Sp19 General Biology II Course Syllabus PDF

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Summary

Welcome to General Biology 2! This course extends on the concepts presented and discussed in the preceding semester. We will focus our attention on the diversity of life including prokaryotes, animals, plants, fungi and protists. During the second half of the semester, we will place emphasis on the ...

Description

General Biology II AS.020.151.02, three credits Spring 2019 The Johns Hopkins University COURSE INSTRUCTOR Dr. Christov Roberson Email: [email protected] Office: UTL 283 Office Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays from 3:30-5:30 pm, in UTL 283. If you cannot make these times, we can schedule other times that are convenient for us both. CLASS MEETINGS Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 1:15 pm, Mudd Hall auditorium (Mudd 26). COURSE DESCRIPTION Welcome to General Biology 2! This course extends on the concepts presented and discussed in the preceding semester. We will focus our attention on the diversity of life including prokaryotes, animals, plants, fungi and protists. During the second half of the semester, we will place emphasis on the anatomy and physiology of animals, including humans. The semester will conclude with a brief section on animal behavior and ecology. If you are new to the course, I invite you to read the information in this document so that you become familiar with the resources available to you, and the ways in which your performance is assessed. For exams, focus on material covered in class and assignments. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to stop by to see me. Major course goals include: • • • •

Analyze and discuss biologically relevant questions through the successful application of quantitative, analytical and predictive methods. Compare and contrast key similarities and distinguishing features of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Name the major groups of eukaryotes and describe their taxonomic relationships and evolutionary origins. Describe the basic organization and function of major mammalian organ systems.

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WHILE YOU’RE IN CLASS There are few things that are more disruptive than talking out loud in class while class is in progress. It is particularly disruptive to people in your immediate vicinity, and talking and whispering can also be heard at the front of the classroom. You are not alone in class, and what you do affects other people. Disruptive actions are disrespectful to other students and the instructor and inconsistent with the principles underlying a community of learners. Please make it a point to pay attention when you are in class. Do not watch movies on your computer, or constantly email, text, or surf the web during class. This is very distracting to others around you, which is consistently pointed out to me by your peers. Do not assume that your actions are anonymous and only affect you. Respect your classmates and the instructor for the short time we spend together each week. If I or another student asks you to quiet down, please respect that. Do not pack up your belongings before class ends. USE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES Many of you prefer to use computers in class. I am fine if you use them for taking notes, but it is very distracting for others if you use electronic devices for other things. Studies supports this, and many students in this course have repeatedly told me how difficult it is for them to remain focused with screens in their vicinity. Therefore, use of laptops and other electronic devices such as tablets will be limited to a designated section of the classroom that I will announce. Unless you are seated in this section, you may not use electronic devices other than your iClicker in class unless I ask you to. Please make it a point to limit the use of any electronic device to work in our course. If you find that you are unable to focus on a given day or need to work on something else, please do not come to class and instead catch up on material afterwards. Everyone can miss a small number of classes without any penalty to your participation score. RESOURCES 1. Textbook While I do not require a textbook for this section, I do recommend that you have a textbook to use as a resource for clarification of some topics covered in class. There is no single textbook that is suitable for every student or every topic, but several books exist that serve as a good reference. In this course, we will be using the following text as a primary reference (available at the bookstore): •

Hillis, Sadava, Hill and Price, Principles of Life, 2nd edition, Sinauer Associates, Inc., 2014.

2. LaunchPad Website The LaunchPad is an optional companion website to the textbook described above. It contains resources not available in the paper textbook. This site has many useful animated tutorials that describe dynamic processes, as well as quiz questions that allow you to self-assess your

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knowledge of particular material. Purchase of LaunchPad access also allows access to the electronic eBook. You have two choices for how to purchase the above book from the JHU bookstore. Option #1: Purchase both the paper textbook and access to LaunchPad. If you buy your textbook new at the JHU Bookstore, it will come with a card giving you 12-month access to the LaunchPad website. If you buy a used copy of the textbook, you will need to purchase access to the LaunchPad separately. Option #2: Purchase only LaunchPad access. This option is slightly cheaper than option #1. LaunchPad access comes with access to the eBook, so you will be able to read the electronic textbook. However, this requires a connection to the internet and chapters cannot be downloaded. 3. Mentoring Sessions and Student Facilitators On most weeks of the semester, course facilitators will staff weekly mentoring sessions in UTL 289. Facilitators are former General Biology students who can offer advice on how to study for the course and help clarify questions you may have. It is a good opportunity to work with other students on answering questions about course material. I encourage you to attend! The sessions will take place during most weeks of the semester on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings in UTL 289 from 6-9 pm. Check the website for a schedule. 4. Learning Den The Learning Den at JHU has a dedicated tutor for General Biology. Visit the Learning Den’s website to find out about the times at which tutors are available. 5. Course Website (Blackboard site) The course website is an important tool for communication. I will use it to post announcements, assignments, grades, and class material. To access the website, visit http://blackboard.jhu.edu and click “login”. You will be asked to provide your JHED ID (for example, jsmith32) and password. 6. Class Recordings Courses will be recorded using Panopto recording software. Recordings can be accessed through the course website after the class ends. Keep in mind that while every effort is made to record classes, there may be isolated instances when the recordings do not work as planned. CLASS ASSESSMENTS & ACTIVITIES You should expect to spend time in class working with your peers on questions and problems that are relevant to the topics we discuss. Sometimes, I will ask you to work in groups on a series Page 3 of 7

