Reflection worksheet

Reflecting on your signature assignment specifically and this course in general, address six of the
following prompts with at least one prompt from each category. Your responses should be
thoughtful and demonstrate deep reflection thinking about your thinking.
Summative Reflection
1. What was your biggest accomplishment in the course? How did the signature assignment and
other course elements help you reach it? Be specific.
I think that this course has expanded my mind and the way I approach things. I have a
greater understanding of where we as humans come from. I like knowing where and how
people, plants, animals and made and how we relate to each other. It blew my mind when
I found out the genes in primates and humans are 98% the same. I have always believed
in evolution and now I feel that I can explain why/how better. When writing my paper on
biomedical research on primates I had a stronger argument and belief knowing where we
as humans came from. I think just having a broader idea of evolution helped me write my
paper and create my argument.

Process Reflection
1. What problems did you encounter in completing the signature assignment? How did you
troubleshoot them, if you did?
I just had a hard time putting my thoughts into words. I felt like I know what I wanted to
say but I didnt know how to get the thoughts out or how to explain my reasoning.
Reading the articles helped me figure out how to say what I wanted to, I learned from the
way that they wrote and it helped me phrase my paper better. The articles and papers I
read also helped me understand the other side of the argument and as a result I was able
to more effectively argue my side.
2. Outline the steps you took to complete the signature assignment, and tell me about your
thinking at each step.
I had narrowed it down to two different topics and I read two articles on each and than
decided. After I picked my topic I found more articles and kept reading. When I felt like I
had a basic understanding I went back and highlighted points and phrases in the papers.
After that I sat down and started to write. My writing process is very simple. I pretty
much sit down and pound out the entire paper. Then I walk away for a while and come
back and go through paragraph-by-paragraph and edit/change things. Then I walk away
again and repeat that until I have a product that I am satisfied with.
Evaluative Reflection
1. Discuss your best work for the course and explain why its your best. Be specific.

I think that the best thing I have to show for this class is the improved way that I study. I
think this class has really helped me hone in on my studying skills. I always make sure to
look through the chapter and type out the vocabulary words and course objectives. I try to
have the reading and course objective classes before I go to class. I take notes on the
lecture and then I read all my notes (organize) and study them. It has really helped me
grasp the concepts and put everything together in a way that makes sense to me. I feel
like I have perfected my study structure.
Reflection on Learning
1. Make connections between what you studied in this course with what youve learned in other
courses at SLCC or before. Make specific references to your work in this class and in the
other courses. How did what you learn in the other courses enhance what you learned in here,
and vice versa?
I think that this course and the humanities class I took last semester have gone hand in
hand. In anthropology we study life and where it comes from and what makes up people,
plants, and animals. In humanities we studied different cultures and different regions of
the world. It helped me better understand when we talked about foot binding, head
binding, and the rings around the neck. It also was helpful when talking about the
difference in bones (shovel shaped incisors) and those types of things all made a little
more sense because I had the background knowledge from my humanities course.
2. Reflect on how you thought about (course topic) before you took this course and how you
think about it now that the course is over. Have any of your assumptions or understandings
changed? Why? What assignments/activities/readings were influential in this process? How
will you approach (course topic) differently in the future?
Before I started this Human Origins I was so excited to be taking an anthropology class.
For a long time I wanted a degree in anthropology the subject as a whole just fascinates
me. I had also decided that you couldnt do much with a degree in anthropology and I
decided to pursue a path in elementary education. However when class actually started
and in the first chapter we talked about the subfields of anthropology and how they can
be applied to everyday life. It is a lot more useful than I originally thought. I still think
its interesting and I particularly enjoy the reading about the extinction of the dinosaurs,
Gang green, bad breath, and Gods angels, Finding Lucy, and How the Hobbit Shurgged.
I also have to say that I dont think there has been a class activity that I didnt enjoy. I
love that after we do the class activities I understand the whole concept/chapter a million
times better and everything clicks for me. I think what I have learned the most from are
the activities where we get to look at bones and figure out male, female, weather they are
hominoid or not, and bipedal, or not. I find those activities so interesting. That is
something I didnt know anything about, I enjoy studying the fossils and what they can
tell us about early life.