Transition School Biology: Autumn 2015 Instructor: Nicole Iranon Teaching Assistant: Alia Hidayat Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 10:30-11:20 Friday: 10:30-12:30 Instructor: Nicole Iranon Email: iranon@uw.edu Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday: 1:30-2:30 Teaching Assistant: Alia Hidayat Email: ahidayat@uw.edu Office hours: Monday and Wednesday: 1:30-2:30 Required textbook: Biological Sciences, 4 th edition, by Scott Freeman Course Overview: Transition School biology will introduce you to the basic concepts of modern biology, with a focus on understanding the relationships between ideas and processes occurring across vastly different physical and temporal scales. The course is designed to mirror the nature of science as an active and ongoing process. You will perform laboratory investigations, design experiments, and collect, analyze, and create appropriate graphical representations of data. There is also an emphasis on the importance of scientific communication. You will learn to read and evaluate current primary literature in biology, and will practice communicating the results of their own investigations through laboratory reports and oral presentations. Transition school biology is a highly structured course, and you will be expected to be actively engaged in your own learning by completing required readings and homework before class, and coming to class prepared to participate in activities and discussions. Course website: The course website is hosted through Canvas. To enroll, go to: https://canvas.infrastructure.com/enroll/tgmyn4 In addition to using the course website to find course-related documents, you will take your reading quizzes and upload your assignments through Canvas. Exams: Guthrie Annex II Box 351630 Seattle, Washington 98195-1630 206-543-4160 rcys@uw.edu http://robinsoncenter.uw.edu
There will be a total of three exams two midterm exams held at the conclusion of a unit, and one final exam, which will be cumulative. Exam content can come from the assigned readings, from in-class discussions, activities, or lectures, and from material covered in lab. Exams will contain multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. If you miss an exam for any reason, you will receive no credit on that exam, unless you petition your instructor for a makeup exam within 24 hours of the start of the missed exam, and the instructor approves your petition. Your petition must be submitted in writing (by e-mail) and must include documentation of a legitimate reason for missing the exam. The instructor will consider each petition individually. If your petition is approved, you will schedule a make-up exam with the instructor. Reading assignments/quizzes: Your main form of homework in this class will be in the form of reading quizzes, which will be administered through the course website on Canvas. These reading quizzes are intended to keep you on track in your reading and ensure you come to class prepared. The reading quizzes will be made available after class, and are due by 8:30 AM before the next class. They will cover the reading for that day (or the following day, depending on when you complete the quiz). For example, there will be a reading quiz due by 8:30 AM on October 5 th, based on the 24.3 and 24.5 reading. (See tentative schedule below.) Because these quizzes will be due before we go over or discuss the material in class, the questions aren t intended to be hard or time-consuming; they are meant to keep you accountable for the readings so that you will able to fully participate in class. The quizzes are open-book, and there is no time-limit, although you may only take each quiz once. You do not need to have a full or thorough understanding of everything contained within the assigned reading before coming to class. Instead, the readings are intended for you to grasp the basic material on your own, so that we don t waste time in class going over material that you could have easily taught yourself through the textbook. Labs: Labs will be held each Friday in Hitchcock 346. The first day of lab (Friday, Oct. 2) we will meet in the TS classroom and walk to Hitchcock 346 as a group. We will meet in Hitchcock 346 every subsequent lab period unless otherwise announced. Beginning from the very first lab session, you will need a lab notebook in which you will record all of your laboratory assignments throughout the quarter. Some of the labs will include chemicals that can damage clothing, so please dress accordingly. Portfolio:
