GENERAL BIOLOGY II (BLY 122) Section 101 SPRING, 2009

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1 SYLLABUS GENERAL BIOLOGY II (BLY 122) Section 101 SPRING, 2009 Instructor: Office: Office Hours: Phone: Internet Dr. Jack O Brien Room 52, Life Sciences Building Monday, Tuesday, 9-11 A.M (Office); (Biology Dept) jobrien@jaguar1.usouthal.edu Lecture Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:00AM - 12:15PM Lecture Room: Life Science Lecture Hall, Room 3 REQUIRED LECTURE TEXT: Scott, Freeman, Biological Science, Prentice Hall 3 rd ed, 2008 Goals of the course: To give students a basic understanding of biological principles. Topics will include characteristics of bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants, and animals, as well as evolution, ecology, and physiology of these taxa. It is assumed that students are already familiar with the principles of cellular biology, gene structure, gene expression, DNA/RNA/protein synthesis, and principles of evolution that are contained within the first 26 chapters of the text and were covered in General Biology I (BLY 121). Response System: Inter-Write PRS RF is required. Approximately 50 class points on pop-quizzes will be given using this system. Only quiz points recorded by the response clicker devices system will be downloaded into my grade book. In other words, I will not accept hand-written responses to quiz questions. Although clickers truly get left at home lost stolen...dead batteries broken, etc, such problems must be dealt with outside of class. Publisher s Website: The publisher maintains a website on which students can take tutorial lessons and answer practice questions. To encourage you to take advantage of this resource, I will place some of these questions on examinations. Students who use a previous edition or a used copy of the text will need to purchase the publisher s Study Kit from the bookstore. These materials contain a password that will enable you to access the website. Supplemental Instruction (= SI): The USA Foundation has provided funds for supplemental instruction in selected courses. This program utilizes upper level undergraduates who will conduct weekly review sessions for students enrolled in those courses. Ms Angela Dabbs will be the SI sessions for BLY 122 Section 101 this semester. She can be contacted at akd504@jaguar1.usouthal.edu for information concerning when and where sessions will occur. Changes in course requirements: Due to unforeseen circumstances, such as (but not limited to) hurricanes, professional travel, sickness and family emergencies, modifications may have to occur to the course content and requirements as stated in this syllabus. You will be notified of such changes either in class or on my website. Students with disabilities: In accord with the Americans with Disabilities Act, students with bona fide disabilities will be afforded reasonable accommodation. The Office of Special Student Services will certify a disability and advise faculty members of reasonable accommodations.

