Syllabus

BIO1201 LECTURE SYLLABUS

Instructor:                Prof. M. Montes-Matias

E-mail:                       MMontes-Matias@citytech.cuny.edu; marie.c.montes@gmail.com

Phone:                      718-260-5129

Office Hours:           Tuesdays                   10-11am; 1-2pm (In person)

                                                            ***Additional office hours by special arrangement****

 

Office Location:      P313 (3^rd floor of the Pearl building)

Textbook:                 Biology, by Sylvia Mader, 10^th Ed., McGraw-Hill Publisher

COURSE OUTLINE:

This is a hybrid course, where 30-40% of the meetings will be held on line. This syllabus will provide detailed information of meeting dates and location.  The course is divided into three parts; following each part there will be a written examination on the material covered in class.  In addition, there will be 3 online quizzes and a term paper (details will be posted later in the semester).  Specifically, students will be tested on the basis on their scores of 2 midterms, a final, 3 online quizzes and a term paper. The outline below indicates the chapters that will be covered in each part, to be used as a studying material. Further studying material may be posted on Blackboard and OpenLab by the Professor.

GRADING POLICY:

This is the lecture component of the BIO1201 course, and its final grade will account for 60% towards the overall BIO1201 grade. The remaining 40% of the final grade will be determined according to the student’s performance in the laboratory component of the course. As already mentioned, the lecture score will be calculated on the basis of a total three exams in class, three online quizzes and a term paper. 

 

Make-Up Exams: Make-ups for the online quizzes and Midterms MAY be given ONLY ONCE, provided the student has a valid excuse (medical or death with written proof) for having missed the given deadline. Notably, there won’t be any make-ups for the Final exam.  NO EXCEPTIONS!

Bonus/Penalty Points: Finally, note that in-class participation will be accounted for each student’s evaluation at the end of the semester. Bonus points will be given to students that show high and meaningful participation in class and that comply with the attendance policies (see next section). Also, the professor may assign bonus points in other circumstances that will be described in class (discussion board, presentations, writing assignments). On the other hand, penalty points will be assigned to students with disruptive behavior, who don’t comply with the attendance rules and who don’t behave properly in class (examples of improper behavior include listening to music, text-messaging and in general playing with cell phones, talking, napping). Note that bonus/penalty points are the equivalent to one point of the total score.

 

 

ATTENDANCE POLICIES:

Absences: According to college and departmental policies, students are entitled to a maximum number of absences equal to 10% of the number of lectures in a given course. This means that BIO1201 students will be entitled to a maximum of 3 absences. If a student misses more than 3 classes, he/she will receive a WU (for Unofficial Withdrawal) grade at the end of the semester, corresponding to a failing grade. Note that no exceptions will be made.

Lateness: Students coming in late are very disruptive.  Your instructor will give you a “late grace period” of 5 minutes from the moment that class starts. After that, a student will be marked as “late”. Moreover, three late marks will be counted as one absent mark. Finally, a student that is more than 20’ late will be marked as absent for that lecture and students won’t be allowed in the classroom.  Since this is a hybrid course, your instructor will track your participation on blackboard.  Online meetings are schedule for some Thursdays.  You will have until midnight of the Sunday after to do your work online.  In case you fail to do so, you will be marked as absent.  Since this course provides you a lot of flexibility, there will be no concessions.  You must log-in at least three times a week.  This will also accounts for your attendance and failure to login will result in an absence mark.

Absences without excuses will be penalized. 

Attendance Sheet: The Professor will pass around an attendance sheet at the beginning of class. Students will need to sign next to their names and pass the sheet along. After the 5′ grace period, the sheet will be collected by the Professor, and students who come late to class will need to sign the sheet at the end of the lecture. Failure to sign the sheet will cause students to be marked absent.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

Academic dishonesty occurs when individuals plagiarize or cheat in the course of their academic work.

Plagiarism is the presenting of someone else’s ideas without proper credit or attribution. These ideas could come from:

1.    Information obtained from books, journals or other printed sources.

2.    The work of other students or of faculty.

3.    Information from the Internet.

4.    Software programs or other electronic material.

5.    Designs produced by other students or faculty.

Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise. Examples of cheating include:

1.    Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to copy your work.

2.    Unauthorized collaboration on a take-home assignment or examination.

3.    Using notes during a closed-book examination.

4.    Taking an examination for another student, or asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you.

5.    Changing a graded exam and returning it for more credit.

6.    Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to more than one course without consulting each instructor.

7.    Preparing answers or writing notes in an exam manual before an examination.

8.    Allowing others to research and write assigned papers or do assigned projects, including the use of commercial term paper services.

