Class Schedule and Instructors

*Both lecture sections will be team-taught by professors Hatch and Tanner

Prerequisite & Co-requisite

To enroll in BIOL 106, students must complete Principles of Biology 1 (BIOL 105) and Principles of Biology I Laboratory (BIOL 105L) with a grade of C or better.  Students must also co-enroll in the laboratory course (BIOL 106L) or have previous completed the course with a grade of C or better.

Description

Principles of Biology II (BIOL 106 & the co-requisite BIOL 106L) is the second in the sequence of core courses required for the biology major. This course is intended for biology majors or others with a serious interest in the life sciences and, together with Principles of Biology I (BIOL 105 & BIOL 105L), will provide a foundation for further studies in the biological sciences. The successful completion of Principles of Biology I and II with grades of C or better is prerequisite for the second-year core courses, Genetics (BIOL 270 & BIOL 270L) and Ecology and Evolution (BIOL 271 & BIOL 271L), and almost all of the upper-division biology courses.

Course Objectives

The primary objective of Principles of Biology II is to introduce you to life at the organismal level. We will begin with a discussion of the principles of evolution and how these principles explain the diversity of life and have influenced our classification of organisms. We will then discuss the origin of life and move to a discussion of the diversity of life on Earth, including the relationships among the major groups of organisms. We will integrate a discussion of the relationships between structure and function of the major groups of organisms into our exploration of diversity, focusing on solutions to common problems faced by organisms, from single cells to complex organisms such as plants and animals.

Textbooks and Supplies

Required text: Biology.  Peter Raven et al. 9th edition. 2011. McGraw Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07-353222-6. The text also comes with an access code to the course website; online quizzes are required for this course so you’ll definitely need that access code.  There will be occasional additional readings available on BlackBoard as PDF documents. Available from the Campus Store.

Optional: A study guide to accompany the text is available. If you’re used to studying by reading over the text and reading over your notes, you’ll probably find your old study habits inadequate, and the study guide may help you study more actively and effectively.  The study guide can be effective for organizing discussion in your study groups. Available from the Campus Store.

Optional:Dictionary of Word Root and Combining Forms. D. J. Borror. 1985. Any serious biologist or health-care professional will find this book extraordinarily useful, because it helps attach meaning to otherwise quite mysterious words. If, for instance, you know that anther means flower (Greek), or a medicine made from the pollen producing parts of plants (Latin) and phore (Greek) means to carry, then antheridiophore (meaning the part of a plant that carries the pollen or the stalk that holds up an anther is not so) is not so mysterious). Even better you are now half way to under standing every other word containing "phor" (Cilliophora, Ctenophora etc) or "anther" (antheridial head, anthophyta) Yes, it is an extra effort to look up the derivation of all of the new terms you will need to succeed in this course. Past classes has shown a strong correlation between this activity and success in this course. This book is also available from the Campus Store, but they don't stock lots of them. Just ask if they are out.

BlackBoard

We will use the course management software BlackBoard for communication with this class. Information for both lecture sections as well as materials used by all laboratory sections will be placed in one BlackBoard site. You will find your grades posted there, as well as a variety of course related material such as the syllabus, the schedule, additional readings, outside links, PowerPoint presentations, and copies of all assignments. Black board notices will be used to convey critical time-sensitive material. While we will endeavor to simultaneously send critical notices via email, you should make checking BlackBoard part of your daily routine.

Attendance

You are expected to attend all lectures and complete assigned readings before lectures for each topic. Although attendance will not be taken in lecture, missing a class will affect your performance on exams and will result in a grade of zero if you miss an unannounced quiz.

Evaluation

You will be evaluated on the basis of your performance on the following:

Exams

Exams will cover material from lecture, textbook, and laboratory exercises (from BIOL 106L) and may include multiple-choice, short-answer, essay type questions, problems, and/or diagrams.  Exams are cumulative and may include material from previous sections of the course to encourage you to review.  Exams can only be made up if arrangements with the instructor(s) are made prior to the scheduled examination time and are offered only for extenuating circumstances. Make-up exams will generally be comprehensive oral examinations administered on the last day of the final-exam period.

Final examination

About half of the final exam will cover material discussed after the last midterm exam. The other half will be a comprehensive examination covering the course and laboratory material for the entire semester.

Quizzes

There will be five or more unannounced quizzes. These will be relatively short and will emphasize recent material from lecture, but they may be cumulative as well. Quizzes are designed to encourage you to keep up with the course and also to provide you with rapid feedback on your performance. Only your best five quizzes will be included for the computation of your final grade.  No make-up quizzes will be offered.

Clicker questions

The instructor may ask clicker questions during class, and you will be expected to provide an answer via your remote “clicker.”  Some lectures will have no clicker questions while others will have several, depending on the material that is covered.  In some instances the clicker questions will be counted as quizzes. 

Warning: each individual student is expected to use his/her own clicker during class, and not the clicker of another student.  Failure to do so is a serious breach of academic honesty, as it constitutes impersonating another student.  Incidents of this nature will be brought to the attention of the Academic Judicial Board and may result in expulsion from SMCM.

On-line quizzes

Your text comes with a variety of on-line resources, including automatically-graded quizzes. While not part of your lecture grade, we encourage you to take these online quizzes as a study and self-assessment tool. We assign them because they help you study actively and solidify your learning.  Discussing the outcomes of these online quizzes can also contribute to the effectiveness of a study group.

Grades

Grades will be computed as shown below:

Midterm exams

(1 at 15%, 2 at 20%)

55%

Lecture final exam

(1 at 25%

25%

Unannounced quizzes and clicker questions

20%

Total

100%

Week

Dates

Lecture Topic

Readings in Textbook

1

Jan 14, 16, 18

Introduction (CT & WH)

Evolution, Phylogeny and Classification (CT)

Origin of Life (WH)

Ch 1.1, 23, 26, 28.1through -28.5

2

Jan 21

Jan 23, 25

No Class on Monday (Martin Luther King Holiday)

Protists (WH)

Ch 29

3

Jan 28, 30, Feb 1

Overview of green plants (CT)

Ch 30

4

Feb 4, 6, 8

Overview of fungi (CT)

EXAM I

Ch 31

5

Feb 11, 13, 15

Vascular plant structure (CT)

Ch 36

6

Feb 18, 20, 22

Transport in plants (CT) 

Control systems in plants (CT)

Ch 38, 41

7

Feb 25, 27, Mar 1

Introduction to animal diversity (WH)

Invertebrates (WH)

Ch 32, 33, 34

8

Mar 4, 6, 8

EXAM IIVertebrate diversity  (WH)

Ch 35

  9

Mar 11-15

SPRING BREAK

10

Mar 18, 20, 22

Overview of vertebrate form   (WH)

Ch 43

11

Mar 25, 27, 29

Endocrine system (WH)

Ch 46

12

Apr 1, 3, 5

Nervous and sensory mechanisms (WH)

Ch 44, 45

13

Apr  8, 10, 12

EXAM III

Motor mechanisms (CT)

Ch 47

14

Apr 15, 17, 19

Circulation and gas exchange in animals (CT)

Animal nutrition  (CT)

Ch 50, 48, 49

15

Apr 22, 24, 26

Regulating the internal environment  (CT, WH)

Ch 51

16

May 6 (Mon)

May 7 (Tues)

 Section 1 Final Exam:  9:00-11:50 am

 Section 2 Final Exam:  9:00-11:50 am