BISC208-011 INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY
SPRING 2012

Index
Example of Excel t-test
Graded long reports

Class Activities
Groups - for assignments, see section below on Groups
Course Schedule
Attendance
Grading
Group Assignments

COURSE INFORMATION

Course Instructor	Linda K. Dion
Course  Time, Place	Lecture: Tu, Th 11:00 - 12:15; 208 Gore Hall Lab: Monday 6-9 pm
Office	241 Wolf Hall
Office Hours	Hours will be announced in class
E-mail	ldion@udel.edu - preferable for contacting me
Class web page	http://www.udel.edu/biology/dion/208011syllabus_2012.htm
Text	Brooker et al. Biology 2nd ed
Phone	831-2476

COURSE CONTENT

    The physiology of plants and animals, in addition to evolutionary and ecological concepts will be the topics of this course. Lecture is supplemented by labs which teach these topics.

COURSE METHODS

This section of Introductory Biology will combine lecturing with an active student-centered approach. During some class meetings, you will work with your group to analyze biologically relevant, real-life problems in light of what you have learned from lectures or you may work on other group activities such as practice quizzes or exercises.

CLASS ACTIVITIES
     Preparation:  You as students will work as individuals and as members of a group. At the beginning of each major topic,  you should always do the assigned reading before coming to listen to a lecture or to work on a group activity. It may be helpful for you to print out the Power Point notes, so you can more easily follow a lecture (more about that below).. Key Concepts and Practice Quizzes: for each topic, I will provide some key concepts with which you should be familiar. Use these as a guideline when reviewing your notes and the readings. They will be linked to the syllabus (Class Schedule) for the first day on which a topic will be covered. Each document may also list a practice quiz on the publisher's website which you can use for practice. This website is free, needs no passcode, and is accessible at http://www.mhhe.com//biosci/majorsbio/brookerbiology/ Click on 2nd edition.  Choose the appropriate chapter, then choose Post Test. I've omitted some questions from each quiz because the answer is wrong, ambiguous, or because we are not covering it in class.     If you wish to use the electronic version of the textbook you must access Connect Plus. This is part of the publisher’s platform, called Connect, which offers additional learning resources (Connect Plus is Connect with the e-book included). If you bought your 2nd ed. text new from the UD bookstore, an access code for Connect should be included (same one used in fall 2011). If you did not buy the text new, and wish to buy Connect Plus, you can purchase it from the bookstore or through McGraw-Hill. Either way, to use Connect, you must first log in to this "course" managed by the McGraw-Hill company. The log-in you should use is: http://connect.mcgraw-hill.com/class/l_dion_208section_11
     Quizzes & Exams:  There will be three quizzes given in class. These should be an incentive to review material already covered so that studying for major exams will be less overwhelming. Quizzes will consist of approximately 10-12 multiple choice questions.  In addition to quizzes, there will be three hourly exams and a final exam.  The format of the exams will be similar to that of the quizzes but will be a more extensive synthesis of the material.  See section below about attendance at exams and quizzes. All "hourly" exams and quizzes are given in the regular classroom during a regularly scheduled class. Exams are returned in a following class Grades are not posted, nor sent by email - you must get your exam in class to learn your grade. Anything that is done in class, or that's assigned for reading is fair game for exams. It's usually best to concentrate on what we do in class when you study for an exam. The final exam's date will be determined by the registrar's office and will be posted later in the semester. I have no control over the date scheduled for the final exam. Please do not make any travel arrangements until the exam date is known. There will be no exceptions made to taking the final exam on the assigned date. The final exam will be comprehensive - i.e. will cover all course material, with the exception of lab material.
     Lectures and Group Work:   Class time will be spent in Lectures and "Group Work". Two to three class meetings will usually be required to cover a topic. For two of them, I will lecture. For the second, part of the period will be used for some type of group activity. Such an activity could be analyzing a problem related to the week's topic, it could be a practice quiz, or it could be a requirement to illustrate something on the board. Information learned from GroupWork will be included on exams and quizzes. Group work and problems will not be linked to the class syllabus.
Accessing Power Point Notes, Key Concepts and other restricted files:  To access Power Point notes or other restricted files you will need to use a computer linked to the campus network. Using one from off-campus will not allow access, since these items are restricted to the UD community. However, if you live off-campus you can connect through a proxy server available only to UD students by using this active link:
https://proxy.nss.udel.edu/login?qurl=http://www.udel.edu/biology/dion/208011syllabus_2012.htm).  This should take you directly to the proxy server. You will get a dialog box in which you must log in; after logging in, you will get back to the syllabus on the proxy server, and should now have access to restricted files. To download the Power Point slides, you will need Power Point on your computer (if someone does not have this, speak to me). I will create PP files in Office 03 and Office 07. (If you don't have Office 07, you can download a free convertor program from Microsoft's website). Power Point notes can be accessed through the link in the "Class Schedule". Do NOT search Sakai for lecture notes for this course, although the laboratory portion of it MAY use Sakai - if so, your TA will announce it..

