Spring 2008 BIO 130 Perspectives in Human Biology
T Th 12:30–1:50 PM, 225 NSC
Course Material will be found on UBlearns

Please note that the instructors and TAs are also actively engaged in scientific research, so if you are unable to make office hours, please contact us first to arrange an appointment.  Do bring specific questions about the material to office hours of the presenting lecturer.  Office hours are intended for clarifying lecture material, not repeating it.

Textbook: Biology, Concepts and Connections. Campbell, Reece, Mitchell, and Taylor. 5th edition.  Readings for the class are indicated on the course outline, and should be read before class.  In addition, another valuable resource is an on-line text by Professor John Kimball. Dr. Kimball’’s text-site is: www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages

Additional readings:
            In addition to the required readings from the textbook, three Scientific American articles will be assigned per exam.  The specific articles will be announced in class and made available either through UBLearns or the UB Library’s electronic journals.  These readings will be covered on the midterm exams.  To access the electronic journals through the library, navigate to http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ft.html, then search for “Scientific American”, choose the “Academic Search Premier” option, and navigate to the relevant volume and issue.

Grading:
Letter grades will be determined from 450 total points based on performance in both the lecture and lab segments of the course.  The lecture grade and lab grades will be identical.

Grading scale:

Midterms: Midterms will consist of matching and multiple choice questions.  You will have to present a picture ID in order to hand in your midterm.  After the midterm, grades and an answer key will be posted on UBLearns.  Your scantron will not be returned, but you may request to review it at office hours.  Unfortunately, we cannot offer make-up exams, even for medical reasons.  If you must miss an exam, you may take the optional comprehensive final to replace the missed exam.

Comprehensive Final: An optional, 100 point, comprehensive final exam (day TBA) will be offered.  The format will be similar to the midterms.  Students who have a low or no score on a midterm can replace that grade with the final comprehensive grade, if it is higher.  Taking the comprehensive final can only help your final grade.  The equivalent way of thinking about it is that there are 4 exams, and you get to drop the lowest grade.  There will be no make-up for the comprehensive final.

Lab reports: Lab reports are to be handed in by the end of class on the day of the exam.  Reports must be printed or typed; handwritten or electronic format reports can not be accepted.  Students are welcome to submit drafts of lab reports to the TAs for comments at least one week prior to the report’s due date during TA office hours.  Reports submitted late will receive point penalties.  Reports submitted after the end of class but before 5 PM on the due date will be penalized by 10 points.  If handed in on the second day, a penalty of 50% of the grade will be imposed; the third day, the penalty will be 75%; thereafter, the penalty will be 100%.  If you would like your report re-graded, you may fill out the Re-grade Request Form (available on UBLearns), and submit it within one week after the report was returned.  Therefore, it is important to pick up your lab report in good time.

Student responsibilities: It is up to you to be attentive in lectures, take notes on lecture material, hand in lab reports on time, pick up graded lab reports, track your grade, make note of announcements, read the textbook, study, and bring an ID to midterms.  We cannot supply notes for missed lectures, except what we normally post on UBLearns for all.  You are responsible for all announcements.  You are encouraged to study with your fellow students, but lab reports must be your own work.  Related to this, you must acknowledge the work of others if you use it in your lab reports.  To fail to do that is plagiarism (see the University Catalog for policies related to plagiarism).

Course Outline

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