In reflecting on these courses, explain two examples of how you’ve been able to better

understand the value of interdisciplinary thinking.

One of the inquiry courses I took above the 200 level was ENS 310: Soils. This class was

focused on the soil ecosystem, how soil makes our world possible, and problems soils experience

that may seem small, but have a very large impact. Although this class is required in my major it

taught me many new skills because it was the first research project I did in an environmental

science class. A fundamental part of this class was conducting a class research project on the

different soils on Heidelberg’s campus. This research process taught me how to analyze data

about a topic that I had never explored before like soil pore size and different chemicals that soil

is composed of. It also helped me see different correlations between variables such as that

phosphorous is correlated to soil organic matter. By taking a course outside of the environmental

science classes I learned how to research a topic I had never learned about before and learn about

interesting correlations that could help me in my future career field. The professor of this course

also assigned a lot of scientific readings because they believe it is important to read what

professionals are researching in the field to base our research on. I think that this is very

important because it taught me how to read and annotate scientific literature, which I had never

done before. Although this course was required for my major, it taught me a lot of valuable skills

that I will need in the future. It also taught me about a topic that I had never learned about before

which in turn opened my eyes to a lot of research being done in the environmental science field

that I had never heard about before.