FORMATION AND FUNCTIONING OF GROUPS

     Heterogeneous groups of 6 people each will be formed by at least the 2nd - 3rd class period. I will determine who is in these groups, and they will remain intact for the entire semester, with the exception of changes due to students dropping or adding the course. A list of groups and their members will be linked here (accessible before class 2 or 3).  If you wish to see which group you are in, you can access the alphabetized list here.  Each group will have a folder with a sheet on which attendance should be recorded daily. One of the first group activities will be to formulate some "rules of the road", that is, a series of ground rules for conduct that each member agrees to abide by.  There will be a few suggestions provided for reasonable conduct. Your list of ground rules should be signed by everyone & kept in your folder.

COMMUNICATION

    I use email frequently to communicate with the class at-large, and with individuals. Often, announcements will be made by email. In addition, comments on exams or problems MIGHT be linked to the course web page, as well as the links to Power Point notes. In laboratory, data may be shared and transmitted through Sakai, which will be explained in lab (note: lab work is the only part of this course which may be on Sakai). Lab TA's will expect all lab reports to be typed double-spaced; TA's will tell you whether graphs can be hand-done or done in Excel. As you can see it will be necessary for you to frequently use a computer which has Excel, Word and Power Point. You will also need your campus email access, since this is the only way you would receive class emails from me.

CLASS SCHEDULE

EVOLUTION
Class	Date	Lecture Topic	Chapter	Lab Topic of Week (Monday night)
1	Tu 2/7	Introduction to course; Microevolution Hardy Weinberg problems; Key Concepts	23*, 24	No Lab
2 - sit in  groups	Th 2/9	Microevolution  Group Activity on an Endangered species	24, 25* to p. 520 (omit section 3 & 4)	-
3 -final group changes	Tu 2/14	Speciation  Key concepts	25*	Lab 1: Introduction; Evolution; Assignment #1 – due end of lab
4	Th 2/16	Systematics;  Key Concepts  Plant Diversity  Key Concepts	26,to p. 535; 29* (omit section 2)	-
-	-	PLANT BIOLOGY	-	-
5	Tu 2/21	Quiz 1 on Evolution & Systematics; Finish Diversity; Begin Plant  Structure Key Concepts	30 to p. 626;  35	Lab 2: Systematics; Quiz 1; Assignment #2 – due next week
6	Th 2/23	Plant Structure;  Begin Plant Nutrition Key Concepts	35, 37*	-

