Syllabus for Biology 2 and the necessary materials needed for success PDF

Preview

Summary

This is a basic syllabus of Biology 2 and the necessary materials that are covered during this course. It will help you understand Biology at a very intricate level....

Description

BIOL 1108 – Principles of Biology II Spring 2021

BIOL1108 – Principles of Biology II TR 9:30-10:50 am, Science Learning Center 85 INSTRUCTOR Dr. Erin Dolan pronouns: she/her Office Location: B210B Davison Life Sciences (2nd floor of B tower – look for green paint on the walls (My office is NOT in Biological Sciences) Email: [email protected] (be sure to include the L after the E in my email address) Office Hours: Please feel free to drop in to office hours on Thursdays after class (11-12 noon). You do not need to email to make an appointment during this time – just stop by. If you are not available during this time, please email me three days and times you are available and I will email you back about which one works best at my end. Greetings and welcome to BIOL 1108! This course is designed to prepare you for more specialized coursework in the life sciences. It is intended to complement BIOL 1107, Principles of Biology I, which focuses on molecular, classical, and population genetics. In both courses, you will develop an understanding of five core concepts in biology: - Evolution: The diversity of life evolved over time by processes of mutation, selection, and genetic change. - Structure and function: Basic units of structure define the function of all living things. - Information flow: The growth and behavior of organisms occur through the expression of genetic information in context. - Transformations of energy and matter: Biological systems, from cells to organisms to ecosystems, grow and change by processes based on chemical transformation pathways and are governed by the laws of thermodynamics. - Systems: Living systems are interconnected and interacting over multiple scales. The course will be taught using a variety of different teaching methods in order to: - Help you gain new knowledge about biology through readings and lectures - Help you develop new thinking skills, primarily by applying your new knowledge to answer questions, analyze data, and solve problems either during class or on homework assignments - Engage you in learning interesting, exciting, and relevant biological ideas and phenomena. COURSE RESOURCES - Textbook: We will use freely available reading materials and videos instead of a single textbook. I will post these materials or links to them on eLC. If you would like a textbook as a reference, OpenStax has a free biology textbook that you may find useful: https://openstax.org/details/books/biology-2e?Book%20details

1

BIOL 1108 – Principles of Biology II Spring 2021

-

-

-

Powerpoints, assignments, quizzes, and other materials. I will post these on eLC. Please make sure you have access to the eLC site and email me ([email protected]) from your UGA email account if you need to be enrolled. SimBio. We will be using SimBio materials to help reinforce and apply concepts you are learning. You will need to sign up for this service online (details will be provided on eLC). SimBio will cost $28 for the semester. Top Hat (TH) https://tophat.com/ We will be using this wifi- and text-enabled classroom response system for you to practice problem solving and check your thinking and understanding as we progress through the semester. To submit answers, you will need either an internet-capable device (laptop, tablet or cell phone) or a cell phone that can submit text messages. If you do not have device, please let email me ([email protected]) to let me know by the end of add / drop (Wednesday, January 20). Please register with Top Hat and use the join code 835265. TopHat will cost $30 for the semester.

PEER LEARNING ASSISTANTS We are lucky enough to have Peer Learning Assistants (PLAs) in our class! They are part of the PLAdawgs program (https://ose.uga.edu/stem-plas/) and have been selected based on their successful completion of BIOL 1108 and their interest in helping others learn. PLAs will be assigned to a section of the room or on zoom, giving them the opportunity to get to know the students in that section. PLAs will help you make progress on in-class problems by asking you guiding questions, redirecting you when you get stuck, and making sure your ideas are represented to the class during discussion. They will also help you review before each exam. Please take some time to get to know them and tap them as a resource.

