Syllabus spring free essay sample

I promise you an excellent adventure. It has often been said that living things, including humans, cannot be well- understood without looking at the evolutionary forces that have shaped them. Biological science and medicine are becoming increasingly more evolutionary as our exponentially-growing knowledge base at all levels from DNA to the process of biological inheritance; from the biology and genetics of populations and species to the evolutionary processes that shape them; from cells to multicultural beings, and from individuals to the planetary biosphere reveals more and more clearly how living systems work. Inning lecture presentations, laboratory exercises, field experiences, and on- line interactive assignments, BIO 1 1 30 will acquaint you with the evolutionary processes that result(deed) in Earths enormous diversity of living organisms, and the complex behavioral and ecological interactions that occur within and among species. Our mission is not merely to build an information base that will serve you well in higher-level biology classes; we intend to cultivate an evolutionary way of thinking about and understanding living things. About your instructor: teach full-time at Prince Georges Community College, and have had long art-time faculty affiliations with the Catholic University of America (1988-2000) and the University of Maryland (1 990, 1995, and 2001 -present), teaching this and other courses. My main teaching focus is ecology and animal behavior, not only in classroom settings but also in field-oriented travel-study courses in such locations as Florida, the Rocky Mountains and Africa. Will work as hard for you, and will work you as hard, as at the universities that have relied on me to train their students.Contact information: My office: Chesapeake Hall, room 210-B My email: [emailprotected] Deed MY office phone / vocalism: 301. 341. 3022 Biology Department office phone: 301. 322. 0420 Office hours for Spring 2013: Mondays Wednesdays: 12:30- 1 130 Tuesdays Thursdays: 11:30- l:o No appointments are necessary during the above times. Other meeting times may be available with an advance appointment. About the coo rise: BIO 1 130 is a 4-credit class consisting of three hours Of lecture per week and three hours of laboratory per week.This course is equivalent to BASIC 106 at the University of Maryland College Park, and is accepted by the University in transfer with a grade of C or better. Lecture is on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 to 1 5 in Chesapeake Hall, room 101. The lab for section LIDO meets on Mondays from 8:00 to 10:50 in Chesapeake Hall, room 207; the lab for section OLDS meet on Mondays from 8:00 to 1 0:50 in Chesapeake Hall, room 207. Attendance will be taken in lecture. Being present and on time constitutes one measure of your academic seriousness, and can impact your final grade. See page 6 of this syllabus (How possibly to gain or lose points).Laboratory attendance is mandatory. If you miss a lab for a legitimate reason (such as illness, religious observance, family emergency, etc. ) you must obtain the instructors permission in advance so you can get specific instructions guarding when and how to make up the missed activity, if it is possible to do so at all. Failure to notify the lab instructor in advance may deny you the opportunity to make up the lab activity. This will likely impair your ability to prepare for the following weeks lab quiz. Missing three or more labs will result in an automatic F for the course.Lectures and labs always contain material for which you are responsible. At the end of the semester, you will be given one overall grade based on your performance in both. Specific details regarding how your grade is calculated are given on pages 3-6 of this syllabus. A note inspired by the U. S. Department of Deed auction: For Federal purposes (including general standardization and the ever- important issue of qualifying for federal funding) a college credit hour is defined as a situation where one hour of credit instruction requires the average student to do two hours of work outside of class.Please know that success in this course will require no less. Required textbooks: Biological Science (fourth edition, 2011) by Scott Freeman ISBN: 978-0-32-1 59820-2 Biology 1 1 30: A Lab Book by Peter Banyan (2010-2011 edition) You will need the current edition of the textbook. Older editions are not properly keyed to the online Mastering Biology activities (see below) that comprise 100 points of your course grade. You are required to have a new (! ) lab book. This is not negotiable. Your grade: Your overall grade for BIO 1130 will be based on a total of 900 points.As detailed on the next few pages, 450 of these points come from lecture exams, 300 points come from lab, and 150 points come from the online Mastering Biology homework assignments. The number of points needed for a particular grade is as follows: A = 810 or above 720 80%) to 809 c = 630 70%) to 719 D = 60%) to 629 F = below 540 below 60%). Final grades are not curved, though the borderlines may be adjusted by the instructor. Such adjustments, if made, will work in favor of (never against) a student.Where your grade comes from: Lecture exams 450 points Four lecture exams will be given, including the final exam: Exam #1 (Wednesday February 27) = 100 points Exam #2 (Monday April 8) = 100 points Exam #3 (Monday May 6) 100 points Final exam (Wednesday May 8) = 150 points These lecture exams are given in the classroom. The first three lecture exams will specifically cover information presented as lecture (not