Biology 1201A Course Outline 2016 PDF

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Biology 1201A (General Biology I) Fall 2016 Course Syllabus Course Description This course provides an understanding of fundamental biological concepts with emphasis on function in and relevance to humans. Topics include inheritance, evolution, ecology, behaviour, and ecosystem health. This course is not available to students enrolled in the Faculty of Science (students registered in the Faculty of Science should select Biology 1001A).

Prerequisites Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enroll in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites. The prerequisite for this class is Grade 12U (SB14U) Biology or Grade 11U (SB13UA) Biology and permission of the Department.

Course Information Lectures: Mon and Wed 10:30–11:30 am in NS 145! Instructor: Name: Dr. Vera Tai Department: Biology and Statistical & Actuarial Sciences! Office hours: Mondays, 12 noon – 2:00 pm in BGS 2028 (drop-in, no appointment necessary) e-mail: use OWL messages (contact ‘Instructor Role’) or [email protected] (PLEASE mention 1201A in the subject line) Skill Development Coordinators: Winona Gadapati and Sheila Nicol Administration: Beata Malczewski, North Campus Building, room 301, [email protected] Skill Development (‘Lab’) sessions: All Skill Development sessions occur during your scheduled ‘Lab’ period (see next page for section numbers). Skill Development sessions are composed of ‘practical skills’ sessions, and ‘literacy skills’ sessions that alternate weeks (i.e. students attend practical sessions one week, then literacy sessions the following week, or vice versa). Refer to the ‘Skill Development’ page on OWL to confirm when you start with a practical skills session or a literacy skills session and what room you should attend. The Skill Development sessions start for all students during the week of September 19th and will follow the schedule shown on the last page of this syllabus (note that some weeks have no Skill Development sessions).

Biol 1201A – Fall 2016

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Skill Development (‘Lab’) sections Section

Day

Time

Section

Day

Time

10

Tu

9:30am-12:30pm

41

W

2:30pm-5:30pm

15

Tu

9:30am-12:30pm

42

Th

2:30pm-5:30pm

18

F

9:30am-12:30pm

43

F

2:30pm-5:30pm

25

Tu

9:30am-12:30pm

48

F

2:30pm-5:30pm

28

F

9:30am-12:30pm

50

Tu

2:30pm-5:30pm

32

Th

9:30am-12:30pm

51

W

2:30pm-5:30pm

35

Tu

2:30pm-5:30pm

55

Tu

2:30pm-5:30pm

36

W

2:30pm-5:30pm

56

W

2:30pm-5:30pm

37

Th

2:30pm-5:30pm

74

M

6:00pm-9:00pm

38

F

2:30pm-5:30pm

89

M

6:00pm-9:00pm

40

Tu

2:30pm-5:30pm

999

for students retaking the course

Course Resources 1. Website: https://owl.uwo.ca/. Log in with your UWO username and password. All important documents (syllabus, lecture material, literacy/practical skills schedules, assigned readings, quiz/test/exam details, announcements, etc.) will be posted on the website. You will also take/submit quizzes using OWL. Students are responsible for checking your OWL for messages and announcements on a regular basis. This is the primary method by which information will be disseminated to all students in the class. The Forum tool is enabled on the OWL website. Please use this forum to post and respond to questions about course content (e.g., lecture, readings, practice questions, etc). The forum will be monitored on a regular basis and I will interject with corrections or responses as necessary. As this is an open forum, please be respectful of one another. Derogatory, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate language or topics will be removed and dealt with at the instructor’s discretion. 2. MindTap Access Code for Biology: Exploring the Diversity of Life. MindTap is an online platform that includes access to the e-book version of the course textbook (Russell et al. 2015. Biology: Exploring the diversity of life. 3rd Canadian Ed. Nelson Education, Ltd: Toronto), as well as digital resources (i.e. videos, interactive activities, practice questions). Content from the ebook (annotated with instructor comments/videos) and digital resources will be used for independent study and will be the basis for Preparation Quizzes (see information below). The

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MindTap Access Code is available for purchase from the campus Bookstore (approximately $115) giving students a two-year subscription to this portal (which is useable for both 1201A and 1202B terms). You can also purchase the print textbook with MindTap Access. See further instructions on OWL. 3. SimUText. SimuText is a software package, separate from MindTap, that we will be using in this course several times for learning and practice. You do not need to purchase it, but you will need to make an account and download the software. Instructions for this will be made available via OWL. *Note: For both MindTap and SimUText, there are self-testing questions and exercises that appear to contribute to your grade in this course due to the nature of the softwares. Please go ahead and do these for your own learning. But note, nothing you do on MindTap or SimuText counts towards grades for this course.