Joshua (Josh) Fertig he/him [email protected]

Andrea Garcia she/her [email protected]

Lauren Mullininx she/her [email protected]

Breanna Timani she/her [email protected]

COMMUNICATION To comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), all communication that refers to individual students must be through a secure medium (UGAMail or eLC) or in person. Instructors are not allowed to respond to messages that refer to individual students or student progress in the course through non-UGA accounts, phone calls, or other types of electronic media. COURSE ORGANIZATION AND DESIGN The course is divided into five (5) 3-week units, each of which will culminate in an exam. There will be an optional final exam. The course is organized on eLC week-by-week (15 weeks total). 2

BIOL 1108 – Principles of Biology II Spring 2021

Each unit will have learning objectives (i.e., things you should be able to do by the end of the unit), and a checklist to help you keep track of readings, quizzes, assignments, and the exam for each unit. Please review the unit checklist at the beginning of each unit, and complete the readings, quizzes, and assignments as noted on the eLC calendar. Section First class – Introductions

Unit Dates

Exams

Jan 14

Unit 1. Reforestation of Mt. St. Helens Unit 2. Surviving Extremes: Desert Ecosystems

Jan 14-Feb 8 Feb 9-Mar 1

open 5 pm Feb 7, close 11:59 pm Feb 8 open 5 pm Feb 28; close 11:59 pm Mar 1

Unit 3. Reintroducing Sea Otters

Mar 2-Mar 22

open 5 pm Mar 21, close 11:59 pm Mar 22

Unit 4. Diabetes in America Unit 5: Sensing the Environment

Mar 23-Apr 12 open 5 pm Apr 11, close 11:59 pm Apr 12 Apr 13-Apr 28 open 5 pm Apr 27, close 11:59 pm Apr 28

Last class – Conclusions

Apr 29

COURSE CONTEXT This will be a challenging semester because of COVID-19, but I will do my best to work with you to make it as interesting and productive for your learning possible. To accomplish this, I will teach the course using a hybrid approach. This means we will always have an in-person option available at least once per week for every student. This is how it will work. - For the class session on Thursday January 14, we will meet synchronously online using zoom during our regular class time. I will survey you about your participation plans and schedule for the semester. - Starting Tuesday January 19, students who would like to attend class in person will be assigned an “in class” session (Tuesday or Thursday). - For your “in class” session, you will participate in class in our standard classroom (SLC 85), which has been set up to maintain social distance with a maximum of ~90 people in the room at a time. - For every week except January 14 and April 26-27, the Thursday class session will be a repeat of the Tuesday class session. This means that everyone can have the same inperson / synchronous experience each week and the remainder of the week’s material will be available for you to complete asynchronously outside of class time. It may be helpful to think of this as a weekly cycle starting on Tuesday morning and ending Monday evening before the next week starts. We will take a break or two throughout the semester so the workload doesn’t feel relentless… FAQS ABOUT HYBRID I am sure questions will come up as we progress through the semester or if / when circumstances change due to COVID-19. Here are responses to a few questions that you may have: 1. Can I participate online through zoom even when it is my assigned “in class” day? Yes, you can choose to participate online even on your in-person day. I firmly believe that synchronous and asynchronous instruction needs to be designed differently to be effective for learning, so I’ll design half of the material each week to be synchronous (in person or via zoom) and half to be asynchronous. I do not plan to make a habit of 3