lab) material. The final exam is cumulative, and includes laboratory material. Lecture exams are comprised largely of objective essay-type questions both short ones and long ones.The object is for you to explain things in your own words, at the level of detail and sophistication that holds sway in lecture. To maximize your chances of successful mastery of exam material, make sure you have a complete set of lecture notes. Any and all broad concepts and specific facts presented in lecture, including material not covered by the textbook, may appear on an exam. TO ensure that your class notes are impressive, you should consider comparing and pooling your notes with those of other students. Also consider forming a study group where you and your classmates can meet regularly and review the course material. You are welcome to record class sessions. Regarding the textbook and the exams Use the textbook in two different ways: Read all assigned readings (see the listings beginning on page 9 of this syllabus) in advance Of the lecture they relate to. This will provide you with important background and context including necessary technical vocabulary for each lecture. Be aware that each classroom presentation will assume hat you have already covered these readings.As you prepare for each lecture exam, use the assigned readings in a narrower way: to reinforce and complement the material presented in lecture. Unless have notified you otherwise, in cases where the textbook covers extra material compared to lecture, you will not be held responsible on the exams for the extra details. Where your grade comes from, continued: 2: Laboratory 300 points A. Lab quizzes (200 points): There will be weekly lab quizzes, given at the beginning of each lab period. Each quiz is worth 20 points.Each weeks lab quiz will cover two different hints: information and/or assignments from the previous weeks lab, including the assigned textbook readings pertaining to that lab (see the lab schedule on the last page of this syllabus) information given in the introduction section of the current weeks lab. (Note: Every week you should refer to the lab schedule on pages 1 2-13 of this syllabus; the labs from week to week are not given in the order they are contained in the lab book. ) The first lab quiz, which covers Lab One, is given in lab the following week. There will be no quiz on Lab Eleven (the do-it-yourself field trip to theSmithsonian); rather, you will hand in the completed exercise from the lab book. This will count as a 30-point assignment per item D below (due the Monday following Spring Break April 1). There will be no fewer than ten 20-point lab quizzes. There may be eleven or more; if so, only your best ten quiz scores will count. Makeup quizzes are not given for lab; a missed quiz will count as a zero. B. The formal lab report (50 points): By the last week of class you will submit a formal lab report on the selection experiment (Lab Two) which begins in February and continues through April.As you run the experiment you will receive detailed written and oral guidance on preparing this report. C: The Backyard Ecology project (20 points) Lab Five requires you to engage in a restoration ecology project. We will begin planning this during the second week of lab. You will earn 20 lab points when you document this at the end of the semester. D: The Smithsonian field trip (30 points) Lab Eleven requires you to visit the Smithsonian Museums exhibit on the fossil history of life. You will complete this assignment on your own, and hand it in on April 1 (the Monday following Spring Break).Where your grade comes from, continued: 3: Mastering Biology: 150 points of homework assignments Pearson (the publisher of our textbook) has developed an interactive set of activities Mastering Biology designed to help students master the course content. The program provides numerous effective aids to learning, and asks questions. The assigned questions are chosen to focus your efforts on the most crucial (for our purposes) material in each chapter. On Wednesday Jan aura 23 you will be given detailed instructions as to registering for Mastering Biology. Your first Mastering Biology assignment will be due Sunday January 27.Every future assignment is due on a Sunday night. More about where your grade comes from: How possibly to gain or lose points A. Gaining class participation points: Being actively engaged in the classroom can earn you up to 20 points. To earn any such points, you must regularly be present and on time, and must interact (questions, comments etc. ) often enough and productively enough that its obvious that you are an active, rather than passive, participant in the learning process. If you earn these points, they will be added onto your final overall point total. B. Losing points over your pattern of attendance:Occasional episodes of unexcused absence or lateness happen to everyone. As long as the occasions are rare, you wont lose points. On the other hand, a pattern of absence or lateness will result in the deduction of points from your overall grade. If your pattern is noticeably worse than that of the average successful student, you can lose as many as 20 points from your overall total. C. Losing penalty points in lab: 1 . You can lose points in lab for failure to follow clearly-given lab instructions. You will not lose any points for a first offense, though an oral warning will be given.Subsequent incidents will cost you points: points for the second incident 5 points for the third incident 10 points for each subsequent incident 2. You can lose points in lab for failing to clean up. Each member of a guilty group will lose one point for each minute your instructor spends cleaning up after your group. Various official policies: 1. Makeup exam policy: Makeups for exams that you miss are not given except for unusual and serious circumstances, such as verified illness, religious observance, extraordinary family emergencies, etc.It is your responsibility to contact Professor Banyan by email or phone (see page 2 of this syllabus) within 24 ours of missing an exam, or else you may not be permitted to schedule a makeup. No makeup are given for lab quizzes. 