Question: Do you think that the school curriculum needs to be altered (in regards to Biology), so that it can focus on particular branches of the subject (such as genetic research), or do you think that it is fine as it is?

Claire Shooter answered on 16 Jun 2014:

I think it’s really important to learn a little bit of everything first, and focus on things you find interesting later. In biology everything is so related to everything else that you can’t really understand one thing, like genetics, if you don’t look at it from the context of everything else.

If I wanted to study one gene in terms of what it does and where it came from, I would need to think about:

-what type of protein the gene makes (that’s biochemistry)
-how it interacts with other proteins (that’s more biochemistry)
-which cells of the body make this protein (that’s cell biology)
-how it affects whatever species I’m studying it in; what happens when it’s mutated (physiology/medicine), if it provides a selective advantage because it makes the animal fitter or more attractive to mates (behavioural psychology, evolutionary biology)
-where it came from in the first place (that’s more evolutionary biology and population genetics)

If I didn’t know a few things about all these areas of biology, what would I know about my gene at all? I think it’s very important to have a basic understanding of a lot of things. Also, studying lots of things helps you work out which bits you like most. Then, you can focus on what you’re most interested in, while continuing to expand your knowledge of the other areas that relate closely to it.