Course: PSYC/BIOL 3322-001 Spring 2011 Meeting place and time: Life Sciences Bldg Room TBA; Tu & Th 11:00AM – 12:50AM Instructor: Linda Perrotti, Ph.D. Office & Telephone: 511, Life Sciences Bldg. x21202 Office Hours: Tu & Th 8:30AM- 9:30AM Email: [email protected] Before you email me, be sure to read this syllabus. As a general rule: I do not reply to student emails when the answer to their question can easily be found by reading the course syllabus. Department website: http://www.uta.edu/psychology/ Required Textbook: Biological Psychology, 10th ed. by James W. Kalat (ISBN 0-495-60300-7). Note: this textbook is REQUIRED, meaning that you will need to read and study from it in order to pass this course. Students often ask if they can purchase older editions of the textbook to save money. While I do understand that purchasing an earlier version of the text can be less expensive for the students, I will be teaching out of the 10th edition because the information contained within is the most current and accurate. As a result the answers to the quizzes and exam questions will be based on the information contained in the 10th edition. If you decide to purchase an earlier edition of the text, you do so at your own risk. Course Business communication: The use of Blackboard is required in this course. Occasional syllabus updates and course announcements will be communicated via Blackboard. Quiz and course grades are posted on Blackboard only. Go to http://www.uta.edu/blackboard/students/index.html and login with your usual UTA Net ID and password. If you are unfamiliar with how to work within this system contact the Help Desk in the Central Library. You must bring a photo ID with you. You can also email them for assistance: [email protected]. Course Description: Behavioral neuroscience is the study of the relationships between animal and human behavior, and the nervous system. This area of expertise cuts across many disciplines and incorporates such fields as anatomy, neurobiology, neuropsychology, pharmacology, physiology, psychiatry, and psychology. This course will provide a comprehensive review of physiological processes that underlie animal and human behavior. Course Learning Goals and Objectives: Instructional goals are directed toward enabling students to recognize and recall basic facts and describe major concepts and terminology in the field of behavioral neuroscience. Instructional materials will be provided in assigned textbook and lecture presentations. Assessment of mastery of these goals will be via exams with questions that focus on each of the above knowledge skills. Attendance: Attendance is technically not mandatory. However, students do not do well in this course unless they are present, but I have no attendance requirement. Students who miss a class meeting(s) due to absence, or portions of a class or classes due to tardiness or early departure will still be held accountable for all of the material that is covered during those sessions. Drop Policy: A course drop grade will be assigned in accord with UTA policy (see current catalog). Assessments: There will be four (4) exams and 10 quizzes. These will cover lectures, videos andassigned textbook readings. Exams will be taken in class. Students arriving after the scheduled class start time, on an exam date, are not allowed to take the exam after the first completed exam is turned in. Quizzes are optional (extra credit) and will be taken on Blackboard. You must complete all quizzes by the due dates. All due dates are listed in the course schedule, which is located at the end of this syllabus. Protocol for Exam Day: Bring with you 2 General Purpose Scantron Answer Sheets from no. 4521, 2 number 2 pencils an eraser and your university-administered id (MAV ID). Desks must remain clear except for your university administered ID, no baseball caps are to be worn, cell phones, are to be TURNED OFF. Use a “cover sheet” to cover your test answers. The only identifying information you may write and bubble in on your scantron is the following: - Your name: last followed by first - Your Mav ID number (one thousand number, ex 1000123456) Missed Exams & Quizzes: Makeup exam requests will be approved only when appropriate documentation is provided that indicates compelling circumstances prevented a student from taking a scheduled exam (http://wweb.uta.edu/catalog/content/general/academic_regulations.aspx#4). Examples of such circumstances include funeral attendance, religious holidays, and illness. No information should be provided in a makeup exam request that is private or confidential in nature. A note from a friend or family member is not acceptable documentation. A request for a makeup exam must be made in writing within three days of the missed exam. There will not be any occasion to make up the quizzes as they serve as an extra credit opportunity. Any and ALL makeup exams will be taken on May 5th from 11:00-12:50 AM in our classroom. There will be no opportunity to make-up a makeup exam. The Final Course Grade: The final course grade will be based on the mean of the three highest out of the four exam grades. Points earned from weekly quizzes (up to a maximum of 10) will be added to the lowest of the three exam scores that comprise the student’s final grade. If you miss an exam and do not have an University approved excuse for doing so this will be the grade that is dropped from the final average. Grading Format, Weighting/Point Value of Assignments, and Examinations: The grade for each exam will be the % correct of exam questions. The minimum points for a letter grade are (A=90-, B= 80, C=70, D= 60, and F= below 60). All exams are of equal weight. Rounding will be applied only for the calculation of the course grade. This will consist of raising a decimal fraction of 0.5 or greater to 1. For example, a course grade of 79.5 will be rounded to 80 for a course letter grade of B. A course grade of79.4 will not be rounded and will yield a course grade of C. This grading policy is not flexible under any circumstances. No consideration for special circumstances will be given. The numbers will dictate the grade. Borderline Grades Stay Borderline: Every semester some people score just below the borderline of the next highest grade. I have great sympathy for people who find themselves in that position, but I have also found that raising those grades simply uncovers more