2 BLY 122 Syllabus, O Brien 2 Spring, 2009 ATTENTION TRANSFER STUDENTS: BLY 121 is a pre-requisite and one year of college chemistry (CH 131 & CH 132) is strongly recommended before taking either BLY 121 or BLY 122. BLY 122 is required for the following programs of study: biology majors (College of Arts and Sciences), biomedical sciences majors (College of Allied Health Professions), computer science specialization (School of CIS, College of Arts & Sciences), and secondary education general science (College of Education). In some programs, such as radiologic sciences, majors can chose BLY 122 or BLY 102. The sequence of BLY 121 & BLY 122 is also accepted toward the 8 credit hours in natural science for the Information Technology and the Information Systems specializations in the School of CIS. BLY 122 is NOT designed for non-majors completing general education requirements. That course is BLY 102. When courses have transferred to South as BLY 121, students have mistakenly concluded that they must take the next course number (i.e. BLY 122) to get credit for two semesters of biology. The sequence BLY 121 and BLY 102 is sufficient although your academic adviser may have to complete a Course Substitution-Waiver form. Students who have received transfer credit for BLY 121 may require an over-ride of the university s computer (PAWS) in order to register for BLY 102. This can be performed by the secretary of the Biology Department ( ). Experience has taught me that students majoring in fields such as elementary education, pre-nursing, music, art, etc are generally more satisfied with the course format and their grades when they take BLY 102 instead of this course. Exams: There will be numerous unannounced pop-quizzes during lectures throughout the semester that will comprise approximately 10% of your grade. The only way to receive points on these quizzes will be through the clicker or remote response device that can be purchased at the University Bookstore. Lecture exams will be given on in class on Tuesday 2/17/09 and Tuesday 3/31/09. The final exam will be given Tuesday 5/5/09 at 10:30AM. Each of these tests (including the final) will consist of approximately multiple-choice questions and each will count approximately 30% of the course grade. The final exam will be comprehensive for all material presented this semester in lecture. No extra-credit will be given. Copies of some previous exams are available in the campus library. Make-up exams will only be given for a documented excused absence as defined in the University Undergraduate Bulletin. University functions which require your presence must be approved in advance by me following a written request from a university official. Documentation of excused absences for exams must be presented to me immediately after the absence. Essay questions that have appeared on previous make-up exams include the following: 1) Diagram the cross-section of a dicotyledon stem showing relative positions of important vessels and 2) Describe the pressure-flow hypothesis that explains how sugar moves through phloem vessels. All make-up exams will be given 10:00AM on the last day of classes (Friday 5/1/09); students who missed two exams will take both make-ups the same day. Those taking make-up exams must notify me by Tuesday 4/28/09. Grades: The cutoff point for an A will be 90% of the highest cumulated (i.e. the top) score in the class, B will be 80%, C will be 60%, and D will be 50%. No extra credit will be given. The examinations will be approximately (depending upon the number of quizzes given) weighted as follows: Exam 1 (30%) + Exam 2 (30%) + Final (30%) + Quizzes (10%) = 100%. Following each exam, a point distribution will be posted which will enable you to determine how you performed on that exam relative to other students. In addition to posting test keys and grade distributions in the Life Sciences Building, this information will appear on my webpage. Because of your right-to-privacy, I cannot post grades according to your name nor your student number. Nor can I send you your grade by e- mail. If you wish, you can put a four or five letter code name in the appropriate spot on your test answer sheet and I will list your test score next to that code name. 2

3 BLY 122 Syllabus, O Brien 3 Spring, 2009 Academic misconduct (i.e. cheating): Any student who gives and/or receives help not available to all other students during an examination will receive a grade of 0 (zero) for that test and may receive an F for the course. Students must bring a photo-id to every exam. Since you only require pencils & erasers during an exam, you will be asked to leave all personal items such as baseball caps, notebooks, backpacks, papers, books, purses, etc. in the front or side aisles. POSSESSION of a CELL PHONE, a palm pilot, a blackberry, or any electronic device that can receive and/or store information, lecture or Acrib-sheet@ notes on or near a person (such as on the floor or on the seat) during an exam will be considered academic misconduct. The judgment of what behavior is inappropriate is at the discretion of the lecturer. In the past inappropriate behavior has included nudging one s neighbor, hand motions, head gestures (nodding/shaking), talking, talking in a language other than English, and using a cell phone. Pet Peeves: I will ask students to leave the lecture hall who, in my opinion, are either being disruptive or disrespectful. For most students how to be polite is a no-brainer, but, the following examples have been encountered in class. When I am lecturing please do not conduct a conversation with your neighbor, have a loud audio (Vibration is OK) cell phone alarm, talk on your cell phone, listen to music, allow accompanying children to make noise [Quiet, well-behaved children are welcome.] I consider it disrespectful for people to read newspapers, do homework, balance checkbooks, or show me the bottoms of their shoes while I am lecturing. Laptops are not to be used to play games, send or receive s nor watch movies in class. It is acceptable to eat, drink, enter, or leave during lecture, if you do so unobtrusively. Parking is a problem near the Life Science Building. It is OK to arrive late, but disturbing classmates when finding a seat is not. Web postings: I will post lecture notes and other course-related information on my web-page: To download a hardcopy of the notes, you will need the software called, Acrobat Reader which you can download free from a link on the website I recommend that you bring my lecture notes to class in order to minimize mindless copying of information. Acquiring lecture notes should not be considered a substitution for attending lecture. Be forewarned that some test questions will utilize information that was discussed only in lecture. I may include information given in response to a question in lecture or I may have modified my lecture after the notes were posted on my website. Laboratory: Lab will not meet the first week of classes. All laboratory sections will meet in LSCB Room 226. Laboratory is a separate course independent of lecture; you can withdraw from lecture and still remain in lab and vice versa. Your laboratory instructor will inform you as to how laboratory grades will be determined. Laboratory Manual: Online Lab Manual: USA Faculty (2009). Students are required to download the lab exercises prior to lab from The site is password protected; you will be given the password at your first scheduled lab meeting. 3

