BIOLOGY 121
VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY
Fall Semester, 2007
Professor: Dr. Julie Rutherford Phone: 299-4302
Office: Jones 315 e-mail:
Biology 121 Webpage: www.cord.edu/faculty/jrutherf/121desc.html
OFFICE HOURS: T, W - 8:45-9:45 a.m
Other times are available by appointment.
OBJECTIVES: Following this course, the student should expect to:
· Understand the basic components of cell structure and function.
· Be familiar with the general organization of the major systems of vertebrate organisms, with particular emphasis on human anatomy, physiology and cell biology.
· Understand the cellular basis of select tissue/organ functions.
· Have a general understanding of genetic principles and organism development.
· Be familiar with general laboratory investigation techniques (i.e. microscope use, hypothesis and experiment development, basic analysis and dissection techniques, etc.).
COURSE MATERIALS:
Required text for lecture: Biology, 8th ed., by Raven, Johnson, Losos, Mason and Singer
GRADING: The final course grade will be based on the total cumulative points earned during the
semester. A grade conversion table is listed below.
Example of Points Possible:
Lecture = 60% of 121 grade:
Exams (3 x 100) 300 pts
Assignments/Quizzes 200
Final Exam 150
Lecture = 650 pts
Lab = 40% of 121 grade
Grade Percentage
A 94-100%
A- 90-93
B+ 87-89
B 84-86
B- 80-83
C+ 77-79
C 74-76
C- 70-73
D+ 67-69
D 64-66
D- 60-63
F 59
EXAMS: Three unit exams will be given during class on the dates indicated. You are expected to take the exams at the scheduled times, although a make-up exam may be possible depending upon the circumstances, if permission is granted by me prior to the exam. If you need to miss an exam for legitimate reasons (serious personal illness, death in the family, etc.), please notify me before the exam. In most cases, a pretest will be administered. If necessary, arrangements can be made for a make-up exam. The format of the make-up exam can consist of both written and oral components. Travel arrangements for holidays and breaks are not acceptable excuses for missing an exam, so please plan travel accordingly. If an exam is missed without a legitimate excuse, a score of zero will be given, or a make-up exam may be allowed, but will be subjected to a 10% deduction/day (i.e. if the exam is taken one day late, and the student gets a score of 85% on the test, the score placed into the gradebook would be 75%). The decision to give a zero or allow a make-up exam subject to the described penalty will be left to the discretion of the professor. The Final Exam will be given on 12/13/07 during finals week as scheduled by Concordia, and, as is policy for exams scheduled during finals week, there will be no make-up available for this exam.
QUIZZES: Quizzes will be given frequently throughout the semester. Most of these will count as part of your homework score. The quizzes will be given during the last 10-15 minutes of most lecture periods and will cover material from the previous or current day's lecture, or material assigned for the upcoming lecture or as independent coverage. These may be unannounced, so it is in your best interest to stay current with and/or ahead of the material. Since quizzes will be given often, and at the end of class, they cannot be made up. A score of zero will be given for any quiz missed. To accommodate for occasional absences due to travel, illness, or just plain lack of desire to go to class…I will drop the three lowest quiz scores from your final point tally. A few quizzes will be given as an opportunity to gain extra credit points – these also may be unannounced. On extra credit quizzes, scores equal to or higher than 70% correct will be added to your cumulative lecture points as extra credit, although the extra credit cannot raise your final lecture grade more than 3%.
ASSIGNMENTS/HOMEWORK: There will be homework assigned throughout the semester dealing with subject matter contained in each chapter of the book covered in this course. Individual homework assignments related to the chapters in the book will be posted on my webpage, and can be downloaded/printed at any point after they are posted. While assignments certainly do not need to be typed, it is optional to do so if it is more convenient. If assignments are handwritten, please do so legibly, and for any assignment, please staple multiple pages together (i.e. do not fold the corners to hold pages together - it just doesn't work well…). Some assignments will be in the form of in-class small group discussions. Other “group” assignments will be given to groups of 2-3 students – these group assignments will be scored as one, and both or all three members of the group will receive that score for that assignment. Homework assignments will be due by the end of the class period announced. Any assignment turned in late will be docked 10% of the original point value if turned in late on the day it is due, and an additional 10% for each day after that (i.e. a twenty-point assignment will be worth only 18 points if turned in after 12:15 p.m. on the due date, 16 pts if turned in one day late, 14 points if two days late, 12 points if three days late, etc). A day is defined as a 24-hour period, not a Tuesday, Thursday class day. There will be no exceptions to this policy without a legitimate reason.
FERPA: Concordia’s statement of compliance with the 1974 Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act states: “Grades should not be distributed nor posted in any fashion that permits identification of the student by anyone other than the student.” In this class I will give you the option of picking up your graded assignments, homework, quizzes and examinations at the end of class. Scores will never be placed on the front of any work, but rather on the back of the front page. I will ask that each of you sign a form either granting or denying permission to hand these materials back in a group folder where other students might see your scores. If permission is denied, I will hold all materials until they are picked up from me personally. Exam scores will be posted anonymously, unless FERPA permission is denied, on the Biology 121 webpage using the last four digits of the student’s ID number (Ex – ID # - 2007-2003 – posted as 2003; ID # - 2006-0245 – posted as 245).
