BIOL 1020 – Principles of Biology – Fall 2014
WEB PAGE: http://www.auburn.edu/biol1020/bowling
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Scott Bowling
Office: 347 Funchess Hall (844-3932)
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: Thursdays 8-10 AM (if you have classes throughout that whole time then email to set up an appointment)
Lecture Times: TR 2-3:15 pm in 112 Rouse Life Sciences Building
Course Objectives: The principle objective of this course is for students to develop a fundamental understanding of the
key concepts, principles, and theories of modern biology. Lectures, class discussions and activities, laboratory sections,
and online homework assignments are all focused mainly on helping students meet this objective. If achieved, this
objective will provide the foundation necessary for subsequent courses in the biological sciences. The key concepts in the
course are organized into units on biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, evolution, and ecology. Basic
principles and theories of biology addressed in the course include: the chemical basis of life; cell theory; energy flow and
management; gene and gene products (including inheritance and gene expression); evolution, especially by means of
natural selection; and studies of ecological populations and their interactions with living and non-living aspects of their
environment.
Note that you need to ENROLL IN BIOL 1021 THIS SEMESTER as that is the required lab corequisite for BIOL 1020.
This is true EVEN IF you have taken the class before. Biol 1021 is a required part of this course, and will account for
25% of your course grade. Laboratory attendance is MANDATORY. See your Biol 1021 Canvas for more
information about the laboratory, such as the lab schedule, rules, and syllabus.
Required Materials:
 Campbell Biology 10th Edition with MasteringBiology (custom bundle, only found at area bookstores)
o NOTE: there is online-only purchase option through the custom portal, see class emails/Canvas
announcements for more information about that option
 Into the Jungle by Sean Carroll (comes with custom bundle, can be bought used as well)
 Principles of Biology 1021(Majors) Laboratory Manual, 4th Edition (Sundermann, Lishak, and Bowling)
 calculator (the ones that you can get for about a dollar at Walmart are fine)
Lecture: You should consider preparation for and attendance of lecture classes as mandatory if you wish to succeed in this
course. If you do not attend classes and do not prepare for classes you will likely do very poorly on exams. Plus, you will
miss activities and quizzes (and you will not be able to make those up); more information about activities comes later in this
syllabus.
Communication: Important information will be conveyed throughout the semester via Canvas announcements. Canvas
announcements and class emails are official communication for this course. Policies and announcements made via Canvas
announcements or linked on the home page of the course Canvas site are considered extensions of this syllabus. Check
your notifications settings on Canvas and ensure that you are having announcements sent to you ASAP; you should also log
in to Canvas on a regular basis and check for announcements there. Should circumstances warrant a revision to this
syllabus that revision will be posted on Canvas and a Canvas announcement will be sent.
For various reasons, you must use your Auburn email account when you email me. If you send an email from another
account I may not reply at all, but if I do it will be to remind you to use your Auburn account. While Canvas does have a
messaging function, please use direct email instead to ensure more timely replies. Also, please make clear in your email
what course you are asking about (I am coordinator for Biol 1021 and Biol 1031 labs as well as teaching this course).
Individual Exams: All examinations will consist of multiple-choice questions. Scan sheets will be provided, so for exams
you need bring only mechanical or sharpened #2 pencils and a calculator (must not be a cell phone or any other
communication device; I reserve the right to reject anything that you are using as a calculator, so if in doubt about your
calculator, ask). NOTHING else brought into the room will be permitted on your desk during an exam unless you are told
otherwise. Any appeals of exam grading or questions should be made in writing via email within 48 hours after the full
exam results (grade details) are posted. DO NOT EXPECT TO PROTEST A GRADE ON AN EXAM AFTER THIS 2DAY WINDOW HAS PASSED. There will be three exams during the term (worth 100 points each) plus the final exam
(worth 250 points).
Activities: A significant portion of your grade will come from Activities. These points will come from MasteringBiology
homework, Learning Catalytics (primarily done in class), and potentially some other in-class activities. Learning Catalytics
activities will be done in class on all or nearly all class days that do not have exams, and you will use your iPads to do the
Learning Catalytics activities (so bring your iPad to every Biol 1020 class). Together these activities are allotted 200 points,
or 20% of the course. MasteringBiology homework assignments will have deadlines, and items completed late will generally
be penalized 25% per day late. In-class activities cannot be made up for any reason; you must be in class for these or you
miss out on that opportunity for points.
