Bio 102:  Syllabus and Course Information*

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                                                                                                                                    *subject to change

Biology 102 - 5 units

Instructor:  Sue Kloss

Office:  D-100, Next to the biology lab

Office Hours:  Monday 10-11 am;  Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9 – 10 am; Tuesday 3 - 4 pm and by appointment

Phone:  541-4660 x244

Email: kloss@ltcc.edu

Website: http://www.ltcconline.net/kloss/bio_102.htm

Course Information:  Bio 102 gives an overview of the diversity of life on earth.  Topics covered include origin of life, evolution, the three major domains and five major kingdoms of organisms, animal and plant behavior, symbiosis, ecosystems, biomes, and environmental issues.  Laboratory time emphasizes taxonomy, plant systems, and invertebrate structure.   

Course Meeting Times: Tuesday, Thursday 10 am to 12 pm, and lab runs from 10 am – 1 pm Fri.   

Final Exam:  Tuesday, June 19, 11 am – 1 pm 

Text:  Biology  7 ed. by Campbell, Reece

Lab Text: Biology Laboratory Manual, 8^th edition, by Sylvia Mader 

Course Requirements for Bio 102:     

Exams:  There will be two exams in this course.  The midterm is worth 250 points of your grade, and the final is worth 300 points of your grade for the course.   Exams include all material covered in LABS, lectures, discussions and readings. 

Quizzes:  You will have 9 quizzes - one quiz each week.  You may not make up a quiz for any reason.  Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped.  Each quiz is worth approximately 11 points for a total of 100 pts.

         Projects:  Please see the handout.  Worth a total of 100 points.

           Lab Notebooks: At the conclusion of each lab, you will check your lab notebook/ lab report with your instructor.  Lab
         notebooks are worth 100 points, 10 points each week.  You may make up one missed lab only by completing a project
         to be described later in the course.

  Lab Quizzess:  You will have one lab quiz, at the end of each lab, worth 5 pts. each for a total of  50 points.

Attendance/Participation: Being on time, participating, for the whole time, (and awake!) gets you a 100 pts. Your attendance in the laboratory portion of the course is very important.  Absences will affect your lab notebook grade, your lab quiz grade, and your participation grade. If you miss a lab, without making it up, you will lose 10 of those points.  If you miss a second  lab, you will lose 20 more pts.  If you miss a third lab, you will lose 30 more points.  You may make up only one lab with no loss of points.  If you have excessive absences (more than 3) from lab you may be dropped from the course.

Homework:  Each week, you may choose to complete optional homework assignments in the Liebaert Workbook sold in the college bookstore.  If you complete all specified homework, you will have a 5 pt. bonus added onto your quiz grade for that week.

*NOTE:  THERE IS NO LAB EXAM, MATERIAL WILL BE COVERED IN MIDTERM AND FINAL EXAM IF WE HAVE THE COURSE FIELD TRIP 

Study Buddies: Choose 2 or 3 people for your study buddies.  These are the people who will pick up handouts for you if you are absent, and who will share notes with you for the class you missed. With your study buddies, you can ask about material you don’t understand, divvy up study chores, prepare for exams, etc.  Learning cooperatively is wonderful, but it doesn’t work if every one doesn’t do an equal share of the work.  Take good care of your buddies!  Do not take advantage of them! You may always discuss course information and assignments together (except on exams), but all answers must be your own.  Do not use the same wording as anyone else on any assignment.  When you use someone else’s idea, be sure to provide a citation.  This class will abide by the student honor code. 

 Grading summary:                                                                     Grading Scale:

250 pts. - Midterm                                                             A = 90 -100

300 pts. - Final Exam                                                         B = 80 - 89

100 pts. - Lab notebook                                                     C = 70 - 79

100 pts. - Lecture Quizzes                                                  D = 60 - 69

100 pts.-  Project                                                              F = below 60

  50 pts. - Lab quizzes

100 pts. - Participation

1000 pts. total

Attendance Policy:  Make every effort to attend! It is very important to me that students come to class, on time, for the entire time scheduled. Please make every effort to arrive on time for class.  Having people arrive late can be very disruptive to other students.  If you do miss class, you are responsible to find out what was covered.  Get handouts from your study buddy.  You may not make up quizzes.  If you miss more than 5 lectures or 3 labs without discussing it with me, you will be dropped from the course!!  Your attendance in the laboratory portion of the course is very important.  If you miss a lab, without making it up, you will lose 10 of each of your participation, lab quiz and lab notes  points.  If you miss a second  lab, you will lose an additional 20 more pts in each category.  If you miss a third lab, you will lose 30 more pointsin each category.  You are only allowed to make up one lab. 

Exam Reschedules: You may reschedule an exam only by discussing it with me in advance.  (Emails and phone messages do not satisfy this requirement).  You will be subject to a 10 – 30% loss of points for any rescheduled exams.  No final exams will be given early.  

Other Info:  PLEASE turn off your cell phones before coming to class!  No extensions will be given on due dates for assignments.  If you turn an assignment within a week of the due date, you will lose 30% of the points for the assignment.  No work will be accepted more than a week after the due date.  All work must be submitted in hard copy; no electronic submissions, please.  No replicate handouts will be available.  Please keep track of your course materials.   

Tips for Doing Well in this Course:  Consistent hard work and effort is required for you to do well in the class. One excellent strategy is to work hard at taking good notes in class;  in the evening, recopy your notes and review them for 30-45 minutes. Prepare for quizzes by reviewing material covered in class.  Repetition, repetition, repetition is necessary to master the quantity and quality of material you will be required to know for this course.  To do well in this course, you must spend time to learn the material!  A lot of hard work will get you through the course, but you must apply yourself.   

Student Outcomes
Lecture outcomes

The successful student will:
1. describe how organisms can change over time through the process of natural selection and microevolution or quickly through macroevolution.
2. give examples and characteristics of common representatives of all kingdoms of living things.
3. describe experiments that attempt to examine and elucidate the origin of life on earth.
4. describe characteristics and structures of major fungal taxa.
5. describe tissue systems, hormones, and reproductive cycles of major plant divisions.
6. draw or describe structure and explain basic function of all major plant systems.
7. compare and contrast the evolution of bryophytes, pteridophytes, seed plants, and flowering plants.
8. use cladistics and explain evolutionary relatedness between organisms.
9. describe levels of organization and important processes in ecosystems.
10. describe how populations fluctuate and identify factors that regulate populations.
11. describe species interactions and their effects.
12. explain how human impacts have affected various ecosystems.

 If you require accommodations for a disability, please let me know.

For questions or comments, please contact Sue Kloss - kloss@ltcc.edu