Course Syllabus for BIOL 1408
Biology for Non-Science Majors I
2010 Spring Standard Semester

Note to Students:  This may not be the most recent syllabus for this course, and any dates shown may apply to a previous semester. Any assignments included in this syllabus may change in the syllabus distributed on the class start date. Textbook information in this syllabus may also change. For current textbook information, refer to the Course Details accessed by clicking the course title in the online Course Schedule.

BIOL 1408

BIOLOGY FOR NON-MAJORS 1

Syllabus

I.   Instructor  Information

A. Britt Canada

B. Phone - 325-574-7671

C. Email - bcanada@wtc.edu

II. Basic Course Information

A.      Course title - Biology 1408 - BIOLOGY FOR NON-MAJORS I

B.      Course Description: Fundamental principles of living organisms including physical and chemical properties of live, organization, function, evolutionary adaptation, and classification. Concepts of reproduction, genetics, ecology, and the scientific method are includes. Includes a required laboratory.

C.      Room: Internet

D.      Required Materials: (packaged together)

Essentials of Biology 4th edition (textbook)

Scientific American magazines (6)

Virtual labs access code

E.       This is an online class that uses Moodle as a platform for class information.  You will need an enrollment key to get logged in to our specific course in Moodle. The instructor will provide the enrollment key.

F.       Prerequisites - No prerequisites to registering for this course. This class is reading, and writing intensive. 

G.     Credit hours - 4 credit hours

H.     Requirements for major areas of study -This is designed as the first in a two semester course to be taught as an on-line non majors class that covers, among other topics, the fundamental principles of living organisms, physical and chemical properties, organization/structure of DNA/RNA, function of DNA/RNA.

I.        Course objectives-This course is designed to give the non-science major a firm understanding of basic principles of biology. The subject matter learned will provide knowledge to use in the second half of the course.

J.       Academic Dishonesty: All students are expected to engage in all academic pursuits in a manner that is above reproach. Students are expected to maintain complete honesty and integrity in the academic experiences both in and out of the classroom. Any student found guilty of dishonesty in any phase of academic work will be subject to disciplinary action. The institution and its official representatives may initiate disciplinary proceedings against a student accused of any form of academic dishonesty including, but not limited to, cheating on an examination or other academic work which is to be submitted, plagiarism, collusion and the abuse of resource materials.

K.      Attendance Policy:  Students are expected to attend class electronically. Weekly quizzes will be given over the reading material and weekly labs are required.

III. Grades and Grading

 A. Grades will be of five types in this course:

1)      Textbook assessments - major quizzes - 25%,

2)      Textbook assessments - weekly quizzes -15%

3)    Scientific America or current articles - 10%

4)   Lab work-25%

5)   Midterm/Final exam - 25%

1. Textbook assessments - major quizzes - a total of 5 major tests will be given. Exams must be taken before the due date. Late work will not be accepted. The lowest grade in this category will be dropped. The majority of questions on the major tests will be multiple choice
2. Textbook assessments - weekly quizzes - approximately 13 weekly quizzes will be given. The first will include questions from the material on the syllabus. The two lowest grades in this category will be dropped.
3. Scientific American or current articles - approximately 5 biology-related articles will be assigned during the semester. Students will use the forum in MOODLE to discuss these articles. The lowest grade in this category will be dropped.
4. Lab Work - approximately 13 labs will be completed during the semester. Some of these will be online while others will require the students to make observations or measurements in situations that are readily available. Some of the labs will be assessed using online tests while others will be assessed by grading submitted work. The lowest grade in this category will be dropped.
5. Midterm and Final Exam - the midterm exam has a value of 10% and covers the material covered in the first part of the course. The final has a value of 15% and is comprehensive. Both tests will consist of multiple choice questions. Questions on the midterm and final can come from any material covered in the class (lab assignments, articles, weekly quizzes, textbook, etc.)

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The following schedule is a general outline to the course - more specific details will be given in the course schedule provided in Moodle. During a long semester (16 weeks), each topic will correspond to a week. In shorter semesters, multiple topics will be covered in a week.

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IV. Natural Sciences-Educational Objectives, Course Competencies, Learning Outcomes

These may seem somewhat confusing and overlapping but suffice it to say that this section deals with the esoteric and not so esoteric requirements of a good liberal arts education. In our course we pretty well restrict ourselves to the more tangible aspects and leave the esoteric ideas to other disciplines such as psychology, languages and the like.

The objective of the study of a natural sciences component of a core curriculum is to enable the student to understand, construct, and evaluate relationships in the natural sciences, and to enable the student to understand the basis for building and testing theories.

Exemplary Educational Objectives

1. To understand and apply method and appropriate technology to the study of natural sciences.

2. To recognize scientific and quantitative methods and the differences between these approaches and other methods of inquiry and to communicate findings, analyses, and interpretation both orally and in writing.

3. To identify and recognize the differences among competing scientific theories.

4. To demonstrate knowledge of the major issues and problems facing modern science, including issues that touch upon ethics, values, and public policies.

5. To demonstrate knowledge of the interdependence of science and technology and their influence on, and contribution to, modern culture.

Intellectual Competencies - Below are a series of basic competencies that are essential to the learning process of any discipline. The ones that are especially pertinent to our study have been marked.

1. Reading __X__ 

2. Speaking ____

3. Critical Thinking __X__

4. Writing __X__

5. Listening ___

6. Computer Literacy __X__

Individual Development and Educational Assessment (IDEA) - An acronym that is used as one of the primary assessment tools for students to evaluate the course. There are several criteria in this instrument - again, some very esoteric and perhaps somewhat nebulous. However, for the natural sciences only two of these have any real direct bearing on learning for a first year science student. At the end of the semester you will be given a chance to evaluate the class and the instructor as to whether or not these two objectives were achieved. 

1. Essential Objectives- Gaining factual knowledge (terminology, methods, trends, and classifications).

2. Important Objectives - Learning fundamental principles, generalizations and theories.

Student Learning Outcomes - These are somewhat different from learning objectives in that they vary from discipline to discipline and even from course to course within a particular discipline. Outcomes not only state the desired learning outcome but, also the method of assessing the learning be it a test or other instrument. Basically these are some things you will do while in this course.

1. Students will demonstrate an ability to use the scientific method to interpret data and facts in virtual lab assignments.  Lab assignments will be done on a weekly basis.

1. Students will be given the opportunity for critical thinking and interpretation with a critical thinking essay/short answer question.  Students must explain the answer using literature found either in periodicals, or scientific journal articles, or using the text as a source.
2. Students will write a review of articles found in the Scientific America supplements.  Each write-up must be in essay format, and give a concise and on topic review of the read material.