Samonte, Elishae Dana

2B6

Microbiology (Lecture) Reflection Paper

For starters, when I first heard of Microbiology being one of the courses that I had to take up for
my second semester, I got actually really excited. This is because my brother who also took the same
major, has been telling me a lot of things about this class. One in particular of course is that we were
going to learn the different types of bacteria and the possible diseases that they cause. I am a big fan
when it comes to understanding diseases- where they come from, how they develop and with how they
work. These have all fascinated me since I was in high school because of this game application I used to
play wherein you grow different types of bacteria and help it develop it's pathogenicity. And when the
classes started, it did not fail my expectations. Microbiology actually plays a big role in my future career
as a doctor. Because in this class, it helped and made me understand certain types of bacteria and gave
me knowledge about the prevention of spreading of pathogens and other microorganisms, that could
potentially harm a patient. One specific lesson that I liked the most was from the chapter of microbial
growth, the mathematics of growth. We were also taught how to compute for the measurement of the
growth rate and generation time of the given bacteria. It intrigued me how this was done and that it was
possible to compute for.

And one lesson that was challenging and puzzled me the most was from the chapter of
catabolism. We were taught the 3 major pathways for the breakdown of glucose to pyruvate. This was
challenging for me, because of the steps and the somehow complicated ways of it. The steps would
sometimes get rumbled in my mind, sometimes even forgetting one part, which is crucial and affects
everything else if forgotten. But these were all explained. Also, what made this class more exciting to
study for is that the professor conducted different activities that made each student engaged with the
lesson. The professor was also very clear in explaining the topics, it also helped that the professor was
enthusiastic with teaching, which affected us, the students, with how to approach the subject. All in all,
Microbiology has impacted my life and my way of thinking. I now actually take the time to read articles
that contain topics about bacteria, and when I read these, I correlate it with the lessons that I've learned
from this subject. It has also impacted me in a way that I start being more cautious of my surroundings.
This course has made me realized that bacteria is found everywhere and that we are all susceptible from
it.