7	Tu 2/28	Transport	37*,  38	Lab 3:  Plants I:  Anatomy & Transport Lab 3: Quiz 2, Short Report #1 (due next week)
8	Th 3/1	Review for exam	32* and 34*	-
9	Tu 3/6	Exam 1 on Evolution and Plants		- Lab 4:  Plants II: Transpiration Project: Work Plan #1; Long Report #1 (due next week)
-	-	ANIMAL BIOLOGY	-	-
10	Th 3/8	Introduction to Animals Key concepts Circulation Key Concepts - Circulation	32*, 34* read Ch 40 for Intro to Animals - I will not lecture on it 47	-
11	Tu 3/13	Circulation;  begin Gas Exchange	47, 48	- Lab 5: Animals I: Invertebrates: Dissection and Pulsation Rate in Blackworm Assignment #3 (pre-lab – due at start of lab); Short Report #2 – (pulsation rate only – due next week)
12	Th 3/15	Gas Exchange Key concepts	48	-

13	Tu 3/20	Gas Exchange; begin Nervous Control Key Concepts	42*, 47	Lab 6:  Animals II: Blackworm Project - effect of drugs on pulsation rate; Work plan #2; Long Report #2 – due in 2 weeks (after spring break)
14	Th 3/22	Quiz 2; lecture or activity on Nervous Control	41	-
-	-	SPRING BREAK	-	-
15	Tu 4/3	Muscles	41	-Lab 7:  Animals III: Touch and Temperature Senses; Quiz 3, Assignment #4 – due next week; no short report due from this lab
16	Th 4/5	Muscles  Key Concepts	48	-
17	Tu 4/10	Thermoregulation;  Key Concepts; Review for exam	-	-Lab 8:  Animals IV: Respiration; Quiz #4; Short Report #3 – due next week
18	Th 4/12	Exam 2 (on material since Exam 1)	-	-
19	Tu 4/17	Digestion Key Concepts	45	-Lab 9: Animals V: Chordate Dissection; Assignment #5 – Statistics – due end of lab
	Wed 4/18 5:00 pm	Dr. John Gearhart, U of PA  - Arnold Clarke Lectureship - "Instructing our Cells to Rebuild our Bodies"	-	-
20	Th 4/19	Digestion and  Introduction to Osmoregulation	49, sec 1-4	-
21	Tu 4/24	Osmoregulation; Introduction to Ecology; Key Concepts	49	-Lab 10: Ecology; Quiz #5; Assignment #6 (Isle Royale) – due end of lab; Short Report #4 (Pegboard only) – due next week as directed by your TA
-	-	ECOLOGY
22	Th 4/26	Quiz 3;  Population Ecology Key Concepts	56	-
23	Tu 5/1	group activity on Populations; begin Communities	56	-Week 11: Review; no formal lab; Ecology report due
24	Th 5/3	Community Ecology Key concepts;  Ecosystems	57, 58*	-
25	Tu 5/8	Ecosystems & Biomes  Key concepts	58*, 59*, 54*	-Lab 11 (week 12): Final Lab Exam
26	Th 5/10	Exam 3 (on material since exam 2)		-
27	Tu 5/15	Return exams; review for final; Peer evaluations	-	-No lab this week
-	-	FINAL EXAM - date to be announced later	-	-

*For reference only. .  Refer to class notes to decide what to read for these topics
Syllabus & lab schedule are subject to change. Quiz & Exam dates will not change unless weather causes class cancellation or unless something else happens which is beyond my control.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

     Attendance in lecture is EXPECTED and will be recorded daily on your group's folder, using the Honor System. Attendance will count toward your course grade. I will be periodically checking the attendance sheets on folders, so please check off your attendance when folders are distributed. Announcements will be made, or activities started, at the beginning of class, so promptness is important. If someone misses a lecture, notes must be obtained from another student, or Power Point notes can be consulted. However, I supplement the Power point notes in my lectures, so you will learn best by coming to lecture.  If you miss an exam or quiz, credit will not be received.
     Exceptions are the following:
          1. documented illness
          2. documented personal tragedy
          3. documented official University business

     If you miss a quiz for one of the above reasons, then a make-up quiz will be given. This make-up must be given before the next class meets. If you miss an exam for one of the above reasons, the portion of the final exam which contains this material will substitute for that exam grade. This substitution can only be done once during the semester and only for an excusable reason. Students who miss a quiz or exam for an excusable reason must inform me before or on the day of the exam (no later than two hours after the class has met) through phone or e-mail; otherwise, absence will be considered unexcused and a zero will be given. An exception will be made for someone who is hospitalized - in that case, i expect to be notified by the end of the day by a parent of Dean. Later explanations will not be accepted.

