Biol 221, Introduction to Organismal Biology

Spring 2008

Instructor:       Dr. Michael Reagan                           

My office        New Science Bldg., Room 216         

My telephone  363-3110                                            

My email:        mreagan@csbsju.edu                         

OFFICE HOURS:     I am no longer having formal office hours.  Any time I am in my office feel free to come in talk to me.  I might not be able to talk to you at that exact minute, but we can set up a time to talk. Otherwise, make an appointment that will fit my schedule and yours.

Welcome back from Christmas break!  Biol 221 builds on the foundations you acquired in Biol 121 and takes you to a new level: the level of the organism.  We shall be exploring plant and animal form and function, side by side, in lecture and lab.  Though the connections between the cellular and organismal level may not be immediately apparent, please keep in mind that multicellular organisms are communities of cells whose general properties and activities are already familiar to you.

Text: The required text for this course is Biology by RJ Brooker, EP Widmaier, LE Graham, and PD Stiling (2008), McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, IA.  It is available in either a single hardcover or three separate paperback volumes.

Course Web Site

The main site is at: http://www.employees.csbsju.edu/mreagan/Bio221.htm

Remember to check the Announcements page regularly!

Lab manual and lab notebook:  The faculty and staff of this department have written the lab manual used in this course.  It will be handed out at the laboratory orientation session that you are scheduled to attend.  However, you also need to purchase a carbonless Student Lab Notebook for Life Science, available at the SJU Bookstore.

Course Description:  The purpose of this course is to provide an overview to the structure and function of plants and animals.  We will take a problems-based approach to our studies.  Any species, whether plant or animal, must deal with the same basic problems – transport, exchanging materials with the environment, reproduction, defense against predators, and so on.  In this course we will examine some of the major biological problems faced by all organisms and then see how plants and animals, respectively, have evolutionarily “solved” these problems.

Course Structure:  Your success as a student in this course will require regular attendance, scrupulous note taking, and mastery of the textbook material through careful study.  You will meet for a 70-minute lecture period every other day. You will report to lab once every cycle, including cycles 1 and 12.  Lab attendance in your lab section is mandatory.  Labs run for 2 hours and 50 minutes.  Occasionally you may need to stay longer to complete assigned work or come in outside of the regularly scheduled time to check on the progress of your experiment. 

Exams and Grading: Your grade will be based on your performance on exams, quizzes, homework and laboratory work. There will be 3 lecture exams plus the final.  The lecture exams will cover the chapters indicated on the course syllabus. The final will be approximately 20% comprehensive and 80% new material.  All lecture exams except the final will be taken during the regularly scheduled lecture times, and all exams must be taken when scheduled except by prior arrangement with the instructor.  (The instructor is under no obligation to allow exams to be taken at other than scheduled times.)  The final exam will be given during finals week, and at the same time for all sections of Biol 221.  The date and locations will be announced later.  You will be expected to arrange your departure from campus so that you can attend the final.The point breakdown is a follows:

Exams 1-3 will each count 17%

Exam 4 will count 24%

Assignments, quizzes, seminars, etc. 0 - 10%

Laboratory 25%

Academic Integrity:  Biology 221 and other courses in the Biology Department operate on the honor code.  Cheating, plagiarism and other dishonest acts are not tolerated and will be dealt with according to the procedures outlined at this link: http://www.csbsju.edu/catalog/2007_2009/programs/rights/.

Readings