9.    Giving assistance to acts of academic misconduct/dishonesty.

10.Fabricating data (in whole or in part).

11.Falsifying data (in whole or in part).

12.Unauthorized use during an examination of electronic or wireless, handheld devices, including computers or other technologies to retrieve or send information during an exam.

 

LAB INSTRUCTOR’S NAME:

It is EXTREMELY important that each student communicates the name of his/her lab instructor to the lecture professor and vice-versa. Students that will communicate the name of their lab professor by the second lecture will earn a bonus point. Students that will fail to communicate the name of their lab professor by the fifth lecture will receive one penalty point for every day that will pass without the professor knowing the name of their lab instructor.

BLACKBOARD and OPENLAB:

Since this is a hybrid course, the use of Blackboard, OpenLab and their components is essential.  Blackboard will be used on a regular basis by the lecture professor for lecturing, to post course materials, comments and various announcements. Each student is required to log in at least twice a week and your professor will monitor this information often.  Not logging in as specified, will result in an absent mark and will follow its penalties.  Participation is essential and your instructor will track your participation constantly.  It is important to have an OpenLab account and join the course group.  

(If you are not familiar with Blackboard and/or OpenLab or if you have technical problems with the log-in process, notify your instructor IMMEDIATELY).

Also, students are required to have an e-mail address registered on the Blackboard website. An updated email is necessary for students to be reachable by the Professor at all times for various announcements.

 

DETAILED CLASS SCHEDULE:

Lecture	Meeting Date	Meeting Place	Class Material
1	Jan 31	N402	Overview of the course                                                                                      General characteristics of living organisms Taxonomy and Systematics
2	Feb 2	N402	Reproduction strategies                                                                                     Cellularity: uni– vs. multicellular Feeding habits: heterotrophs and autotrophs
3	Feb 7	N402	Viruses, non-cellular organisms                                                                        Virus structure and organization Viral life cycles (phages, retroviruses)
4	Feb 9	Online	Prokaryotes: general characteristics                                                               Bacteria vs. Archaea Prokaryotes reproduction, methods of recombination
5	Feb 14	N402	The kingdom Protista: general characteristics                                               Algae, Protozoans, Slime and Water Molds
Online Quiz 1
6	Feb 16	N402	The kingdom Fungi: general characteristics                                   Fungal sexual reproduction stages Zygospore, Ascospore and Basidiospore fungi
7	Feb 23	Online	The kingdom Plantae: general characteristics                                                Alternation of generation: how plants reproduce Main steps in plants evolution: vascular tissue, seed, flower Mosses, Ferns
8	Feb 28	N402	Gymnosperm vs. Angiosperms (Mono- and Eudicots)                   Plants tissues and vegetative organs
9	March 1	Online	Structure of roots, stems and leaves
10	March 6	N402	Plant Nutrition and Soil Composition
11	March 8	N402	Midterm 1
12	March 13	N402	The kingdom Animalia: general characteristics                                              Criteria for animal classification
13	March 15	Online	Phylum Porifera, Cnidaria and Platyhelmintes
14	March 20	N402	Phylum Mollusca, Annelida, Arthropoda and Echinodermata
Online Quiz 2
15	March 22	Online	Vertebrates, General Characteristics and Introduction to Tissues
16	March 27	N402	Epidermal, Connective, Muscular and Nervous Tissue
17	March 29	Online	Organs, organs systems and homeostasis Maintenance of Internal Balance
18	April 3	N402	Midterm 2
19	April 5	Online	The cardiovascular system: general characteristics                      Blood vessels: structure and function
20	April 17	N402	The heart: structure and function                                                                    Mechanisms of heartbeat generation Diseases of the circulatory system
21	April 19	Online	The lymphatic system: general characteristics Lymphatic Vessels and Organs
Term Paper is due!!!
22	April 24	N402	The concept of immunity (innate vs. acquired)
23	April 26	Online	The digestive system: general characteristics                                                Main and Accessory organs of the digestive system                                     The process of digestion: proteins, carbohydrates and Lipids
24	May 1	N402	The nervous system: general characteristics                                 Central nervous system
25	May 3	Online	The nervous system: Peripheral nervous system The senses
Online Quiz 3
26	May 8	N402	The respiratory system: general characteristics                                            The path of air.
27	May 10	N402	The Respiratory System:  External and internal Respiration
28	May 15	N402	The endocrine system: general characteristics                                             Hormones as chemical signals, main glands Positive and negative feedback systems
29	May 17	Online	The urinary system: general characteristics                                   The process of excretion, How urine is formed
30	May 22	Classroom	Final Exam

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