you don’t mind a bit of content load, Bio could be the choice for you! It certainly doesn’t hurt that you’ll probably watch at least one David Attenborough documentary during class time.
Happy studying scientists!
