Biology 103 - 01
Biology of Populations
Fall 2002

Lecturer:     Dr. John Kasmer
office:         SCI 340-F
office hours:   MW 12-1, 6-6:30 & 8:20-8:50pm; Th 12:30-1:30; or by appt.
phone:        773-442-5717
e-mail:        j-kasmer@neiu.edu

Class meets:
Lecture M  10:00 - 11:50 SCI 347
Lab       W   9:10 - 11:50 SCI 347

Required texts:
Campbell, N.A. and J.B. Reece. 2002. Biology. 6/e. Benjamin/Cummings: NY.
Morgan, J.G. & M.E.B. Carter. 2002. Investigating Biology. 4/e. Benjamin/Cummings: NY.

Course description and goals:
"This course will address problems of life at the population level, including the hereditary basis of variability and homogeneity, factors influencing the gene pool, the concept of species, the diversification of life in time, and populations in their physical and biological environments."

In lecture, the course will be divided approximately into thirds. The first third will deal with transmission genetics and the molecular basis of heredity and phenotype, the middle third will deal with population genetics and evolutionary processes, and the final third will deal with ecology, focusing on the interactions of individuals and populations with their physical environments and each other.

In lab, you will have the opportunity to get first-hand experience with a variety of concepts and investigative techniques that are presented in lecture, as well as some additional material. Note that in order for you to get the most out of your lab experiences, you need to be prepared for each lab, which means that you must read the lab exercises thoroughly before coming to lab. In addition, you should be prepared to participate actively in labs, both in conducting the exercises, helping to decide on specific protocols in open-ended investigations, and in presenting and discussing your results and the results of other students.

Lecture exams:
There will be three 100-point lecture exams, for a total of 300 points toward your grade. The final exam will not be comprehensive (i.e., it will cover only the material presented since the third exam, not all of the material presented in the course). Exams will include a combination of multiple-choice, true-false, matching and short-answer questions, and problems to solve. In addition, there may be questions based on material covered in lab (including "lab practical" questions, in which you identify or answer questions about organisms or slides of organisms).

Because there is a fair amount of factual material, some questions will only require you to 'regurgitate' information. However, I will also expect you to be able to apply your knowledge of biological concepts in solving problems (and showing how you arrived at your answer) and in answering short-answer/essay questions that present you with novel situations or new contexts for the material. Therefore, you should keep up with the material (cramming is not a successful strategy for learning how to solve problems), attempt to answer all of the questions at the ends of the chapters in the text, and ask questions when you don't understand something, can't figure out how to get an answer or if you're not sure that your answer is correct.

Web-based activities:
The publisher of the text that we are using for this course has an extensive web-site that supports the text. Some of the features of this web-site are multiple-choice quizzes, simulated lab exercises, and essay questions for each chapter. All of these activities are done on-line, and you can e-mail your results or answers directly to your instructor (me! my address is: j-kasmer@neiu.edu ). I will assign an unspecified number of web-based activities over the course of the semester, which will count for a total of 100 points toward your final grade. I will assign the activities in class, at which time I will also inform you of when each assignment is due.

Written lab assignments:
In order to make sure you really think about what you have done in lab, and in order for me to be able to evaluate how well you were able to accomplish the various lab exercises, I will assign writing assignments, questions to answer, or problems to solve based on the activities that you perform in lab. These written assignments will be assigned in class, will be due at the beginning of the next lab period, and will be worth a total of 100 points toward your final grade.

Grading:
Your grade for the course will be determined by your final cumulative average on the following assignments.

300 pts   Lecture exams (3 x 100 pts)
100        Web-based activities
100        Written lab assignments
500 pts   total

Grades for the course will be assessed on a straight scale: >90% = A; 80-89 = B; 70-79 = C; etc.

Other policies:

Attendance in lectures, discussions and labs is required.

Exams must be taken at the scheduled times and web-based assignments must be handed in by their due dates. No make-up exams or extra-credit assignments will be given. If you miss an exam (or other assignment) without good (documented) cause, and without speaking to me before the exam is given, you will recieve a zero for that exam.

Cheating and Plagiarism:
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Although I encourage students to study together, all writing assignments must represent your own work. Cheating on exams, or plagiarism on written or web-based assignments will result in a zero for that exam or assignment, and that score will not be dropped. If the incident of academic misconduct os egregious, you may receive a grade of F for the entire course, at my discretion. Students caught or suspected of cheating will also be referred to the Chair of the Biology Department and to the Dean of Students.