2. Accommodations for students with disabilities: APPC is committed to providing appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities. Students requesting academic accommodations must first establish eligibility by contacting the Disability Support Services Office (DES) ? phone 301. 322. 0122 or email [emailprotected] Du or visit Bladed 1 24 to establish eligibility. A student with a disability documented by DES should discuss the situation privately with professor banyan as soon as possible and provide a pop of the Student/Faculty Accommodation Form so that we then can proceed to address any special needs. 3. Code of Conduct: Know what is required of you. You are legally required to comply with all APPC policies and regulations, as presented in the APPC Student Handbook. A print copy is available for free from the Office of College Life Services, in the Largo Student Center.You can also find the Student Handbook on PCs website; go to Myopic and use the College Life drowns menu to find it. The Code is given in Chapter 5 of the handbook. 4. Academic dishonesty: Know what is required of you. Our highest value is academic integrity. We assert the following: The college is an academic community dedicated to learning, and can only function properly if all of its members share an expectation and commitment to academic integrity. Academic dishonesty is a corrosive force in the life off college, and acquiescence or apathy in the presence of academic dishonesty is not a neutral act.Academic dishonesty jeopardizes the quality of each students education, and depreciates the genuine achievements and accomplishments of others. PCs Code of Academic Integrity upholds the values of honesty and integrity, holding to the basic principle of honest representation in students work. You are legally required to comply with the College Code of Academic Integrity, the specifics of which are given on pages 39-42 of the Student Handbook. (You can find the Student Handbook on Pecs website; go to Myopic and use the College Life drowns menu. Simply put, we do not tolerate any form of cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, or facilitating of academic dishonesty. In this course, a grade of zero will be assigned to any exam or other work wherein any such academic dishonesty is involved. The instructor may also sign a grade of F* for the course. (F* on a transcript represents a failing grade given for reason of violating the Code of Academic Integrity. ) More than one instance of academic dishonesty will inescapably result in a grade of F* for the course. Remember: While we encourage group work and dialog, all individual assignments are to be the works of individuals!Individual assignments which are found to be very similar in wording and structure will be considered as possible instances of plagiarism and/or facilitation. (All assignments are individual assignments unless your instructor explicitly specifies any of them o be a group assignment. ) Any student charged with violating the Code has the right to appeal. Such appeals are handled by the department chair and/or the dean, and also the Vice President for Student Services. Appeal procedures and deadlines are specified in the Student Handbook. 5. No cell phones (etc. In class: Out of respect for the rest of the class, please make sure that all cell phones, beepers etc. Are turned off, or are in vibration mode, before class begins. 6. Electronic devices during exams: During exams, no electronic devices are permitted, with the exception of numeric-only calculators. No devices with headphones/airbeds are permitted. Spring 2013 lecture schedule (approximate) and reading assignments (definite) Unit one: the fundamental interconnectedness of everything Week 1: 1/23 Introduction. Unifying themes in biology. The cell theory; natural selection. The brick house analogy.To cover this and to be ready for next Monday, read Chapter 1. The material on natural selection, and on the scientific method, is especially important; it will carry forward throughout the course. To prepare for next weeks topics, read Chapter 50; also read the Introduction section of Lab Five. Week 2: 1/28 and 1/30 An introduction to the biology of living organisms (Chapter 50). Introduction to biomass; biotic and biotic factors and how they affect the distribution and abundance of organisms. For next week, read Chapter 51 and 52. Week 3: 2/4 and 2/6 Behavioral biology (Chapter 51 Population growth patterns and dynamics (Chapter 52).For next week, read Chapter 53. Week 4: 2/11 and 2/13 Community ecology: competition; consumption; naturalism; community structure; disturbance ecology (Chapter 53) For next week, read Chapter 54, and review Lab Four. Week 5: Wednesday 2/20 Monday 241 8: Presidents Day: no classes /20: Ecosystem ecology: energy flow; food chain dynamics (Chapter 54). Week 6: Monday 2/25 = finishing the material through Chapter 54. Exam #1 is on Wednesday February 27 Unit two: evolution and genetics Week 7: 3/4 and 3/6 Genetic variation: its significance and sources.