of problems to help you assess your own understanding of the material, and to help you formulate and ask questions. At other times, I will ask you to discuss questions posed to the class and submit an answer electronically. In biology, it is important to use a question-driven approach to analyzing problems. Below is a summary of assessments and activities you can expect to see. 1. The iClicker2 Voting System To help make classes more interactive and student-centered, I will use an electronic voting system to allow you to submit responses to posted questions during class. You will need to purchase an iClicker 2 voting unit to electronically submit your responses. The iClicker 2 can be purchased from the bookstore either as a bundle with the textbook, or individually. Avoid the temptation to purchase earlier versions of the iClicker device online, since these may not communicate properly with the receiver in our classrooms. You will receive credit for submitting your iClicker responses throughout the semester. Points are typically awarded for your participation, regardless of whether or not your answer is correct. You will generally be assigned one participation score per class period. Partial scores are possible. For example, if you submitted only two of the three votes on a given day, you will receive credit for those two votes (or 67% credit). At the end of the semester, your average daily iClicker score will be calculated. If this score is 70% or higher, you will receive a final iClicker score of 100%. If your average daily iClicker score is below 70%, your average score will be your final score. For example, an average score of 61% results in a final iClicker score of 61%. This means that you do not need to submit every vote during the semester to receive full iClicker credit. If you happen to forget your unit one day, or if the batteries are low, you will still receive full iClicker credit as long as your final average score is higher than 70%. You can keep track of your average daily score on blackboard throughout the semester, as it is updated each week. Your iClicker needs to be registered on the course Blackboard site in order to function properly. Directions for registration appear on the course website, under “How Do I…, or Frequently Asked Questions…” If you add the class late, please keep in mind that missed votes are not restored but this shouldn’t be a problem as long as you keep your average daily score above 70% at the end of the term. I recommend that you replace the batteries at the start of the semester. Please bring your iClicker2 unit every day that class meets. If you will be missing class due to illness, religious observance, team sporting event, or emergency, submit the appropriate form on the course website by noon the day you will miss class to be excused from the votes that day. 2. Blackboard Assignments There will an assignment due on most Sundays by 11:59 pm. Assignments are posted on the course Blackboard site. These are separate from the pre-class video assignments (below). In the interest of fairness to other students in the course, late assignments cannot be submitted late for partial credit. If you save your answers for an assignment but forget to submit it, I will submit one assignment for you without any deduction (you don’t need to request this). The second Page 4 of 7

unsubmitted assignment will be submitted for half credit. Any subsequent assignments won’t be submitted for you, so make sure to set reminders for yourself. Please understand that due to the large number of students in the course, I need to set a limit as to how many assignments I submit on your behalf. You can view questions and answers for submitted assignments under My Grades. Be sure to click on the actual score. 3. Pre-Class Videos For some classes, I will ask you to watch one or two short videos before coming to class. The purpose is to prepare you for topics that will be covered in more detail that day so that we can spend more time working on problems in class. The videos average in length between 5 and 10 minutes. Some videos will contain embedded questions that you will be prompted to answer. Credit for pre-class videos is awarded for both watching the video and answering any embedded questions – 50% credit is awarded for watching, and the other 50% for answering the questions. Credit for questions is based on completion rather than correct answers. Pre-class videos will be re-posted after the class due date for your reference. At the end of the semester, your average pre-class video score will be calculated. If this score is 70% or higher, you will receive full credit (full credit = 5% of your final grade). Otherwise, you will receive the score you obtained. 4. Exams There will be three hourly exams in this course, as well as a cumulative final. Hourly exams are not cumulative but may build on prior knowledge. If you are too ill to take an exam, please notify me as soon as possible BEFORE the exam. Acceptable exam conflicts include team sporting events, religious observances, illness or injury. If you are ill or injured to take an exam, I need to obtain valid documentation of your illness or injury within 24 hours of the exam time. It is NOT acceptable to miss our exam due to illness or injury and then still take an exam in another course on the same day. There are no make-ups for a missed hourly exam. Excused exams will not count towards your final grade. Instead, the other exams will count more. If the final exam is missed due to an emergency or illness, arrangements will be made to take the exam at another time. After each exam, I will use the raw score constituting the 90th percentile to equal a grade of 100%. All grades for that exam will be determined based on this 100%. Therefore, it is possible to receive an exam grade above 100%. Note that this system will never lower your raw score.

