Instructor

Dr. Brian Ernsting

Office: KC261, 488-1012, be6@evansville.edu

Office hours: Monday and Wednesday, 10:00AM - Noon, and by appointment.

Course Description

This course is designed for non-biology majors who are interested in basic biological concepts. Lectures are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 9:00 - 10:00 AM, in KC 162. Laboratory sections meet on Tuesday in KC 205. The lectures and laboratory sections of this course are integrated, that is, lecture material serves as an introduction to the laboratory work, and will not be repeated. For this reason attendance in both lecture and laboratory is required. Students absent from laboratory without an excuse will receive a 0.

The text for Biology 100 is Starr, C., 1997., Biology: Concepts and Applications., 3rd edition. The text includes a CD ROM inside the back cover, containing supplementary material.

The Biology 100 home page is located at :

http://www2.evansville.edu/be6/b100/home.html

Exams and Grading

There will be three exams and a final in this course. Exams will be given in lecture on Wednesday, and may consist of multiple choice, matching, and short essay questions. The final exam is cumulative, and will be Tuesday, May 4th at 12:30 PM. Exam questions will be based on lecture material as well as assigned reading. If a student cannot take an exam on the scheduled date, and has a valid excuse, a makeup will be allowed. The instructor must be notified at least one week prior to the exam date, otherwise the student will receive a 0 for the exam.

February 3	Exam I	17.5% of course grade
March 17	Exam II	17.5% of course grade
April 26	Exam III	17.5% of course grade
May 4	Final Exam	17.5% of course grade

The laboratory grade counts as 30% of the course grade. Individual laboratory report grades are weighted by degree of effort required: reports for laboratory exercises 1, 4, and 6 count double in determining the average laboratory grade.

Extra credit may be earned either by writing a letter to a public official concerning an issue related to course content or by reviewing a book or journal article. Extra credit assignments will be chosen on April 12, and are due April 26. These assignments are worth a maximum of 15 points, to be added to one exam score.

Course grades will be assigned using the following scale.

90-100 A

80-89 B

70-79 C

60-69 D

0-59 F

Academic Honor Code

All students are expected to abide by the University's Honor Code. Accordingly, students are expected to neither give nor receive unauthorized aid on exams, lab reports, or class papers.

Date	Topic
January 12	Scientific Method
January 19	Scientific Method
January 26	Cells
February 2	Cell Division
February 9	Diffusion and Osmosis
February 16	Genetics
February 23	Geneics
March 2	Recombinant DNA
March 16	Recombinant DNA
March 23	Evolution
March 30	Student Presentations
April 6	Student Presentations
April 13	Population / Resources
April 20	Review