2009 Course Policies Bio 200 Evolutionary Biology

2009 COURSE POLICIES BIO 200 –EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

TEXTS AND LAB MATERIALS  Clicker – Turning Point (available at the University Bookstore) BRING IT TO EVERY CLASS!  Textbook-- Sadava, D., Hillis, D., Heller, H., Berenbaum, M. 2009. Life: The Science of Biology. 9th Ed. Freeman (Recommend, not required)  Laboratory manual (Purchase on line and receive the manual in the laboratory from your TA) http://www.bio200.buffalo.edu/LabManual/Bio200_LabManual_Ordering.html  Dissection Kit with scalpel (available with the texts in the bookstore)  Solid bound notebook (like a composition book, no spiral binding) available at the bookstore or any drugstore. Please do not buy a notebook with carbon pages. These are hard to read, and you will never turn anything from your notebook into your TA.

WEBSITE FOR COURSE  The URL for the course website is http://www.bio200.buffalo.edu. Practice quizzes, lab reviews, and old examinations are available there. Also, you may see the PowerPoint slides used in all lectures. To access these visual files, the username is BIO200 and the password is Darwin. To hear a recording of the lecture  To hear the audio files use your UBIT name and your UB password (same as e-mail).

BEHAVIOR DURING LECTURE  There will no eating during class. Nor will any electronic devices be allowed; this includes computers, iPods, Blackberries, cell phones, etc. Anyone causing a disturbance by sleeping, reading newspapers or extraneous material, or talking out of turn will be asked to leave the lecture hall. These behaviors cause disturbances to other members of the class.

CLICKERS  Clickers will be used in every class. They work like a remote control device. You will use them to respond to questions given by the instructor. Points will be awarded for attendance and correct answers to questions. You must use the Turning Point system available through the Bookstore. There are directions on the UBclicks website that will take you through buying, setting up, and registering your clickers. Go to http://ubit.buffalo.edu/ubclicks/students/  You should only use your own clicker during class. If you bring other clickers to class, you will fail the course as will the students whose clickers are being so utilized. This behavior constitutes cheating.

EXAMINATIONS

1. There will be three (3) examinations during the course: two (2) midterms, Fridays 5:00-7:00 PM (Oct. 1 & Oct. 29) and a final exam (date & time to be determined.). Make arrangements to be there as there are no alternate times. 2. All exams will cover the material from the beginning of the course, i.e., exams are cumulative.

3. You are responsible for everything that happens in the course. Exams will cover material from the laboratory, lecture, and the textbook.

4. Midterm and the final examinations will include both “objective” and “subjective” questions. Therefore, expect multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank and matching questions as well as definitions, short essays, problems and calculation questions.

5. There will be no make up examinations. If you miss an examination without a valid excuse, you will receive a zero for that exam. If you have a valid excuse, your final grade will be determined on the basis of other work you have completed. The only valid excuse is a medical excuse signed by a physician. If you miss the final exam without a valid excuse you will receive “F” in the course. Anyone not taking the final with a valid excuse will receive an “Incomplete” in the course. They will have to make up the “Incomplete” the next time the course is taught. Grading errors: IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CHECK THAT THE GRADES REPORTED FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE ACCURATE. If you believe that there has been an error in grading, present the error in writing within one week of receiving the grade. Re-graded assignments may raise or lower the grade received. Please be certain of an error before you request a re-grade

LABORATORY WORK Lab attendance is mandatory, and lab work and the associated exam questions counts about 40% of the course grade. Your lab performance will be evaluated on the basis of quizzes, class discussion, lab reports and other assignments. Detailed assignments will be explained in the laboratory sections. Hard work, cooperation with the instructors, and intelligent mature behavior in the lab also figure into the grade. Teaching assistants under faculty supervision are in complete charge of the lab and will make the grade determinations.

Extra Credit: There will be two occasions when you can participate in a national study of biology students. You can receive 5 pts. each time you do this. The first occasion will be during the first four days of class (Aug. 30-Sept. 2). The survey may be accessed by checking into http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J5GYNMV The online test is to be taken as a quiz, without help from books, people, or any other source. Your grade is in no way dependant on your score.

LATE PAPER AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS Late assignments will lose a full letter grade (e.g. AB) for each day that they are late. If an assignment is more than three days late it will be graded and returned but no credit will be given.

GRADING POLICY

1. Your final course grade will be determined largely upon the total number of points you will accumulate during the semester.

1st Exam = 50 pts. 2nd Exam = 100 pts. Final Exam = 200 pts. Laboratory = 210 pts. Clicker questions = 50 pts. 610 pts.

2. At the end of the semester, all of the students’ cumulative points will be arranged on a spread sheet and the faculty will determine the approximate cut off levels between letter grades. Between letter grades there will be “gray zones.” Students whose scores fall into these zones will have their laboratory work carefully scrutinized to determine if their performance (attendance, work quality, etc.) is excellent enough to justify giving them a higher grade. Note this: The laboratory points that are initially awarded by the TAs may be adjusted upwards or downwards by the professor in charge before they are officially put into the record. This is because different TAs give quizzes of varying difficulty.

3. Any student failing the laboratory part of the course will receive an “F” for the entire course regardless of his/her exam performance.

4. If you are doing poorly, do not expect to drop the course with an incomplete. An “Inc” may not be given if a student is failing and may only be given when the work can be made up.

5. Anyone who wishes to take this course over again, because they have received a poor grade or has resigned the course and has an R on their record, must take this course in the summer, not in the normal academic year. This university policy went into effect in the fall 2009.

A WORD ABOUT HONESTY Unless we give specific instructions to the contrary, all of your work must be yours alone. There must be no collaborations between you and other people on tests, homework or papers. We assume you to be competent and creative enough to do your own work and not copy from books or anyone else’s paper or tests. If this is not the case, drop the course now. If there is any breach in honesty, you will fail the course. Science depends upon a total and complete devotion to truth, honesty and integrity.