COURSE INFORMATION

BIOL 100

Principles of Biology – Fall 2009

(sections 20-26 & 181)

Welcome to BIOL 100, Principles of Biology for the Fall, 2009 Semester!

This is the first semester of a one year course in introductory college level biology.  Either semester of the course may be applied to Category 2E of the College’s General Education Requirement.  Both semesters must be completed in order for the course to be applied to either Group C or Group D of the Pluralism and Diversity requirement (but not both).  Check the Catalog (available online via links from the Registrar’s Office) for further details and regulations.

CLASS TIMES:   Lectures for ALL SECTIONS will be given in Room 714 of the West Building between 3:45 and 5:00 on Tuesdays and Fridays. 

In addition, each section has a separate time scheduled for lab sessions AND a time for discussion (aka “recitation”).  Make sure that you have all three of these times for your section in your schedules.  The first lab meetings will be held on Saturday or Sunday, September 5 & 6.  You must attend the first lab session to make sure that your place in the lab is held for you.  If you miss the first meeting of the lab “your” seat may be given to somebody else

• Lectures:  Lectures will cover the material indicated in the syllabus.  They cannot restate all the material in the readings, and they may include some information that is not in the text.  You are expected to attend all lectures (attendance will not be taken) and will be responsible for information that is presented.  While you may take notes, it is not expected that you copy everything that is projected on the screen during lecture.  You may want to bring the chapters being discussed each day to class with you and make notes on the pages of the text.

• All persons, whether registered for the class or not, are prohibited from using cameras, audio and/or video recording devices in class without written permission.  Lecture notes, exams, audio recordings, video recordings and/or still photographs may not be published, duplicated, distributed, sold or posted on the internet.  Students who violate this policy will be subject to academic and disciplinary action by the Biology Department and Hunter College.

• Labs:  Labs start when scheduled, usually with an exam on that day’s exercise.  You are expected to have read the lab manual before class.  There are no makeups for lab exams.  There will also be a lab report during the semester.  Details will be provided in lab.

• Recitations:  These times are intended to be discussion periods during which you can ask questions regarding the lecture and reading material.  Your recitation instructors will be responsible for grading your exam essays, and will base this, in part, on the emphasis and detail that emerge during discussions.

TEXTBOOK:  We will be using the Eighth Edition of BIOLOGY by Campbell, Reece and a host of other authors © 2008 published by Pearson Publishing Co. 

For your convenience we have arranged with the publishers to produce a loose-leaf edition especially for Hunter College, which is available at the Hunter Bookstore (ground floor entry in the West Building).  This will make it possible for you to carry with you only the chapters/pages that you will want to read as you commute, or the diagrams of which might be referred to in lecture.  Since the whole text weighs close to 10 pounds, this should save your back and reduce your medical/chiropractic bills.  ALSO, this book will be lighter on your wallet; the cost is less than the hard-cover edition!  (However, if you can obtain a used copy of the hard-cover edition you might save some money.  But if use of the text in lecture is expected, you will have to lug the whole load.)

Laboratory Manual:  A laboratory manual is also required, and is available in the Hunter Bookstore.   This is prepared especially for this course.  It provides detailed information and instructions for each lab, as well as data collection sheets.  This is not optional.

SYLLABUS:  In a different file under this Course Information tab there is a syllabus which indicates the topic and chapters that will be discussed in lecture each day.  Also noted in the syllabus are the dates of the two one-hour class exams.

Lab Syllabus:  The lab syllabus and all directions for the labs will be provided in the lab.

ASSIGNMENTS:  The assignments for this course are reading.  Note that we will be covering 17 chapters in 26 days of lecture.  The hope/expectation for the course is that you will scan or browse through the material in the text to be covered in each lecture BEFORE the lecture in order to familiarize yourself with the concepts and vocabulary.  Then, AFTER the lecture, you should read the text carefully, noting those concepts or words that aren’t clear.  Ask questions during recitation periods, and/or email them to me.  FINALLY, plan to review the material before each exam.  Note in the syllabus that there is a week between the last topic covered on an exam and the day of the exam.

There will be no “homework” assigned to be handed in and graded.  However, during the semester sample essay questions will probably be posted (on Blackboard) and other material may be made available.  You should probably try your hand at this to check your understanding and organize your thoughts.

EXAMS:  There will be three exams during the semester, two “one-hour” exams noted in the syllabus, and a two-hour final exam.  The one-hour exams will consist of both multiple choice questions AND an essay component, and will cover the material indicated in the syllabus.  THERE ARE NO MAKEUP EXAMS.  The final exam will consist of only multiple choice questions and will be comprehensive, covering material from the entire semester.

At this writing, the number of MC questions is not set, but they will involve thinking and testing understanding, not just recognition and identification.  The essay questions will probably ask you to select two from among a choice of questions that have been posted.

GRADING:  Your final grade will be made up of a combination of three different parts – the multiple choice (MC) parts of the hour exams and the final exam, the essay parts of the exams, and your lab work – resulting in a possible numerical grade of 1000 points. 

• The MC component will amount to 500 points, and be calculated as the sum of the two hour exam results (125 points each) and the final exam result (250 points); if the final exam result is greater than the sum of the two hour exams, it will be counted twice and the hour exam results will be dropped. 
• The lab component will amount to 300 points, the details of this will be given to you in the lab. 
• The essay component will amount to 200 points, and be the sum of the essays from the two hour exams, each worth 100 points.
• An extra credit essay worth 50 points will be given during the last recitation period of the semester.

ATTENDANCE: of lecture and weekly recitation session is highly recommended.

Laboratory attendance is mandatory. You are allowed to miss one laboratory over the course of the semester. If you did not attend your first laboratory period, you may not miss another period for the duration of the semester. Any missed laboratory period (beyond the first absence) must be made-up with another instructor during the week in which that lab exercise is conducted. (The weekly lab schedule is included in the front of your lab manual.  Make sure to get a note from the instructor stating that you made up that lab.)  If you do not make up labs you have missed in excess of the first absence, your total lab score will be reduced as follows:

·        1 absence  = (total lab score) will be multiplied by 0.9

·        2 absences = (total lab score) will be multiplied by 0.8

·        3 absences = (total lab score) will be multiplied by 0.7, etc.                                                                                                                                             

Your letter grade will be derived from your numerical grade according to the following formula:

·        > 975        = A+

·        925 – 974 = A

·        900 – 924 = A-

·        875 – 899 = B+

·        825 – 874 = B

·        800 – 824 = B-

·        775 – 799 = B

·        700 – 774 = C

·        600 – 699 = D

·        < 600        = F

Hunter permits you to elect to receive a grade on the CR/NC system for a limited number of courses; consult the catalog for the rules that apply to this, but note that you must complete all required work for this grade to be given.  Not all departments accept CR grades for courses that they require, and many graduate departments consider CR to be the equivalent of C and NC to be equivalent to F.  Grades of IN (incomplete) may be given under special circumstances, but are not optional – they must be agreed to by the instructor.

Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g. plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty.  The College is committed to enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures.  The details of these procedures, which may result in suspension or dismissal, are spelled out in the Hunter College Bulletin, and are available on line.