GCD3033 Syllabus S19 GWGL 12-26-18 PDF

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Syllabus: Principals of Cell Biology GCD3033 Spring 2019 Course Director: G.W. Gant Luxton, Ph.D. Assistant Professor GCD Department 4-128 MCB #4-8343 [email protected] Office hours by appointment Class Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays January 22nd – May 6th, 2019 Class Time: 9:45-11:00 am Class Room: Bruininks Hall 330 Prerequisites: This course assumes that you have taken an introductory biology course similar to Biol 1009; however, exceptions may be made by permission of the instructor. This prerequisite exists to ensure that you are properly prepared for this course. Description: This 5-unit course focuses on fundamental cellular structures and processes, with an emphasis on animal cells. We will cover the following 18 topics: cell theory, chromosomes, proteins, transcription, translation, gene expression regulation, membrane structure, membrane transport, trafficking, signaling, cytoskeleton, cell cycle, DNA replication, cell growth, cell death, tissues (connective & epithelia), stem cells, and cancer. In this course, students will be assigned a reading load similar to that experienced in a more traditional lecture-based course. To enhance student engagement and the quality of learning, lectures and Team-Based Learning (TBL) methods will be used throughout the semester. In addition, TBL promotes individual accountability, provides incentive for working together as a group and team development. Consequently, we will meet in one of the “Student Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Physics” (SCALE-UP)-style classrooms here at the University of Minnesota. SCALE-UP classrooms facilitate active, collaborative learning in a studio-like setting designed to stimulate interactions between teams of students working together on short, interesting tasks such as the Learning Readiness Quizzes (LRQs) and the Team Challenges (TCs) described below. The combination of passive lecture-based and active TBL methods will help shift the emphasis of learning from route memorization to one of integration and synthesis. This is reflected by the fact that the conceptual mastery expected on this course’s exams differs from many other cell biology courses, which are more focused on the recall of facts. Finally, it is our goal that by the end of the semester, students taking this course will begin to think like a cell biologist and will develop a life-long interest in cell biology. Objectives:

I have 3 major objectives for my students: 1) Master the concepts described in Chapters 1, 4-8, 11-12, 15-18 & 20 of Alberts et al. Essential Cell Biology. 4th Edition. 2) Identify, define, and solve cell biology problems individually and collaboratively using the textbook, Internet, and your own creativity. 3) Communicate effectively that your understanding of cell biology clearly reflects on what you’ve learned in the previous week, on open-ended quiz and exam questions and in writing solutions to team challenges. To help you, examine the study guides found at the end of each assigned chapter in the text book and watch the recommended videos associated with these chapters that will be available on the course website. In addition, I promise to do my best to be prepared for class, clearly present the course material, provide you with ample feedback, and treat you with respect. Expectations: It goes without saying that I expect you to attend class regularly. I also expect that before each class, you will read the assigned chapters in the text and attempt to solve the assigned problems associated with those chapters. Approximately 40-70 pages of reading will be assigned each week prior to discussion of the material in class. I recommend that you schedule time to read ~10-12 pages a day. Timing how long it takes you to read that many pages with good comprehension would be a good first step in determining how much time you should set aside. I would also strongly advise examining the list of Essential Concepts at the end of each chapter prior to reading said chapter and then attempting to answer the End of Chapter Questions after you are finished. Furthermore, I would suggest that you test your comprehension of the chapter’s material by answering the DVD questions and Online Practice Quizzes. This course is designed such that these activities reinforce each other; therefore, neglecting any of these activities will significantly compromise your ability to meet the course objectives described above. Ultimately, a student’s success in this course will be directly related to the effort they put in to meeting these expectations. Required Text: The required book for this course is Essential Cell Biology, 4th edition (ECB4) by Bruce Alberts, Dennis Bray, Karen Hopkin, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, and Peter Walter. It should be noted that ECB4 is the most recent edition of this textbook. Therefore, if you choose to use an older edition, it is your responsibility to know the assigned figures in the 4th edition. If you need it, I can send you a PDF correlating figures between ECB3 and ECB4. ECB is very well written textbook and it provides an excellent introduction to the discipline of cell biology. It is available in the bookstore and also in an electronic version. You can also further explore topics of interests in the online database for the related, yet more detailed textbook, Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/). Study Guides: I will post study guides weekly online, which will highlight figures and other material that can be used to guide your reading towards the material that will be covered in the LRQs and exams. However, it may be necessary for you to use resources other than the textbook to answer some of the questions asked in the TCs. I would strongly suggest that you consider your LRQs and TCs as additional study guides for the exams.