BIOL 1108 – Principles of Biology II Spring 2021

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

recording synchronous sessions because they are most effective when participation is active (rather than watching after the fact). As a reminder, UGA policy is for you to stay home if you think you may have been exposed to COVID19 or are experiencing symptoms. COVID19 information is included at the end of this syllabus. Please see the UGA COVID19 information page for additional details: https://coronavirus.uga.edu/ Can I choose to participate the entire semester via zoom? My understanding is that students can choose to participate in class entirely online even when there is an in-person component. I will continue to offer the in-person component as university policy allows. Can I participate in person on a day other than my assigned, in-person day? We should have sufficient space for some students to come on a different day than their assigned day. I’ll let you know if this becomes a problem. What if I change my mind during the semester and want to change from participating in person to participating entirely online? My understanding is that students can choose to participate in-person or online, so you are free to switch to entirely online participation at any point during the semester. Please let me know if you plan to do this so I can plan accordingly. How will exams be handled? Exams will be administered online through eLC outside of class time. Each exam will include multiple-choice and short-answer questions and problems that reflect the kinds of problems biologists and other professionals solve in real-life. For Units 1-4, exams will open at 5 pm on Sunday and must be completed by 11:59 pm Monday. For Unit 5, the last week of class will be entirely online and the exam will open at 5 pm on Tuesday April 27 and close at 11:59 on Wednesday April 28. Once you start an exam, you will have one hour to complete it. There will be one cumulative final exam during finals period that will be administered online. We will discuss how exams will work when we get closer to the first exam date. Can I participate asynchronously by watching the zoom meetings after class? I am confident that you will learn the most if you actively participate in class while it is taking place. Thus, I do not plan to make a habit of recording synchronous sessions because they are most effective when participation is active (rather than watching after the fact). If you have extenuating circumstances that prevent you from participating in-person or online during class time, please contact me so we can figure out a suitable solution.

COURSE ACTIVITIES Our course will involve four types of activities: 1. Practice quizzes. We will use the quiz function on eLC to check your understanding of out-of-class material. You will complete practice quizzes as you read material and view videos outside of class. You will be able to complete practice quizzes twice – revising your responses based on feedback and further studying as needed. Practices quizzes comprise a total of 20% of your grade. There are no make-ups or extensions, but the two lowest quiz scores will be dropped. You will be most successful in this class if you complete all of the practice quizzes. 2. Assignments. Each unit will include two to three in-class and out-of-class assignments, such as SimBio tutorials, which will require you to understand and use biological concepts, rather than simply memorizing facts. The due dates for all assignments will be noted on eLC. Assignments comprise a total of 20% of your grade. There are no make-ups or

4

BIOL 1108 – Principles of Biology II Spring 2021

extensions, but the two lowest assignment scores will be dropped. You will be most successful in this class if you complete all of the assignments. 3. In-class questions. I will be asking questions in class using Top Hat. You will text or submit your responses via wifi using your cell phone or other wifi-enabled device (e.g., smartphone, laptop, tablet). This will allow me to gauge your understanding of key concepts and plan my teaching accordingly. You will earn credit based on the percent of TH you respond to in class. If you respond to 90% of the questions, you will earn full credit. For lower than 90%, you will receive that percentage (e.g., if you respond to 85% of the questions, you will earn 8.5%). It is your responsibility to make sure your responses are recorded as you submit them. Please contact Top Hat technical support if you are having problems. 4. Exams. There will be an exam at the end of each unit for a total of five exams (50% of your final grade). Exams will be designed to assess your knowledge and comprehension of biological concepts as well as your ability to analyze data and solve problems similar to those we have worked on in class. The exam for each unit will focus on assessing your knowledge and skills related to the content of that unit, building as relevant on your learning from the previous unit(s). 5. Final exam. There will be an optional final exam worth 10% (same as an exam). If you are not satisfied with one of your exam scores, you can choose to take the final to replace your lowest exam score. The five best exam scores (out of the four unit exams and final exam) will be used to calculate your exam grade. The final exam will be cumulative and multiplechoice: 50 questions total with 10 questions per unit. COURSE GRADING You will earn points in the course as follows: Weight (% of final grade) Activity Practice quizzes (eLC) 20% Assignments 20% In-class questions (Top Hat) 10% Exams (eLC) 50% (10% each) Total 100% Final grades will be assigned as follows: Grade Earned Approximate Grade Earned Percentage A >93% C+ A90-92% C B+ 87-89% CB 83-86% D B80-82% F

5

Approximate Percentage 77-79% 73-76% 70-72% 60-69%...