     Attendance in laboratory is MANDATORY. We place high importance on the laboratory experience. Therefore unexcused laboratory absences will result in a grade reduction for lab, or possibly for the whole B208 course. One or two unexcused absences will result in NO credit for work done that week (quizzes, assignments) and three unexcused absences will result in a failure of BISC208. Excused absences fall into the categories listed above and must be made up by attending a lab at another time during the same week. Responsibility for arranging this lies with the student after FIRST checking with me to explain the reason for missing the lab, and also writing to your TA. Once I've accepted your explanation, you must then (perhaps with help of your TA) arrange to take a lab later in the week. Make up during a later week cannot be accommodated, since labs are stripped of their equipment on Thursday evening and set up for the following week's labs on Friday. If you miss lab for an excusable reason, you must inform both me and your TA within two hours of the missed lab. As in BISC 207, students who have 3 excused absences and are unable (due to excusable extenuating circumstances) to make up those missed labs during the course receive an automatic incomplete in the course. Missed labs and the final lab exam must be made up in the following semester. Additional laboratory policies will be explained in lab by your laboratory instructor, and they should also be read in your lab manual. Your Lab Instructor may give grade deductions for tardiness of lab reports, or late lab arrival, so please do things promptly to ensure your best chance of success in lab. If you arrive late to lab on a quiz day, you might not be allowed to take the quiz.

GRADING

     The final grade is a reflection of effort both in the classroom and in the laboratory. Lecture will constitute 75% of the final grade, lab 25%. Your laboratory grade will be explained during the first meeting of lab & is also in your lab manual. It will be roughly based on the following criteria, which are also found in your lab manual.

Graded Item	Percent of Final Grade
Lab Final Exam	10
2 Long reports	5
4 Short reports	5
5 Quizzes	2.5
2 Work Plans	0.5
6 Assignments	2
Total	25%

    Your grade in lecture will be based on these criteria: Quizzes, Hourly Exams, Final Exam, Attendance, and Participation in Group work (which is determined by a Peer and Instructor Evaluation Score)

     A more detailed breakdown of the components of the lecture grade is shown below:

Lecture Grade (75% of course grade)
Component	% of Course Grade
3 Quizzes @ 4% each	12%
3 Hourly Exams @15% each	45%
Final Exam	13%
Attendance and Participation*	5%

*determined by Peer Evaluation Score

The final grade will be determined from the following approximate range which is shown below. HOWEVER,  this range is NOT set in stone. Assignment of the final course grade can be influenced by something such as final overall class average. Additionally, assignment of final course grade to each student will be considered on an individual basis and COULD be influenced by my consideration of circumstances which include (but are not limited to) the following:  laboratory grading by TA is significantly different (more or less rigorous) than that of other TA's (in which case, laboratory grades may be "normalized" among sections). Adjustments to grading, if made, will be done fairly for all students.
A plus or minus MAY be assigned for upper and lowermost grades in each range. For example, 78 and 79 may be a C plus, while 70 and 71 may be a C minus.

