Class Meetings Biology 151 Course Syllabus Randall Phillis Department of Biology Fall 2023 Professor Randall Phillis Department of Biology 404B Morrill Science Center Office Hours Mon Weds 2 00 3 00pm 404 Morrill or by arrangement 545 3494 email rphillis umass edu Lecture Section 1 Mahar Auditorium MWF 12 20pm 1 10pm Lecture Section 6 Morrill 319 MWF 11 15am 12 05pm Section 1 Discussion Sections various times throughout the week check your schedule You really must attend the section listed on your SPIRE schedule All discussion sections are full so there is no room for students to attend discussion sections in which they are not enrolled Section 6 Discussion Section Morrill 319 Tuesdays 11 30 12 20 Discussion sections do not meet the very first week of classes Textbook How Life Works 4th edition Morris 2023 iClickers will be used every day in class All students in the course are required to purchase an iClicker These clickers are being used campus wide by many courses including physics and chemistry statistics etc To purchase visit a vendor s site such as Amazon or https store macmillanlearning com us storefront 2018S0003 Two exams will be given on Thursday evenings at 7 00 p m You will have 2 hours to take the exam once you start it but the exams are designed to be comfortably completed in an hour or less I do not want exams to be time limited and work to make sure you have plenty of time to complete the exam Exam 1 both sections Thursday October 5 2023 Location TBA Exam 2 both sections Thursday November 9 2023 Location TBA Final Exam Section 1 Friday Dec 15 2023 1 00 p m Location TBA Final Exam Section 6 Monday Dec 11 10 30am Mor 319 There will a brief quiz for credit EVERY Friday during class time You must attend class to take the Quiz The quizzes will review the course material from the previous week and serve as excellent preparation for upcoming exams I drop your lowest 2 scores PLEASE HOLD on Textbook purchase Options are being worked out Quizzes Examinations Make up Exam Policy If a last minute problem prevents you from accessing the exam during the 24 hour exam window contact me as soon as possible and accommodations will be made Make up examinations will be given for the hour exams only in extraordinary circumstances Students with a valid excuse for missing an exam must present these to Dr Phillis before the exam if at all possible If the excuse is valid and verified a makeup exam will be scheduled that will be given prior to the regularly scheduled exam NOTE A valid excuse is one of a small set described by the Registrar s Office that includes competing scheduled classes travel for University sponsored events including athletics health reasons religious observance or a very limited number of extenuating circumstances http www umass edu registrar students policies and practices class absence policy An exam missed without a valid excuse will be recorded as a zero If you have a true emergency that causes you to miss an exam and it is impossible for you to arrange a makeup exam in advance it is essential that you contact Dr Phillis as soon as you are able for a decision about credit for the exam and a possible makeup There are no make ups for Friday quizzes If your Friday absence is excused then that quiz will not be counted against you You are required to attend your scheduled Discussion section every week During discussion sections you will be grouped with your classmates to work through challenging problems related to the week s topics and activities These sessions are designed to allow you to discuss the problem solving with your classmates and get guidance from graduate and undergraduate Teaching Assistants TAs to help you trouble shoot the work This group problem solving is a great learning opportunity and full attendance is critical to your success in the course Discussion sections will NOT meet during weeks when there is a holiday No Discussion meetings Week of October 10 week of Indigenous Peoples Day Each week on Thursday evenings except during exam weeks in exam weeks reviews will be on Wednesday evening I will hold review sessions in a lecture hall to be announced Room reservations for review sessions are tricky Prior to the review session I will post Practice Problems that we will go over during the review session It is important that you try to work through the practice problems prior to review session in order to get the most out of them No Discussion meetings the very first week of classes Sept 5 8 2023 All students get to drop their lowest two Friday quiz grades Discussion Sections Review Sessions Grading Grade Guarantees Six different assessment types will contribute towards your final grade in the course EXAM 1 66 points EXAM 2 66points FINAL EXAM 67 points EXAM TOTAL 200points In class quizzes 100 points NOTE There will also be a quiz in class EVERY Friday Your best quiz scores will contribute to your grade I will drop your lowest two quiz grades iClicker participation 20 points Discussion Section 80 points TOTAL 400 points You will NOT compete with your classmates for a grade If you earn a total points score above the following cutoffs you are guaranteed the following grades A 93 100 372 points A 90 93 360 points B 87 90 348 points B 83 87 332 points B 80 83 320 points C 77 80 308 points C 73 77 292 points C 70 73 280 points D 67 70 268 points D 60 67 240 points F 60 240 points These grade cut offs may be revised to make them easier They will not be made harder At the beginning of each course unit you will be asked to engage in pre class preparation on the course web site Announcements Time sensitive items that change often You may also learn about course events from the course calendar Objectives A listing of the questions we are hoping to answer while covering that week s material They will also serve as review items for the exams Reading Assignment Read the assignment through one time before class After class you can go back over the reading assignment to reinforce details from the lecture We will also try to point out parts of the readings that deserve special attention Recorded mini lectures I may record 10 15minute mini lectures where I will present the material required for problem solving we ll do in the next class These should be viewed before attending class Required Activities Some weeks we will ask you to look at additional materials maybe other web sites or graphs we supply Class Preparation iClicker Cloud Model based Reasoning iClicker