Skill Development Requirements 1. Biology 1001A 1201A 1002B 1202B Lab Manual 2016/2017. A new lab manual is required for each student; the lab manual contains assignment pages that students will remove during the course and submit for marking. Consequently, used lab manuals will be missing these assignment pages and should not be used. The current lab manual can be purchased from the campus bookstore (approximately $45). 2. Lab safety glasses and lab coat. Available for purchase in the campus bookstore. Lab coats and glasses used for Chemistry courses at Western are suitable for Biology courses.

Assessment Course Component*

Weight

Due Date

Preparation Quizzes

8%

Throughout the course; see schedule on OWL

Skill Development

20%

Starting the week of Sept 19th (see course schedule at the end of this syllabus)

Test 1+

10%+

Friday, September 30, 7:00 pm, location TBA

Test 2+

20%+

Saturday, November 5, 7:00pm, location TBA

Final Exam+

42%+

During December exam period (Dec 10-21) (do not book travel during the exam period)

*No special rounding rules (e.g. to meet GPA cut-offs, minimal requirements for programs, etc.) are applied in this course when calculating final course grades. Course components will not be re-weighted, nor will additional assignments be accepted, to accommodate perceived poor performance on any assessment, or for any unaccommodated absence during a graded component of this course. +See

information below regarding alternative weightings of Tests 1 and 2, and the Final Exam.

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Preparation Quizzes Short, online quizzes (composed of approximately 2-8 questions each) will be available through ‘Quizzes’ on the OWL course site before lectures each week (some weeks may have one quiz, some may have two quizzes). All quizzes will have a specific deadline for completion and you will have a limited amount of time to complete the quiz once you begin (e.g. 15-30 min); no late submissions will be accepted and no make-up quizzes will be provided. The quizzes cover specific material from MindTap, the internet, or from an assigned activity; details on what you should cover for each quiz will be provided on OWL. The material tested by these quizzes tends to be foundational material (e.g. vocabulary, concepts, processes) which you must understand as a foundation for more complex concepts or applications in the course. The purpose of these preparation quizzes, consequently, is to prepare you for lectures; the material tested on the quizzes will not be explicitly taught during lecture, therefore, you are responsible for covering it on your own. Each quiz presented will be assigned a specific number of points (based on the number of questions in the quiz). Students collect these points based on correct answers to the questions. At the end of the course, the total number of points a student has accumulated will be calculated, and expressed as a percentage out of the total number of points ‘offered’ across all quizzes presented during the course. This percentage of points collected by the student will be used to determine the student’s final quiz mark for the course,

% Points Collected (of total offered)

Final Quiz Mark (out of 8)

0

0

1 - 10

1

11 - 20

2

21 - 30

3

31 - 40

4

41 - 50

5

51 - 65

6

66 - 80

7

81 - 100

8

using the conversion scheme presented in the table to the right. Note that this scheme allows you to accidentally miss a quiz (or two), experience some kind of technical difficulty, get some answers wrong, or skip a quiz because of a holiday, etc. without any significant penalty. Consequently, no extensions or make-up quizzes will be provided under any circumstance. Skill Development The Skill Development component of this course (which includes both practical and literacy skills) will help students enhance their literacy, practical, and critical thinking skills in collaborative settings with graduate teaching assistants as facilitators. These sessions will start the week of September 19th; see the ‘Skill Development’ page on the OWL course website to determine which component you start with and your section’s room assignment. See the course schedule on the last page of this document for the schedule of when Skill Development sessions occur. More information on how to prepare for each session will be provided on OWL. Tests There are two (2) cumulative ‘two-stage’ Tests in the course. These ‘two-stage’ tests involve an individual stage in which the student independently completes an exam composed of multiple-choice questions. Then, immediately following the individual stage, students collaboratively redo a subset of the individual exam questions (which may also include a few new questions) with a small group of peers. The groups

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will be assigned (the same groups as for the Skill Development sessions), you cannot choose your group. Each student’s total grade (/100%) on the test will be calculated as 90% individual score and 10% group score. However, if an individual scores higher on the individual stage of the test than the group stage, then their total test grade will be kept at 100% of their individual score (the reverse, however, will not occur; i.e. no individual student’s final test grade will reflect 100% of the group mark). Some of the Skill Development sessions will incorporate activities and information that explain in more detail the nature and structure of the two-stage tests, and you will have an opportunity to ‘practice’ taking a two-stage test so that you are prepared for the structure and logistics of two-stage tests. More detailed instructions about the coverage, structure, and locations of the tests will be posted on OWL under ‘Assessments & Exams’ prior to the test dates. Final Exam! The Final Exam is a cumulative 3-hour two-stage exam. The Final Exam will consist of multiple choice questions plus several short answer questions, and will follow the same two-stage format as described above for the two- stage Tests. The exam will be held during the December exam period (Dec 10–21) and will be scheduled by the Registrar’s Office. Do not book travel during this time period until the exam schedule is finalized in late November. More details on the coverage, structure, and location of the Final Exam will be posted on OWL prior to the Final Exam. Information about Assessments Students should expect the Assessments (e.g. quizzes, tests, exams, etc.) to include questions derived from content discussed or taught during lectures, skill development sessions, assigned readings/ independent study tasks, and any assigned material posted by the Instructor to the course website. A more detailed breakdown on coverage for each Assessment will be posted to OWL prior to the Assessment. Non-programmable calculators are permitted for use during the course assessments. No other aids are allowed. Cellular phones, iPods, and other similar technology are not permitted in the exam rooms. This means that cellular phones, iPods, and other similar technology cannot be used as a timekeeper/ clock, calculator, or for any other purpose. Computer-marked, multiple-choice tests and exams may be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating. It is Faculty of Science policy that a student who chooses to write a test or exam deems themselves fit enough to do so, and the student must accept the mark obtained. Claims of medical, physical, or emotional distress after the fact will not be considered. Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at this website: http://www.uwo.ca/ univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf

