BIOS
101, BIOLOGY OF POPULATIONS & COMMUNITIES
Prof.
Nyberg,
Integrity is an essential component of science, education and many other human interactions. All assignments turned in by a student must have been created by that student (i.e. not copied from other sources without proper attribution). Consult “Student Code of Conduct” http://www.vcsa.uic.edu/MainSite/departments/dean_of_students/Links/UIC+Discipline+Code.htm#t , if you have doubts about what is meant by ‘created by yourself.’ If the staff detects copying or other types of cheating the individuals involved will be penalized.
The total points which can be earned in BioS 101A are 375. This total includes 240 points that can be earned on three hour examinations and 135 points earned on work completed in the Discussion or Laboratory. There will be NO opportunities to earn "extra" points. Use the point range listed below to convert your points to a letter grade:
A 375 – 325 B 324 – 280 C 279 – 232 D
231 – 187 E ≤ 186
EXAMINATIONS: Each exam is worth 80 points and will consist of 40 multiple choice questions (each worth 2 points) drawn from Lecture, Discussion, Laboratory, Problem Sets and assigned Readings. The 3 EXAMS (50 minutes each) will be given during the scheduled lecture on the following dates:
There are NO
make-up exams for the above hour examinations. If you miss an exam, provide
a written explanation to your teaching
assistant when you return to UIC and ask for a copy of the missed exam. Your
score on the Optional Final will replace your lowest exam score.
During the 15th week you will have a conference
with your teaching assistant (=TA) that will review our records of the points
that you earned in BioS 101. All problems about points earned must be raised (by email to Nyberg),
and hopefully will be resolved, by
The
OPTIONAL FINAL EXAM will be given ONLY during the scheduled final exam time:
May 5 (
DISCUSSION & LABORATORY: A total of 135 points may be earned.
DISCUSSION: BEFORE each Discussion students will answer the Discussion questions/problems in their laboratory book. All assignments will be submitted to your Teaching Assistant (TA) prior to or at the beginning of the Discussion period, otherwise the assignment is LATE. Each of weeks Discussion assignment is worth 1 point (total possible = 15). No points are earned if you are absent from Discussion regardless of the reason, including you came into the course late. Three Problem Sets each worth 10 points will be assigned (total possible = 30). The Problem Sets are due in Discussion during the week specified in syllabus (i.e., 3, 8, 13). Problem sets will be graded by your TA.
LABORATORY: During each Laboratory students will fill in Data Sheets based on their observations and understanding of observations. Completion of the data sheet is worth a maximum of 2 points (total possible = 30). Show your lab sheet to your TA prior to leaving the laboratory. No data sheet points are earned if you are absent from laboratory. If you miss a lab for which a report is due, you can NOT earn credit for a lab report. Individuals that will miss a lab because of participation in a UIC sponsored event (such as athletes) may attend a different lab section in the same week as they lab they will miss (subject to email-confirmed approval of both your TA and the TA of the section you hope to attend).
LABORATORY REPORTS: All lab reports must be
submitted as WORD or OPEN OFFICE electronic file to your Teaching Assistant
(TA). Each lab report will be worth a maximum of 15 points. The laboratories
you will write reports on are Medieval Science
(due week 4), Population Genetics (due week
8), Aquatic Food Web (due week 12) and Interspecific Interactions (due week 13: lab started in week 9).
Reports should begin with a section, called the Introduction, which describes
what you should be learning from the lab. Usually the introduction includes
information from sources besides the manual. The next session is the methods.
Since you will be following directions in the lab manual this section can be
brief, concentrating of deviations of what you actually did from the directions
in the manual. The RESULTS is the section of the
report where you describe the data you have collected and process the data in a
manner that presents the data in an interpreted form. Statistics such as the
MEAN and VARIANCE should be reported in the results and graphs of the data
should be prepared. Simple graphs prepared by your spreadsheet should be
inserted in your report. The next section is the DISCUSSION. In this section
you describe how your observations described in the results support (or fail to
support) the idea of the lab which was presented in the introduction. The
discussion may also cite information from other sources. The final section of
your report is references, a list of the sources of information that you have
used.
The reports will be written by each student
individually even when data was collected by a group of students. Late lab reports will NOT be accepted.
COMPLAINTS and GRIEVANCES:
Complaints about grading should be brought first
to the attention of person responsible for the grading; your teaching assistant
(TA) for lab reports and problem sets, Dr. Nyberg for exam questions. If you do
not accept you TA’s decision as fair, you may bring your problem to Dr. Molumby. If your problem is not solved by the staff in a
manner you accept, UIC has grievance procedures http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/osa/policy/grievance.htm