BIOL1405 – Living World
Dr. Grant, YSC206, 295-4147, (office hours posted on door and on LMS).
Description: This course provides an overview of a number of disciplines within biology and is designed for students who need a 4 hour biology credit. It may not be taken for credit towards either a biology major or minor.
Lecture Textbooks (required): Enger, E.D. et al. 2007. Concepts in Biology, 12th edition. McGraw-Hill.
Laboratory Textbook (required): Vodopich & Moore. 2006. Biology Laboratory Manual (customized). Primus Online (McGraw-Hill).
Test taking aids: Scantrons (A-E) and Mechanical pencil (HB).
Attendance and Classroom Decorum: Students are required to attend both the lecture and laboratory sessions and attendance will be monitored. Students are expected to behave appropriately during class as outlined in the student handbook.Cell phones are to be turned off during class and lab times.
Examinations and Grades: In the lecture portion of the course, worth 70% of the overall grade, will be calculated on the average of the best four out of five class tests. Students missing a test will be able to write a makeup test only if they are away on a university sponsored event (and written proof of this must be provided), or under special circumstances. Having a doctor’s appointment is not a valid excuse:these should be scheduled outside of class/lab time. NO make-up opportunities will be provided for missed material unless a valid, university authorized excuse is provided.
The laboratory portion of the course is worth 30% to the overall grade. The grade will be based upon performance on the two lab tests (10% each) and lab quizzes (10%).
Academic Honesty: see p. 30 of the 2006-2007 Student handbook for full details. Students who cheat on any test or quiz risk at the very minimum a zero for that test or failure in the course.
Grade reporting.Every effort is made to have tests graded and returned to students in a timely manner(for lecture examsusually the next lecture class, for practicals, the next lab period). Please, do not come looking for your grades before the next meeting of that class. This may mean exercising more patience than normal but students need to be aware that all of your faculty are responsible for a number of courses as well as other duties; lab assistants are all full-time students. When grades are ready, they will be posted to the LMS (look under LW Coursework for the numeric grade, gradebook only gives a letter grade) and may be available before the next meeting.
Final grades are posted to EXWeb;do not use LMS gradebook’s generation of the grade for your final grade. Note: grades are to be submitted by faculty 48 hours after the final and will be available for student access after that time. By federal law grades cannot be released over the phone or by email!!
No consideration will be given for additional points to be earned by extra work or special projects. If a student is unable to complete the course, as in serious illness, arrangements must be made in advance, and in writing, for a grade of “Incomplete”.
Lab Outlines:Outlines for labs are available on the LMS website ( under the handouts section. (Having these available on the web does not negate your responsibility for attending class: while perfect attendance does not guarantee a good grade, poor attendance does reflect in performance.) You are responsible for checking this website periodically for updates and assignments.
Tentative Course Outline
Chapter(s) / Topic1
4 / Intro to Biology
Cell Structure
8 / DNA Basis of Heredity
11 / Applications of Biotechnology
9 / Mitosis/Meiosis
Test 1
10 / Mendelian Genetics & Inheritance12 / Diversity within Species
Test 2
21 / Bacteria, Protista, Fungi22 / Plantae
Test 3
23 / AnimaliaTest 4 (last day of classes)
Final Exam/Cumulative (Thurs, May 3, 8:30-11:30 a.m.)
Tentative Laboratory Schedule:
Lab # /Date
/ Topic1 / Jan 22 / Use of Microscopes (Ex. 2); Cells (Ex. 3)
2 / Jan 29 / Quiz 1; Mitosis (Ex. 13); Meiosis (Ex. 14)
3 / Feb 5 / Quiz 2; Genetics (Ex. 16)
4 / Feb 12 / Quiz 3; Bacteria (Ex. 23); Protista (Ex. 24 & 25)
5 / Feb 19 / Quiz 4; Fungi (Ex. 26); Plantae (Ex. 27 & 28)
6 / Feb 26 / Quiz 5; Plantae (Ex. 29, 30, 31)
7 / Mar 5 / Lab Exam 1
8 / March 19 / Quiz 6; Porifera & Cnidaria (Ex. 35)
9 / March 26 / Quiz 7; Platyhelminthes & Nematoda (Ex. 36)
Mollusca & Annelida (Ex.37)
10 / April 2 / Quiz 8; Arthropoda (Ex. 37)
11 / April 9 / Quiz 9; Echinodermata & Chordata (Ex. 39)
12 / April 16 / Quiz 10; TBA
13 / April 23 / Lab Exam 2
Contacting your professors: please make sure when emailing any of your professor that you include an informative subject line (e.g. name and course number). A blank subject line will have the email sent to the ‘Junk’ email folder and will likely be deleted without being read. In the text of your message, use proper grammar and spelling. Remember that you are conversing with the professor in a professional capacity not as one of your buddies. Poor communication skills can result, at the very least, in your query not being understood but may also impact the quality of a reference letter in the future.