Now the really good news: there will be well over 200 points worth of Activities assignments, so you will have plenty of
opportunities to earn 200 points. Any Activities points that you earn over 200 will be used to earn bonus points in your
Activities score at a rate of 1/10 per point. For example, if you earn 300 raw Activities points you will have an Activities
score of 210 points (your base 200 points plus 1/10 of your extra 100 points). We may wind up with so many extra
Activities points possible that I determine that a cap must be placed on the possible bonus, but that cap will be no lower than
25 bonus points possible (and it may be higher).
Bonus Points: Besides the bonus points available through Activities, the exams will all have extra questions that will
allow you to earn bonus points. The lab will also have extra points possible overall. Except for these, there will be no
opportunities for extra credit or bonus work for this class.
Make-ups: Makeups are not possible for the Activities items, only for the exams. Missed exams create problems for you,
your fellow students, and the instructor; make every effort to not miss them. Missed exams will only be excused following
the guidelines in the Auburn University Student Policy eHandbook. Valid excuses for missing an exam are: 1) severe
illness; 2) official University excuses 3) at my discretion, personal or family emergencies Documentation will be required
in all cases. Excuses must be submitted no later than 48 hours after the class meeting following the missed exam (at least
an email notice by then is required); this includes weekends and holidays. Failure to do this will result in a score of zero on
that exam.
Official University business that is in conflict with an examination date will be honored only if the student calls attention
to the conflict before the examination (this includes participation in any University sponsored or approved activity – you
know about these ahead of time, and you MUST therefore let me know ahead of time). Excuses for religious holidays
must be presented before the examination date as well. All make-ups must be completed within one school week
following the missed exam. If a prolonged, excused absence prohibits making up the exam within a school week then
other options will be discussed (most likely increased weight of the comprehensive final exam). A missed final exam, if
excused, must be taken and an incomplete will be recorded until it is taken.
Cheating: All forms of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Honesty Committee. The Academic
Honesty Code found in the Auburn University Student Policy eHandbook should be considered an extension of this
syllabus and should be read by all students. You can be given an F or even expelled from Auburn University for cheating.
Accessibility: Students who need accommodations need to work with the Office of Accessibility (1228 Haley Center; 8442096) to have their accommodations entered online. Exams must be scheduled and taken through the Office of Accessibility
proctored exam system to have accommodations honored. Students with accommodations are encouraged to see me during
office hours so that we can discuss your situation confidentially.
Studying: More specific details about what you should do before, during, and after class for the active learning format
of the class will be provided separately (including suggestions for how to make use of your iPads). Briefly, before class
you should use the posted lecture notes and slideshows to go through the course material (using your textbook as needed
to help you with details or difficult concepts). All topics covered in the notes and slideshows will be eligible for
Learning Catalytics and exam questions; if there is anything eligible beyond this I will communicate that to you via a
Canvas announcement as well as in class. You will generally do MasteringBiology assignments before class as well. In
class I will address areas that students had difficulty with (determined largely based on questions that you ask me in
class), and you will do Learning Catalytics assignments on almost every class day. For some Learning Catalytics
assignments you will work only on your own; for some, you will discuss with your classmates.
Also, be sure to take advantage of the Supplemental Instructions (SI) sessions that will be offered for this course and the
study area within MasteringBiology. It may also be helpful to form study groups with your classmates; discussions in class
and on Canvas will provide means for students to communicate with each other and form study groups. Information about
tutoring services like study partners can be found online by searching for Academic Support from the Auburn University
home page.
Difficulty of the Course: Several students expect this to be an easy course. I assure you that for many of you this will not
be the case – typically, many students fail Biology 1020 each semester. I advise you to take this class very seriously from
the beginning. The rule of thumb for a college course is 3 hours of work outside of class for every 1 hour in class - that is 9
hours a week outside of class for just the lecture part of this course. There are many concepts and terms that you will need
to be familiar with to do well, and a surprising number of them may be new to you no matter how good your previous
background is. We will be covering about 25 textbook chapters worth of material in what will amount to about 25 class
days, so a fast pace is required. If you are not a biology-related major, this is most likely the wrong course for you; the
Biology 1000-1010 series is intended for non-majors.