ATTENDANCE: Student attendance is expected for all lecture and laboratory sessions. In case of illness or other emergency, please contact me prior to class. While I do not have attendance built into the actual grading scheme, I will know when you are absent due to the PRS software used each day. Your absence, in itself, will not be penalized - however, as indicated previously, there will not be opportunity to make up any in-class work missed (quizzes, group homework, etc). Learning in a lecture/lab course is often a community effort, and when members are missing, other classmates may suffer. Several (more than three) unexcused absences may result in a referral to Student Affairs. We will be covering a very large amount of material over the course of the semester, and at some point almost all of you are sure to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. Don’t give up. I will do my best to make the material interesting, and hopefully you even will find the subject to be fun to learn. Please try to keep up with the topics as they are discussed - avoid cramming at all costs - this is not a class where cramming will work to your benefit. By attending the lectures and labs diligently, and reviewing the material frequently, you will come to understand and master the concepts. Every one of you can do well in this class, and I will do my best to present the material in a clear and concise manner, but ultimately you must learn the material through hard work.
CHEATING: Dishonesty in any form (including cheating, plagiarism, falsification, facilitating others’ violations, and impeding) will not be expected nor tolerated. A detailed description of these violations is described in the booklet “Academic Integrity at Concordia College”, in particular pp. 7-18. Be familiar with what constitutes each of these violations and the guidelines established for dealing with any form of dishonesty. A zero will be given on any exam/assignment/quiz/paper where cheating has occurred, with possible expulsion from the class, accompanied by a failing grade. This policy also applies to the laboratory. On each examination, students will be asked to consider an integrity pledge:
“I affirm that I have adhered to the college’s expectations for integrity and neither committed nor witnessed a violation of the academic integrity in the completion of this examination.”
Signed ______
While this statement may not appear on quizzes and assignments given throughout the course, academic integrity will be expected in these situations as well.
CLASS LISTSERVE: I will occasionally send out announcements via email to let you know of anything that comes up outside of class. To receive these emails, each student will need to subscribe to a listserve designed for this course. To do so, please follow these instructions carefully:
You will need to send an initial email to . Do not type anything in the subject field. In the body of the email, type “subscribe bio121jr” (do not include the quotation marks). You will then receive an email from domo which should contain text stating that the subscription process succeeded, and I will receive a notice that you have subscribed. If you have trouble with the subscription process, please see me for assistance. While there is no deadline by which subscription is necessary, I will assume that everyone has had a chance to subscribe by 9/5, and after that date, may send out notice/reminders/announcements relevant to the class. If you choose to not subscribe to the listserve, you need to accept responsibility for any missed announcements that may affect you.
If you would like to send an email to the class for any reason, you will need to use the address . If you would like to email me directly, you can use my personal email address - .
Biology Department Policy on Use of Electronic Devices:
Some electronic devises are useful and permitted during classroom lecture, laboratory and examination periods. Such devices may include laptop computers and calculators, for example. The Biology Department policy on the use of these devices in the classroom is as follows:
1) All electronic devices (including cellular phones) must be set to silent during scheduled lecture and laboratory sessions.
2) No electronic devices (laptop computers, PDA’s, cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc) should be brought into the classroom during examination periods, with the exception of materials needed for the exam (e.g. a calculator is permitted if mathematical analyses is required).
3) If you wish to use a calculator during an exam, it must be a simple calculator that is non-programmable and non-text-storing. Simple four-function calculators are available at the bookstore at a reasonably low cost (~$2-5).
4) Sharing of calculators on exams is not permitted.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Last day to add full semester - September 12
Midsemester recess - October 20 - 23
Last day: drop, pass/fail, tuition/fees reduction for full-semester class – October 29
Thanksgiving recess - November 22 – 25
Exam 1 - 9/20
Exam 2 - 10/18
Exam 3 - 11/15
Final exam – Tuesday, December 13, 11 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
TOPICS TO BE COVERED/TENTATIVE ORDER OF TOPICS
Scientific Inquiry /Review of Chemistry Chapter 1
(Independent Readings) Chapter 2
Basic Biochemistry Chapter 3
Cells: Structure/Organelles Chapter 4
Cells: Membranes Chapter 5
Energy and Metabolism Chapter 6
Cellular Respiration Chapter 7
Photosynthesis Chapter 8
DNA Chapter 14
Chromosomes/Mitosis Chapter 10
Meiosis Chapter 11
Genetics/Inheritance Chapters 12,13
Gene Expression Chapter 15
Digestive System Chapter 48
Cardiovascular & Respiratory Systems Chapter 49
Nervous System Chapter 44
Kidney: Anatomy and Mechanics Chapter 50
Reproductive System Chapter 52
Development Chapter 53