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All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (http:// www.turnitin.com).

‘999 Students’ repeating the course Students who are repeating Biology 1201A should have registered in lab section 999 and are referred to (for course administration purposes) as ‘999 students’. Students who are repeating the course have the option of using their ‘lab’ and ‘tutorial’ marks (combined) from the previous term they took Biology 1201A as their mark for the ‘Skill Development’ component for this term. Choosing to use the previous term’s lab/ tutorial marks is referred to as a Skill Development ‘exemption’. If you have previously taken and completed Biology 1201A (or 1001A), and are consequently repeating the course, you must read the information titled, “Skill Development exemption for 999 students”, posted on the OWL course website on the Administration page. 999 students who choose to be exempt from Skill Development sessions are responsible for ensuring that they understand the Skill Development material, as they will be held accountable for this material on Tests and/or exams. Exemption from Skill Development sessions will not be accepted as an excuse for poor performance on, and/or failure to answer course components that relate (either directly or indirectly) to that component of the course.

Alternative assessment schemes At the start of the course, these two tests are worth 10% (Test 1) and 20% (Test 2). However, there are alternative weightings of the tests possible, which adjust the distribution of weights across Test 1 and/or 2 and/or the Final Exam. Your final course grade will automatically be calculated under each of the following distributions; your final submitted course grade will be calculated based on whichever of these distributions results in the highest grade overall for each student.

Component

Scheme 1

Scheme 2

Scheme 3

Scheme 4

Test 1

10%

5%

10%

5%

Test 2

20%

25%

10%

10%

Final Exam

42%

42%

52%

57%

explanation

initial distribution of weight across Tests 1, 2, and Final Exam

half of Test 1 weight moved to Test 2

Biol 1201A – Fall 2016

half of Test 2 weight half of each of Tests 1 moved to Final Exam and 2 weights moved to Final Exam

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If you miss a Test, you must obtain recommendation for academic accommodation from an Academic Counselor in your Faculty’s Dean’s Office. The following scenarios will occur: 1.

In the event that you miss Test 1 and we receive accommodation for your absence, the weight of Test 1 (10%) will be divided equally between Test 2 and the Final Exam (i.e. 5% to Test 2 and 5% to the Final Exam); there is no make-up for Test 1. !

2.

In the event that you miss Test 2 and we receive accommodation for your absence, you will be eligible to write a Make-up Test 2; the Make-up Test 2 will occur early during the week of November 7. There will only be one Make-up Test 2; if you are eligible to write the Make-up Test 2 but miss it and we receive accommodation for your absence, then the weight of Test 2 (20%) will be shifted completely to the final exam. !

3.

In the event that you miss both Tests 1 and 2, and the Make-up Test 2, and we receive accommodation for all three absences, the weight of Test 1 (10%) and Test 2 (20%) will be shifted completely to the Final Exam. !

Note that in each of these situations, the alternative distribution of weights described in the table above (i.e. scheme 1, scheme 2, etc.) will still be applied, independently of the re-weighting of marks due to accommodation.

Accommodation for missed Term Test/Exam or Skills Sessions The first point of contact for all administrative issues in this course is the Biology Course Administrative Assistant, Beata Malczewski. You should contact Beata in person in Rm 301 NCB, if possible. If you can’t see her in person and must email her ([email protected]), be sure to put 1201A, your full name, and a clear description of your issue in your email. Use your official Western email account. Contact Beata as soon as possible if you miss a Test/Exam or Skills Session due to illness, accident, etc. If you have anticipated scheduling conflicts (medical, personal, sport, religious) with a test/exam or skills session, contact Beata well in advance (i.e. 2 weeks).

Accommodation for medical illness If you are unable to meet a course requirement due to illness or other serious circumstances, you must provide valid medical or supporting documentation to the Academic Counselling Office of your home faculty as soon as possible. A student requiring academic accommodation due to illness must use the Student Medical Certificate (http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/medicalform.pdf) when...