4 BLY 122 Syllabus, O Brien 4 Spring, 2009 Study Tips: Koch, L Showing Up: The Importance of Class Attendance for Academic Success in Introductory Science Courses. The American Biology Teacher 65(5): ATTEND LECTURE. Surveys of undergraduates who achieved poor grades in college introductory science classes indicate that they did not appreciate the degree of correlation between test scores and class attendance. See Fig. 1 from Koch, STUDY BRIEFLY, BUT OFTEN. Repetition transfers information from short-term memory to long-term memory. The number of times one reviews information is more important than the length of time, i.e. reviewing notes 6 different times for 10 minutes at a time is much more effective than 1 continuous hour of review. 3. USE FLASH CARDS. Study in check-out lines, during commercials, at lunch, or while waiting for the lecturer to get his act together. See #2 above. 4. MEMORIZE LAST. Just as the last song heard on the radio can replay in one s mind throughout the day, the last material studied before going to sleep is what is most likely to enter long-term memory. See #2 above. In other words, when studying at night do algebra problems first and then Spanish vocabulary before going to sleep. 5. ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS. Dormitories are bad places to study while cafeterias (with background noise that drowns out distractions) are good. The so-called Mozart effect (People who listened to classical music while memorizing sequences of random numbers had better recall compared to those who listened to rock.) is probably due to effective background noise. In other words if you are singing to music while studying, you are not fully concentrating on the material. 6. MEMORIZE SEQUENCES. Humans remember sequences of information more easily than that same information as individual bits. For example, when I access my credit card account by phone, I am asked to confirm my ID by giving the last 4 numbers of my social security number. To do this, I have to first silently go through the first 5 numbers before I can recall the last four. When memorizing information on an illustration or figure always start at the same place and move in the same (clock-wise or counter-clockwise) direction. If you blank out on test question, your memory can be helped by recalling the appropriate figure and start reciting the beginning of the sequence you used when learning the information on the figure. 7. USE SENSORY AND MOTOR NEURONS. By listening (auditory) to lectures, re-writing (motor) notes, reading (ocular) the book, and repeating (auditory & motor) notes out loud, you send information into your long-term memory via multiple neural pathways that re-enforce each other. 4

5 BLY 122 Syllabus, O Brien 5 Spring, 2009 LECTURE SCHEDULE Ts - Th Lecture Assignments Topics 1/13-15 Ch 28 & 29 Bacteria & Archaea, Protists 1/20-22 Ch 31 & 35 Fungi, Viruses 1/27-29 Ch 30 & 36 Green Plants, Plant Form and Function 2/3-5 Ch 37, 38 & 39 Plant Transport, Plant Nutrition, Plant Sensory Systems 2/10-12 Ch 40 Plant Reproduction 2/17-19 Ch 32 & 33 (MIDTERM # 1; 2/17) Introduction to Animals, Protostomes 2/24-26 Ch 34 MARDI GRAS (2/24) Deuterostomes 3/3-5 Ch 41 & 42 Animal Form and Function, Animal Water & Electrolyte Balance 3/10-12 Ch 43 &44 Animal Nutrition, Gas Exchange & Circulation 3/17-19 SPRING BREAK 3/24-26 Ch 45 Electrical Signals in Animals 3/31-4/2 Ch 46 (MIDTERM # 2; 3/31) Animal Sensory Systems & Movement 4/7-9 Ch 47 & 48 Chemical Signals in Animals, Animal Reproduction 4/14-16 Ch 49 & 50 The Immune System in Animals, Ecology 4/21-23 Ch 49 & 50 Population Ecology, Community Ecology 4/28-4/30 Ch 52 & 53 Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Conservation Biology EXAM SCHEDULE Unannounced Quizzes 50 pts (approximately) February 17 1 st Midterm 150 pts March 31 2 nd Midterm 150 pts MAY 5 10:30 AM Final Exam 150 pts Course Points 500 points (approximately, will vary according to the number of quizzes given) 5