Grading: Grades will be assigned according to points earned, as outlined below. NO subjective grade adjustments will be
made in this course – if all students earn A’s, all students will receive A’s; if all earn only an F, all will receive an F. A full
range of grades is typical for this course.
Grading System:
Exam 1
100
Exam 2
100
Exam 3
100
Activities (MasteringBiology, Learning Catalytics, etc.)
200
Comprehensive Final
250
Lecture Subtotal
750 pts
75%
Lab Subtotal
250 pts
25%
GRAND TOTAL
1000 pts
Grading Scale:
A = 90-100% = 900 pts or above
B = 80-89.9% = 800-899
C = 70-79.9% = 700-799
D = 60-69.9% = 600-699
F = below 60% = 599 points or lower
Syllabus, Lectures, and Exams © 2014 Scott A. Bowling
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The lectures and exams given in this class, including all visual displays and depictions, are the copyrighted performance of
the instructor and may not be recorded or reproduced in any form (aural, visual, written, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the
instructor. The author hereby grants permission to all students properly enrolled in the class to record notes from the lectures and print items from the
course website for their own personal, non-commercial use. The author reserves all other rights to the copyrighted work including, without limitation,
derivative works and compilations, to the fullest extent granted under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America. The author gives notice
that notes taken from the lectures are claimed as protected works under the copyright, and may not be sold, given, conveyed, bartered,
transferred, assigned, or otherwise delivered to any person or entity, including, without limitation, persons or entities engaged, in whole or in
part, in the business of obtaining and reselling class notes.
Biology 1020 Fall 2014 – TR 2-3:15 pm 112 Rouse Life Sciences Building: Tentative Course Schedule
DATES
TOPICS/EXAMS
Aug 19
Syllabus, Active Learning, Chapter 1: Introduction – The Science of Biology
Aug 21
Chapter 1 continued; Chapter 2: Chemistry (!)
Aug 26
Chapter 2 continued; Chapter 3: What’s so great about water?
Aug 28
Chapter 4: Carbon (organic molecules)
Sept 2
Chapter 5: Types of organic molecules
Sept 4
Chapter 5 continued; Chapter 6: A Tour of the Cell
Sept 9
Chapter 6: continued; exam review
Sept 11
More exam review; Chapter 7: Membranes
Sept 16
EXAM 1 - 100 pts (Chs. 1-6)
Sept 18
Chapter 7: Membranes; group Exam 1
Sept 23
Chapter 8: Energy and Metabolism
Sept 25
Chapter 9: How do cells harvest energy?
Sept 30
Chapter 10: Photosynthesis
Oct 2
Chapter 12: The Cell Cycle
Oct 7
Chapter 13: Meiosis and Sexual Life Cycles; exam review
Oct 9
Chapter 16: DNA
Oct 14
EXAM 2 - 100 pts (Chs. 1-10, 12, 13)
Oct 16
FALL BREAK
Oct 21
Chapter 16 continued; Chapter 17: Genes and How They Work
Oct 23
Chapter 17 continued; Chapters 14 and 15: Genetics
Oct 28
Chapters 14 and 15 continued
Oct 30
Chapters 14 and 15 continued
Nov 4
Chapters 14 and 15 continued; Chapter 22: Evolution
Nov 6
Chapter 22 continued; Into the Jungle 1-3
Nov 11
Chapter 23: Population Genetics; exam review
Nov 13
EXAM 3 - 100 pts (all topics through and including Ch. 22+Into the Jungle 1-3)
Nov 18
Chapter 24: The Origin of Species
Nov 20
Chapter 25: The Origin and Evolutionary History of Life on Earth; Into the Jungle 6
Nov 25/27
THANKSGIVING BREAK
Dec 2
Unit 8: Ecology (Chapters 52-56)
Dec 4
Unit 8: Ecology (Chapters 52-56)
Dec 12
FINAL EXAM: comprehensive (250 points); in the regular lecture classroom, 112 Rouse
DATE/TIME: Friday, December 12, 4-6:30pm (see Final Exams on the Academic Calendar)