BIOL 109L General Biology II Laboratory University of Missouri Kansas City Fall 2023 Syllabus Grant A Bledsoe Ph D Teaching Assistant Professor Division of Biological and Biomedical Systems School of Science and Engineering Contact Information Email bledsoeg umkc edu Phone 816 235 6433 Office BSB 92 Office hours by appointment Zoom personal meeting room https umsystem zoom us j 6822686673 Section Course Number 002L LAB 42909 003L LAB 42911 005L LAB 42910 006L LAB 43155 007L LAB 42912 Class Location BSB 272 Days and Time Tu 12 00 PM 2 50 PM Tu 3 30 PM 6 20 PM Th 12 00 PM 2 50 PM Th 3 30 PM 6 20 PM Fr 1 00 PM 3 50 PM Required Materials 1 Text General Biology II Laboratory Manual University of Missouri Kansas City Publisher Pearson Learning Solutions Copyright 2017 ISBN 9781323686447 2 Text A Dissection Guide and Atlas to the Fetal Pig Publisher Morton Publishing Copyright 2011 ISBN 9781617318900 Course attributes undergraduate Course format laboratory Course instructional mode classroom based Course Description Basic laboratory studies in Biology emphasizing the unity and diversity of life Structure function heredity development regulation of growth and evolution will be explored Co requisites BIOLOGY 109 1 0 credit hour Course Objectives This introductory laboratory course provides opportunities to observe the common and divergent survival strategies that have evolved in organisms living today Study begins with the relatively simple morphology of unicellular organisms such as bacteria and protists and progresses to increasingly complex multicellular organisms including fungi nonvascular and vascular plants simple animals and finally mammals In the course of these investigations students will master the use of the compound and stereoscopic microscopes and develop their observational skills Schedule The tentative schedule of experiments and examinations is listed at the end of the syllabus This schedule is subject to change as the semester progresses Students are responsible for any changes posted on Canvas 1 Student Responsibilities You are expected to fully participate in your officially scheduled laboratory section To do so you must familiarize yourself with the day s laboratory exercises before coming to class To be fully prepared for the lab exercises and any quizzes that may be given you may also need to review the relevant sections in the BIOL 109 lecture textbook before class In case of illness or other extenuating circumstances you may request permission to make up missed work by participating in another section Permission to switch section must be requested by emailing the request to Dr Bledsoe The request must have 109L section switch request in the subject line You must be prepared to submit evidence supporting your request If Dr Bledsoe judges that you have a legitimate excuse and space allows you will be allowed to participate in an alternate lab section However missed work must ordinarily be completed during the week in which the laboratory exercise is scheduled Note that most sections will be full particularly at the beginning of the semester Therefore you are not guaranteed an opportunity to make up missed work To have the best chance at doing so it is imperative that requests be made as soon as possible Unfortunately there is no opportunity to make up missed work if you unexpectedly miss the Friday section Grading Policy Exams There will be two 60 point lab exams scheduled for the dates listed in the lab syllabus There will be no make up lab exams The major exams will be administered in two parts The first part will be similar to the quizzes in form and scope The second part will be a practical exam that tests you on the skills you practiced in the laboratories Tasks for the practical component typically include use of the microscope and identification of organisms and structures you should have studied in the lab exercises Upon the presentation of a valid excuse you may take a scheduled exam in other than your scheduled lab section No make up exams will be given outside of their scheduled weeks Therefore it is imperative that requests for a temporary change in section be made promptly or well in advance Such requests must made in an email to Dr Bledsoe with 109L exam switch request in the subject line If you are forced to miss Exam 1 for a legitimate reason the weight of Exam 2 will double Quizzes There will be 80 points allocated for quizzes at the discretion of your laboratory instructor There will be no make up quizzes There will be 10 Canvas quizzes that will test you on material from the previous lab exercises 50 as well as the day s laboratory exercises 50 It is imperative that you have adequately prepared for the day s laboratory exercises This typically means knowing what is to be done in the exercises and why you will be doing it Most exercises involve observing organisms or parts thereof You should know what to look for before coming to the lab Some exercises require treatment of the specimen before making observations You should know the steps in these procedures and their significance There will be a total of 200 possible points for the course Final grades will be determined based on the following scale Total Points 186 200 180 185 174 179 166 173 160 165 154 159 Grade A A B B B C Grade C C D D D F Total Points 146 153 140 145 134 139 126 133 120 125 119 2 Students are reminded that strict adherence to the University s Student Code of Conduct is expected That policy is set out in the UMKC undergraduate catalog Scores for exams and quizzes will be posted on Canvas Students are responsible for tracking their performance in the class If your progress is unsatisfactory you should meet with the instructor and plan corrective actions as early in the semester as possible If you find that your performance remains significantly below that of your peers you should be aware of the Registrar s deadlines and procedures for withdrawing from courses The instructor will determine the relationship between earned points and letter grades at the end of the semester using his best professional judgment In no case must a student score higher than the standard letter grading scale to earn a particular letter grade That is students scoring 80 is guaranteed to earn a B and scoring 90 earns an A However a letter grade of B minus is typically assigned for those earning approximately the mean number of category weighted aggregate points Safety Statement for Lab Courses You