Course and Instructor Information

Instructor:    Dr. Florence Schmieg                                        Office:    242 Wolf Hall
Phone:        831-3533                                                           e-mail:    fschmieg@udel.edu
Office Hours:    M and W, 1:30-2:30; or by appointment

Credit Hours:    4 (3 50-minute class meetings plus one three hour laboratory weekly)

Location:        208 Gore

Co-requisite:    First semester of General Chemistry

Textbook:    Biology, Brooker et. al., McGraw-Hill 2008, 2nd edition

                                           Course Policies

In general:

As stated by Robert Fulghum in "Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."

                                            Share everything.
                                            Play fair.
                                           Don't hit other people.
                                            Put things back where you found them.
                                            Clean up your own mess.
                                            Don't take things that aren't yours.
                                            Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
                                            Wash your hands before eating.
                                            Flush.
 

Respect:

Everyone associated with this course should be treated with respect and give respect in return.  This includes your fellow students, the laboratory instructors, and the course professor. Therefore, the following behaviors are not allowed in the class: use of cell phones (these must be turned off and not used); use of headphones or any other item that is a source of potential noise; talking, whispering, gesticulating, etc. (behaviors that are often annoying or distracting to others in the class); walking in and out of the classroom during classtime; any other behavior that is not conducive to a favorable classroom environment.

Determination of Final Grade:

The final grade is determined by the grading criteria described. Please take note that there is no
extra credit work allowed!

Attendance:

Attendance is required at all laboratory sessions. If you must miss a session due to an acceptable
excuse, you must make up the missed session at another lab section provided that you have the
permission of both your lab instructor and that of the lab you will be attending. If you have no
available make-up lab to attend, you must arrange with your lab instructor how to make-up the
missed quiz, etc., and how to get the data you need to write your laboratory report. Continual
missed laboratories can result in a failure for the entire course. Refer to the laboratory manual for further information.

Attendance is also required at all problem-based-learning sessions, including attendance at all debates. Since each group member provides an essential piece to the work being conducted by the group, it is important that you be present at all group meetings whether in class or out of class. Absence from a group session or any debate, other than for acceptable excuses, can cause you to lose points.

Attendance at lectures is not taken but assumed. It is your responsibility to be sure that
you know what was discussed that day and if any changes to the syllabus or other
announcements were made. Since lecture will sometimes contain material that is not covered in the
textbook or is presented using different examples than those the text uses, it is not a good idea to
miss lectures. Also, there may be unannounced opportunities to meet with your group or to
participate in less formal interactive learning exercises at various times. Please make every effort to
attend regularly.

Missed Exams:

The examination dates are listed. They are unlikely to change. Please take note of them and try to be present. If you have an acceptable excuse for missing an exam, please see me within one week with documentation of that excuse. I schedule only one make-up exam day at the end of the semester for
all missed exams. There will not be any other opportunity to make-up a missed exam except for rare and serious reasons. Therefore, it is to your benefit to take the exam at the scheduled time. The acceptable reasons for missing an exam include: serious illness of the student, with documentation;
death of a member of the student's immediate family, also documented; absence from the campus due to an officially recognized student activity, for example, athletic team event or debate team championship. This should also be documented. There may be other, unlisted, reasons that are serious enough to merit an excused absence, but these are rare. It is up to the discretion of the course professor to decide what constitutes an excused absence. Often, you can gain the assistance of the Dean's Office in circulating a letter describing your unique situation to your course professors and requesting an excused absence for you.
NOTE: If the last exam, scheduled during finals week, is missed for an acceptable reason you will be given an Incomplete as your final grade for the course. Then, you will be allowed to take a make-up for this exam during winter session at a time convenient for us both and the grade will be changed to reflect the completed exam.

Academic Honesty:

We will enforce the University standard regulating student academic honesty. Read this section
closely in your undergraduate student handbook. Remember that any piece of individual work to be
handed in must be your own even if the data upon which it is based comes from a group effort.

Laboratory:

Details about the laboratory will be reviewed by your laboratory instructor at the first meeting. Also, read all information in the laboratory manual describing the policies that are followed in the laboratory.

Have a good semester!!