Introductory Biology II Biol152 - Course Syllabus Spring 2014 Course Goals This semester we will cover the following broad subject areas: 1) Physiology - We will explore how the nervous system functions to collect, analyze, and respond to information from inside and outside the body. 2) Evolution - We will discuss the meaning, mechanisms, and importance of the central organizing concept in biology. 3) Ecology - We will talk about how organisms interact with their abiotic and biotic environment. 4) Applied Ecology & Evolution - We will develop a sense of how evolution and ecology are important to other sub-disciplines in biology, other fields of science, medicine, engineering, and the arts. I will not cover any of these areas exhaustively. You will have those opportunities in mid and upper-level classes on these subjects. Instead, I will pick subjects areas and model systems from each of these subjects that illustrate the major concepts in each of these sub-disciplines. The common theme that will link these subject areas is the idea of evolution. Although we will not be discussing evolution in depth until several weeks into the semester, I expect you to start thinking about physiological systems within an evolutionary framework. In addition, I will focus on how research is conducted and evaluated. Finally, I try to incorporate many of the Biology Department's Learning Goals into how I teach this course. The most important component for teaching this class successfully is your participation during lecture. Please be prepared to interact with your fellow students when we work on the in-class iClicker questions and share your ideas and questions with the rest of the class. Instructor - Contact Information Peter Houlihan 352 Morrill 2 email: [email protected] (You may find other email addresses for me, if you use them for course business I will not get them.) Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 9 AM to 11 AM. Also byappointment or walk-in if I am not busy. I occasionally need to cancel or shorten office hours, so please check course emails regarding cancellations of office hours. EMAIL POLICY You must put Biol152 in the subject line of the email and the specific subject of the email. If you do not, you may either get a late or no response. You must have your full name in the body of your email. Do not try to email by responding to emails sent via the course list. I will strive to reply to your emails ASAP. I have 500 students enrolled; so to avoid getting 50 emails a week asking me "what are this week's readings?" or "when's the exam?” please do the following before emailing me directly: a) If you have basic questions about what, where, and when, please check this website first. You'll usually find what you are looking for there. The Prep page is a good place to start since it is updated weekly. Also check the syllabus and lecture schedule. b) Check the course emails for recent announcements. c) Exam grades will be reported on Moodle. Do not ask me to email your grades it is against UMass policy. d) You will find answers to all questions about the lab at the Lab Website or by contacting your lab TA. e) Questions and concerns about the iClicker system should be addressed to the Class iClicker Manager, TBA f) Any questions regarding section changes or exam scheduling contact TBA (See next section below) g) If you still didn't get what you needed, then email me directly. I will be glad to help you out with questions about course material you are having trouble with. Email me if you want to setup a face-to-face meeting to discuss trouble you might be having in class or on an exam. If I did not respond to your email here are some potential reasons why: I got 20 emails about the same question and I decided to answer it on the course prep page, by the course mailing list, or in class. You sent the email on Friday night after I left for the weekend. I do not typically check the course emails until Monday morning. If you email with questions about an exam the day before, you may not get a reply in time. If you have exam relatedquestions that cannot be answered on the website, then email a few days before the exam. If you follow this policy it will help insure that you and your fellow classmates get a quick and thorough response from me. Note: If you email at the email address that comes up on the UMASS person search you will not get a response since I do not use that account. I also have a Yahoo account; if you discover it and use it, do not expect a response. My email contact for this class is: [email protected] TA Contact Information TA: TBA, Contact them if you have issues regarding your iClicker Unit or iClicker grade, and with your missed assignment/quiz/exam excuses. Their contact information will be announced in class. Text 1) Morris, et al. 2103. Biology: How life works. W.H. Freeman. 2) Caroll, Sean B. 2006. The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution. Norton,NY. These items can be purchased at the UMass Textbook Annex. Or search online for better deals. 3) RF iClicker Clicker. An iClicker transmitter is also required. We will be using the iClicker unit most days in class. You can purchase an iClicker at the UMass Textbook Annex. Class Preparation One of the keys to doing well and learning a lot in this course is to prepare for lectures. To assist you in this important task I will post a preparation section each week (See Moodle). You should complete your preparation no later than the Monday before a new unit begins. On each preparation section you will find several items: 1) Objectives - A list of the questions we hope to answer during the week. You can also use the objectives as a guide when studying for exams. 2) Reading Assignment - Read the assigned text pages before you come to class. I strongly recommend that you review the reading again after class toreinforce details from the lecture. 3) Weekly pre-Quiz - Take this REQUIRED quiz before the first class of the week after doing your readings for the week. 4) The Powerpoint Presentations for the week's lectures. These Powerpoint presentations are provided as Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files, so you don't need to have Powerpoint on your computer to view them. These files are meant as an aid for taking notes. PLEASE DO NOT think that you can simply print these out and not take notes in class and still do well in the class. I provide these so you can take notes on what I say