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Biology 3: Introduction to Biology Fall2018Course Syllabus

Instructor: Adam Welday, Ph.D.

Email:

Office hours:Tu, ThAfter Lab (10pm)

Office hr location:Classroom or cubicles in SCI 222

Phone (Google Voice):(818) 925-6092 call/text ok

Course Section #: 13868

Lecture: Tu, Th 6:50-8:25 in SciTech 103
Lab: Tu, Th 8:35-10pm in SciTech 104

Course Website: (Canvas)

eText and HW: (eText) (Online HW: LRNR)

READING GUIDE:

Textbook:

The textbook can be accessed electronically for free either by reading online or downloading a pdf by going to the website: Make sure you are reading the textbook Titled: “Concepts of Biology” NOT the one that is only titled:“Biology”

General Notes:

I may not be able to provide a reading guide for all chapters and quizzes, but when I do you should still make sure to read the ENTIRE chapter first including any associated videos before using this guide. If you did a careful reading you should be able to answer most if not all of the questions and topics of the guide without having to refer to the book. This guide is intending to point you to particular topics I want you to know, understand and remember prior to starting lecture. Obviously working through the guides is completely optional but I highly encourage you to work through them since the pre-lecture quiz tends to focus on the topics in the relevant guides.

Reading:

Chapter 1: Read everything but see below for sections that are less critical. Don’t try to memorize everything. Pay attention to the headings and subheadings and how the chapter is structured. The structure of chapter serves as an important clues for how concepts are related to each other. The more you understand the relationship between concepts, the easier it will be to learn related concepts and related knowledge.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Biology

1.1 Themes and Concepts of biology

  1. You should be able toname and explain at least 4 of the 8 properties of life that are listed in the book (see the headings under “Properties of Life”)
  2. Know that homeostasis is a PROCESS. What does the process of homeostasis do in general? Name one example of homeostasis from the book and one not mentioned in the book that makes sense to you (use google to find other examples of homeostasis)
  3. You don’t need to know all 12 levels of organization of life, but be able to list the following in order from simplest to most complex: populations, cells, ecosystem, tissues, organs, atoms, organism
  4. Pay attention to how the book differentiates between prokaryotes and eukaryotes in this chapter.
  5. A biological membrane is a thin oily film that separates watery compartments
  6. You should know the highest level of the taxonomy isDomain. Domains are then broken up into 1 or moreKingdoms.
  7. All living organisms fall into 1 of the 3 domains. Be able to list and/or identify the 3 domains
  8. There are 6 Kingdoms, you should be able to list 4 of 6 different Kingdoms.
  9. Two domains have only one kingdom (the kingdom names for these are the same as the domain name), the last domain is divided into 4 different kingdoms.
  10. At the lowest level you should know that all organisms are given a two part name with the genus and species, where the genus is the higher category and the species it the most specific.
  11. The points below are just for illustration, you do not need to remember any of them
  12. For example, dogs, wolves and coyotes are part of the genus Canis,
  13. Dogs and wolves are the same species Canis lupusbut a coyote is a different species.
  14. All dogs, mammals, insects are part of the Kingdom Animalia
  15. Which Domain contains the Kingdom Animalia?
  16. The following question will not be on the quiz but you should look up/google it if you don’t know: What is the two part latin name for the human species? What genus do we belong to? What Kingdom do we belong to? What domain?
  17. A species can be defined as a group of organisms that can reproduce together to produce more of the same kind of organism.

1.2 The Process of Science

  1. What is a hypothesis, as defined in the book? (feel free to google other definitions)
  2. What is a scientific theory, as defined in the book? (feel free to google other definitions)
  3. If a ball is released in mid-air, what do you think would happen once released?
  4. You answer to this would be a hypothesis. You can be right or you can be wrong and an experiment can be designed to test that hypothesis
  5. A hypothesis does not have to be true, it is just one possible explanation for a cause and effect.
  6. An experiment would be to take a ball, hold it out at arm’s length and release the ball and repeat that 10 times, then average the results.
  7. There are situations where the results of your experiment would support your hypothesis and other situations where the results would not support your hypothesis. Try to think of several examples each where your original hypothesis would be supported or not supported.
  8. What knowledge and understanding did you use to generate your hypothesis?
  9. Mostly likely that knowledge and understanding came from the theory of gravity.
  10. Yes, gravity and its effects on objects is a theory. It is not just an opinion, it is a well proven set of ideas that has consistently been confirmed by many repeated observations.
  11. Don’t worry about understanding the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning for the quiz, but make sure you still read the section anyway. Some of this will come into play in the lab.
  12. What are variables and controls?
  13. Make sure you understand how the scientific method is being applied in the “ART CONNECTION” box. You should know what example is being used to illustrate the scientific method.
  14. Read the sections on:“basic and applied science” as well as the section “reporting scientific work” but don’t worry about the definitions or details, just try to understand the examples brought up and the general concepts.
  15. For sections such as these where I don’t expect you to remember specific details but I want you to read anyway, I still may have a question on the quiz about the reading. However, it won’t be details, it would be big picture. Such as:
  16. Which of the following was not discussed in the reading?
  17. Taxonomy as a way to categorize biological species
  18. Basic and applied science
  19. Scientific Method
  20. How Darwin laid the foundation of modern biology
  21. The process of publishing scientific findings