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GRADING Grades will be based on the following assessments: Percent of Final Grade (using Method 1)

Assessments

Percent of Final Grade (using Method 2)

Assignments

15%

15%

iClicker Questions

5%

5%

Pre-Class Videos & Questions

5%

5%

Hourly Exams

45% (15% for each)

37.5% (15% for the top 2 scores, 7.5% for lowest score)

Final Exam

30%

37.5%

In order to minimize the impact of a single low hourly exam score, your final grade will be calculated in two ways. Calculation Method #1 weights all three hourly exams equally. Calculation Method #2 discounts the weight of your lowest hourly exam grade, weighting the final exam slightly more to compensate. Your final grade in the course will be the larger of these two calculations.

Final letter grades will be based upon the following pre-determined scale, with no additional curving: Percent Score

Final Grade

Percent Score

Final Grade

92.0 and above 87.0 – 89.99%

A B+

90.0 – 91.99 82.0 – 86.99%

AB

80.0 – 81.99%

B-

77.0 – 79.99%

C+

72.0 – 76.99%

C

70.0 – 71.99%

C-

67.0 – 69.99

D+

60.0 – 66.99%

D

Below 60

F

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JOHNS HOPKINS SUPPORT SERVICES The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Arts and Sciences / Engineering Catalog and the JHU Undergraduate Academic Manual contain information on a wide variety of topics, such as support services, clubs and student organizations, and policies relating to student rights and responsibilities. Some student support services that you may find useful are listed on the following page. Support Service

Location

Contact Information

Undergraduate Academic Advising

Garland Hall, 3rd floor

[email protected]

Student Disability Services

Garland Hall, 3rd floor

http://web.jhu.edu/disabilities

Counseling Center

3003 N. Charles Street

https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/counselingcenter/

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Week

1

2

3

4

5

6

7 8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Date

Weekday

Topics & Assesssments

Jan 29

T

Diversity of Life: Overview; Bacteria, Archaea, Viruses, Eukaryotes

Jan 31

Th

Diversity of Life (continued)

Feb 3

Sun

Feb 5

T

Diversity of Life: The Origins of Eukaryotes

Feb 7

Th

Diversity of Life: Eukaryote Origins and Fungi

Feb 10

Sun

Assignment 2 DUE

Feb 12

T

Diversity of Life: Fungi and Animal Diversity

Feb 14

Th

Diversity of Life: Animal Diversity

Feb 17

Sun

Assignment 3 DUE

Feb 19

T

Diversity of Life: Plant origins and life cycles

Assignment 1 DUE

Feb 21

Th

EXAM 1 (includes material covered through Feb 14)

Feb 26

T

Diversity of Life: Plant life cycles and diversity

Feb 28

Th

Diversity of Life: Plant diversity & flowering

Mar 3

Sun

Mar 5

T

Photosynthesis

Mar 7

Th

Anatomy & Physiology (Homeostasis)

Mar 10

Sun

Mar 12

T

Anatomy & Physiology (Endocrine Signaling)

Mar 14

Th

EXAM 2 (includes material covered through Mar 7)

Assignment 4 DUE

Assignment 5 DUE

Mar 19

T

Mar 21

Th

Mar 26

T

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Mar 28

Th

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Mar 31

Sun

Assignment 6 DUE

Apr 2

T

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Apr 4

Th

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Apr 7

Sun

Apr 9

T

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Apr 11

Th

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Apr 14

Assignment 8 DUE

Apr 16

Sun T

Apr 18

Th

EXAM 3 (includes material covered through Apr 11)

Apr 23

T

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Apr 25

Th

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Apr 28

Sun

Apr 30

T

Aspects of Animal Behavior & Ecology

May 2

Th

Aspects of Animal Behavior & Ecology

May 5

Sun

Assignment 10 DUE

May 16

Th

FINAL EXAM (cumulative) 9 am-12 pm Topic dates & coverage are approximate and may change

Spring Break

Assignment 7 DUE

Animal Anatomy & Physiology

Assignment 9 DUE...