A	90 - 100
B	80-89
C	70-79
D	60-69
F	below 60

PEER EVALUATION SCORE
        When problems are discussed by groups in class or practice quizzes are done,  the expectation is that everyone makes equal contributions and expends equal effort. However, in reality, that may not be true - some may work much harder than others. To acknowledge differences in effort among group members, you will have a chance to evaluate one another with respect to attitude, participation and contributions by doing peer evaluations. These will be done at the end of the term, in a quantitative way; i.e. an average "score" for each group member will be determined. These will then be used to advise me in determining what participation grade to assign to a student.
        Evaluation scores will be given by assigning 0-5 points to fellow group members. A score of 5 indicates that a person is a fully functional group member (comes to class on time, comes prepared to work, contributes to group, listens to other peers and is respectful of their opinion) - in other words, he/she merits 100% for group effort. Usually students receive between 3-5 points for their peer score.  If a group is not functioning well because of one or more weak members, this should be brought to my attention as early as possible so that the situation can be corrected, and low evaluation scores can be avoided. I reserve the right to modify peer evaluation scores if I think someone has been unfairly evaluated by group members. Note: you will not receive a participation score unless you evaluate members of your group. The date of peer evaluations will be announced ahead of time (most likely the last class day). You are responsible for coming to class that day to do peer evaluations. To determine your attendance & participation score (out of 5%), your attendance and participation score will be multiplied together. For example, if you received a peer evaluation score of 5 (or 100%), but attended only half of the classes, you would receive no higher than 2.5% for this part of your course grade. If you attended every class, but received a peer evaluation score of 4 (80%), you would receive no higher than 4% for this part of your course grade.

As you see, regular attendance and participation in class can contribute 5% to your overall course grade; thus it’s important to stay engaged in class.

NOTE ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

     For lab and lecture, be familiar with the university policy on Academic Dishonesty. All work submitted for grading in lab and lecture, must be the original work of each individual. Although you will work as a group in lab, lab reports are to be written individually. This means that graphs or tables should also be done individually.

The most common problems of academic dishonesty among freshmen students are plagiarism and cheating (both usually done unintentionally because of misunderstanding of what constitutes these infractions). Therefore, based on the Student Guide to University Policies (http://www.udel.edu/stuguide/11-12/code.html#honesty ), here are definitions of each. These definitions are not necessarily all-inclusive.   

Plagiarism is the inclusion of someone else’s words, ideas, or data as one’s own. When a student submits academic work that includes another’s words, ideas, or data, whether published or unpublished, the source of that information must be acknowledged with complete and accurate references and, if verbatim statements are included, with quotation marks as well. By submitting work as his or her own, a student certifies the originality of all material not otherwise acknowledged. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

1. The quotation or other use of another person’s words, ideas, opinions, thoughts, summaries, or theories (even if paraphrased into one’s own words) without acknowledgment of the source; or
2. The quotation or other use of facts, statistics, or other data or materials that are not clearly common knowledge without acknowledgment of the source.

Cheating is an act or an attempted act of deception by which a student seeks to misrepresent that he or she has mastered information that has not been mastered. Cheating includes, but is not limited to:

1. Copying of all or any portion of another’s academic work and submitting it, in part or in its entirety, as one’s own;
2. Allowing another person to copy one’s own academic work—whether intentionally or recklessly;
3. The unauthorized collaboration with any other person on an academic exercise, including collaboration on a take-home or make-up academic exercise, or on the writing of a laboratory report, where instructions have stated that reports must be individually written;
4. The unauthorized use of electronic instruments, such as cell phones, pagers, or PDAs, to access or share information; or
5. The unauthorized completion for another person of an academic work, or permitting someone else to complete an academic work for oneself.

If academic dishonesty is discovered or even suspected, the case will be referred to the Office of Judicial Affairs. This applies to work in both lecture and laboratory. If a student is found guilty, penalties will ensue. These could include a zero for the work, or worse, a zero for the course. Clearly, you as a student are best served by doing your own work. If you have any questions about the right to collaborate, please ask your lab TA or course instructor. Their decisions are binding.

DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES

This is a center which provides services to students with either physical or learning disabilities. I am not qualified to assess whether or not a student has such a disability, and therefore will not make accommodations for testing without instructions from this office. If you think you need help or should be evaluated, contact http://www.udel.edu/DSS/.  If I learn of any group tutoring for BISC 208, I will inform the class.