This portfolio is intended to help you assess your understanding of biology. It is an opportunity to reflect upon what you have learned and analyze the impact of this knowledge upon previously acquired concepts and opinions about biology. It will also allow you to analyze assignments so that you come to better understand your learning style. The completed portfolio should provide you with a permanent, meaningful record of your experience with this course that will help you understand how you think, how you learn best, what you think, and why you think it. Grading: Your grade will be determined by the following distribution: Exams: 2 midterms each worth 15% of your grade (30% total) Final: cumulative final worth 25% of your grade Reading quizzes/small projects worth 15% of your grade Lab notebook worth 15% of your grade Portfolio worth 15% of your grade Other notes: In lecture and laboratory, you will frequently be working in groups. However, all assignments are individual efforts, not group efforts. Discussion of answers is encouraged before an assignment s due date is encouraged, but all work submitted must be your own. Never copy lab exercises from your lab partner(s). Proper use of e-mail. Before sending a message, check the syllabus and class website to make sure your question isn t answered in one of these places. Questions about biology should be asked in class or during office hours, not through e-mail. Finally, although the instructor and TA wish to be accessible to you, e-mails must be sent before 5:00 PM to ensure a response. E-mails sent after 10:00 PM will receive a response until the following morning. Tentative Schedule: Week Dates Topic Readings 1 Oct 1 Nature of science 1.5 (pp 8-12) Oct 2 Lab Black box experiments Oct 5 Natural selection 24.3, 24.5 (pp 422-424; 429-432) *Initial portfolio essay due 2 Oct 6 Genetics and evolution 13.1, 13.2, 13.3 Oct 8 Oct 9 Other evolutionary forces Lab- Insect Predation (pp 230-239) 25.3, 25.4, 25.5, 25.6, 443-455
3 4 5 6 Oct 12 Evidence of evolution 24.2 (pp 416-422) Oct 13 Alia lesson marine evolution Oct 15 Teaspoon paper discussion Lim et al., 2005 Oct 16 Lab- Chocolate phylogeny 27.1 (pp 474-476 through Using Parsimony ) Oct 19 Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, 25.1, 25.2 (pp types of natural selection 436-443); 26.1 (p458-462) Oct 20 Speciation 26.2, 26.3 (Ignore polyploidy section), 26.4 (pp 462-4465; 468-471) Oct 22 Mimicry paper discussion Salazar et al., 2015 Oct 23 Lab Soil invertebrates Oct 26 Exam 1 - Evolution Oct 27 Intro to matter, properties of water 2.1, 2.2 (pp 16-24 through How Does Water s ); 2.4 (pp 33-36) Oct 29 Biological buffers, biological macromolecules 2.2 (pp 25-26 Acid-Base Reaction section); 3.2 (40-44); 4.1, 4.2 (pp 59-64 through What is the Nature ); 5.1 (pp 71-73); 6.1 (83-84) Oct 30 Lab - Macromolecules Nov 2 Variation in biological 3.3, 3.4 (pp 45- macromolecules 50); 4.2, 4.3 (pp 65-68 start at *Evolution portion of portfolio DNA Functions due as ); 5.2, 5.3 (pp 73-79); 6.2 (pp 85-89) Nov 3 Cellular transport 6.3, 6.4 (pp 89-99) Nov 5 Surface area::volume ratios, tonicity 41.3 (pp 811-814); 42.1, 42.2 (pp 823-828) Nov 6 Lab Diffusion and osmosis 7 Nov 9 Cellular compartmentalization 7.1, 7.2 (102-114)
8 9 10 11 Finals week Nov 10 Organelle structure and function 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6 (pp 115-128) Nov 12 Mitochondria and exercise paper discussion Gollnick et al., 1969 Nov 13 Lab Cell membranes and limits to cell size Nov 16 Exam II Matter Nov 17 Energy, thermodynamics 2.3 (pp 27-33) Nov 19 Enzymes 3.5 (pp 51-56) Nov 20 Lab Factors influencing enzyme activity Nov 23 Energy processing, ATP 9.1 (148-152); 10.0 (p 172 first paragraphs before Nov 24 Nov 26 Nov 27 Nov 30 Dec 1 Dec 3 Dec 4 Dec 7 Dec 8 Dec 10 Dec 11 Dec 16 Photosynthesis *Matter portion of portfolio due Thanksgiving Thanksgiving break Anaerobic cellular respiration Aerobic cellular respiration and the citric acid cycle Aerobic cellular respiration and chemiosmosis Lab Alcoholic fermentation in yeast How energy is used Enzyme concentration/fiber composition paper discussion Enzyme concentration/fiber composition paper discussion continued Final cumulative *Portfolio with summative essay due 10.1) 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4 (pp 172-190) 9.2, 9.3 (pp153-156); 9.7 (pp 166-168) 9.4, 9.5 (pp 156-161) 9.6, (pp161-166); 9.8 (pp 168-169) Gollnick et al., 1972