Unit Organization: This course is organized into 5 modular units: 1) Introduction to cells and chromosomes (mostly review), 2) Proteins and gene expression, 3) Membrane structure, trafficking, and transport, 4) Cell communication, motility, and cell cycle, and 5) Tissue Biology and Cancer. Unit 1 will include introductory lectures, a practice LRQ, and a practice TC. Since the practice LRQ and TC will be used to introduce you to what I expect you to learn from your readings, they will NOT be graded. The remaining LRQs and TCs will be graded. Finally, there will be 3 in-class Exams. Classroom Atmosphere: While I appreciate the learning that can happen in an intense and all-business classroom, I believe that an equivalent amount of learning can occur in a more relaxed and casual environment. I hope that this easy-going classroom atmosphere will make the journey of learning an extraordinary amount of cell biology more exciting and enjoyable. That being said, it is very important to me that this class does not become a one-way information delivery experience, where I lecture and you passively sit and listen. I realize that not everyone may be confident about participating in a class of ~125 students. However, please don’t let that prevent you from contributing to the discussion or asking a question. There is no such thing as a “bad question”. I will ask questions throughout class so that we can hear your thoughts about a topic, not only for the correct answer. I will be counting on you to be respectful and supportive of each other. By the end of this course, I hope that you will be comfortable asking questions and trying to answer them. Self-Tests: End of the chapter questions in your textbook will help you check your mastery of the reading prior to the LRQs. These multiple choice and short answer quizzes will help you focus on the reading and central objectives of the upcoming unit. In addition, there are other practice questions available on the Media Guide (DVD) in the center of your textbook and posted on the course website. Just to give you a hint, many of the questions used on course exams will be drawn from both of these sources, so do use them! LRQs: The LRQs are designed to serve two functions: 1) To provide you with incentive to do the reading prior to our discussion of the related topics in class, and 2) To give you a chance to work with your team mates to clear up any misconceptions you may have on the material in the unit that follows. LRQs will be taken first as individuals and then immediately again as a team. This process allows a focused time to think about course material and talk about why one answer seems better than another, a valuable activity for increasing comprehension. TCs: Weekly TCs pose more challenging problems for you to solve and present experimental data for you to interpret. These will be application or thought questions that warrant the time required and make use of the collaborative power of a team. In my experience, such active engagement with the material is a more effective and less stressful way of mastering course material than a method based on “reading, reviewing, and regurgitating”. While problem solving takes time, it will give you early critical feedback on your comprehension of the material, which will help guide your studies prior to the exams. Since quiz and exam questions will often be modified from the TCs, solving these problems will be an effective way of preparing for the 3 Unit Exams and the Final Exam. TCs will be posted online at the beginning of each unit. You will be expected to work on these collaboratively with your teammates to complete the activity in class. One person will be designated to act as a team leader for each TC. Team assignments will be posted by Monday, January 22nd, pending completion of the

online class survey. Intra-Team Performance Evaluation: Part of your course grade will be affected by the evaluation of your teammates regarding your contributions to the team during LRQs and TCs. Your evaluation will depend upon 4 items: 1) How often you came prepared; 2) How often you made important contributions; 3) How respectful you were of other members of your team; and 4) How often you provided help and leadership. Typically, there are some individuals who earn 0/50 points and some that earn 50/50. You will be graded in part on your ability to provide constructive criticism (neither excessively negative in tone nor unhelpfully bland) to your teammates with the intention of rewarding great contributions and helping others see how they could increase the level of their performance. This is a critical part of the course design. Exams: There are 3 unit exams (~75 minutes each) in this course. They will each consist of a variety of question types, from multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and problem solving. A large fraction of the questions for the unit exams will be similar to problems drawn from the LRQs and in-class TCs. Exams are scheduled for the following dates: Exam I: Exam 2: Exam 3:

February 21st, 2019 March 14th, 2019 April 25th, 2019

Make-Up Exams: Students who foresee the need to reschedule an exam, or who have a doctor’s note indicating they are too sick to attend class are expected to make the appropriate rescheduling arrangements in a timely manner. We will consider giving an alternative examination to students with a clear and compelling need for one, but in general, any make-up exam should be completed by the next class period so that we can have a class discussion after the exam. As so much will be happening during class meetings in this course, it will be difficult to makeup other aspects of the class (e.g. LRQs, TCs, in-class peer reviews). These components will generally not have an option for make-up without prior arrangement with the instructor. Extra Credit: There are 2 forms of extra credit possible in this course: 1) Completing the Cell Biology Concept Inventory twice, once at the beginning of the course and once at the end, as well as an anonymous end-of-term Class Survey. The concept inventory will allow us to measure how effective the class has been in reaching its stated goals. Your thoughts on this class and how it can be made even more effective on the Class Survey are also very important to the long-term success of the course. 2) Answering the questions asked during the Team Activity on April 11th. Each correctly answered question will be awarded 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, or 0.5 points, depending. Points: During this course, there will be the possibility to receive a total of 740 points. The points will be allocated as follows: -LRQs: a) Individual (10 x 10) = 100 b) Team (10 x 5) = 50

-TCs: (9 x 10) = 90, must note team member attendance -Unit Exams: (3 x 100) = 300 -Final Exam = 150 -Evaluation = 50 Grading: Course grades will be assigned based on a percentage of the highest number of points earned over the course of the semester. For example, if the highest maximum number of points is 540, but the highest score is only 500, then 500 will become 100%. The other grades will be calculated as follows: 92%-100% A 90%-91.9% A88%-89.9% B+ 82%-87.9% B 80%-81.9% B75%-79.9% C+ 70%-74.9% C 65%-69.9% C55%-64.9% D...