The complete syllabus can be found at - https://sites.google.com/austincc.edu/biol-1407-syllabus/home

Course Description

• Credit Hours: 4

• Classroom Contact Hours per week: 3

• Laboratory Contact Hours per week: 3

The General Biology course is designed for science majors and students with a strong science background who desire an in-depth approach to biological topics including an introduction to the diversity, anatomy, physiology, reproduction, development, behavior, and evolution of living organisms. The focus of the course includes prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals. BIOL 1407 and BIOL 1409 may not both be counted toward graduation.

Online Course: This course is an online course during the pandemic (COVID-19) threat. This presents a variety of challenges to a course like BIOL 1407 especially when it comes to lab but the course has been redesigned to accommodate these conditions. Online courses can be more difficult than a traditional course if you are not prepared for it. I will be expecting that you are watching the lecture videos and studying and working on the material in a timely fashion. I have coordinated the lecture material and lab material to be presented in Blackboard on the same week and so these should reinforce each other.

An online course also means that you will have to make a more concerted effort to stay on schedule and be aware of what assignments/quizzes/exams are coming up and what their due dates are. I have provided this information in several places in blackboard and here in the syllabus. You are responsible for staying up-to-date with the material.

Skills Requirements

Reading, writing, and mathematics proficiency as determined by the COMPASS or ASSET test, or by the statewide THEA test, or by providing an official transcript from another college.

Course Rationale

This course serves students who plan to become biology and related science majors (e.g. biochemistry), as well as students who wish to enter the health professions (e.g. those in premedical and pre-pharmacy programs). To help prepare these students for future coursework and careers, BIOL 1407 will (1) expose students to the amazing diversity of organisms in what may be the only chance for many of these students to study this material, and (2) emphasize basic biological principles as well as science process and critical thinking skills that will be invaluable to them in the future.

Prerequisites

BIOL 1406 with a minimum grade of C.

Instructional Methodology: Lecture and Lab

This course will blend lecture and laboratory work with computer-based management and instruction. Do not think that simply reading the textbook will “cover” material for exams.

Lectures are recorded and in Blackboard. You are expected to listen to the lectures and read the required material to stay current with the material that is being covered in class.

Laboratory work comprises a considerable portion of this class. You will be expected to develop certain laboratory skills and you may be tested on them. Some laboratory exercises involve dissections—likely organisms to be dissected include: moss, fern, lycopod, flowering plant, mushroom, earthworm, lobster, grasshopper, roundworm, perch, frog, rat, sheep heart, cow eye, sheep brain. [NOTE: These dissections will be virtual or by video during the COVID-19 pandemic threat.]

Blackboard: All material for this course can be found on and is delivered through the learning management system, Blackboard. You will be submitting assignments, taking quizzes and exams, and posting discussions on blackboard. You will be expected to use blackboard for all work and submissions with one exception, iNaturalist.

iNaturalist: iNaturalist is a citizen science project funded by the California Academy of Sciences (CAAS) and the National Geographic Society. A large part of this course will center around iNaturalist (iNaturalist.org) because of how it integrates what we will learn in class with what you experience in your environment. The use of this program is extensive and as a result also qualifies this as a service-learning course because you will be providing a valuable service in the form of data to an international community while encountering and learning about the organisms around you. You will be required to make an account in iNaturalist. You will get guidance on how to do this in the first lab of the semester.

Learning Assessment Descriptions

Below is a description of each of the learning assessments that are used in the course.

• Introduce Yourself Discussion: This is an assignment to introduce yourself to the class. You will do this in blackboard.

• Syllabus Quiz: A blackboard quiz to make sure that you have thoroughly examined the policies, expectations and set up of the course as described in the syllabus.

• Module Discussions: Each module you will be asked to discuss a relevant topic that reflects the material you are being exposed to in that module. It is also a chance for you to exchange ideas with fellow students.

• Module Assignments: The module assignments center around iNaturalist, a program that you will be using extensively in this course. The purpose of each module assignment will be to get you comfortable with iNaturalist and many of the local organisms that we are focusing on in any given module. For example, in Module 3 you will be learning about plants and so the assignment will focus on local plants.

• Chapter Practice Quizzes: Each module has a set of chapter quizzes that you can use as practice for your exams. You can take these chapter quizzes as many times as you want and each time you take it you will get a different set of questions. The grade for each quiz will be recorded from the highest attempt.

• Module Projects: While the module assignments introduce you to local organisms, the projects go several steps further my making you use iNaturalist to interact with your environment and the iNaturalist community. You will be using iNaturalist to post photos of organisms that you encounter for the purposes of identification and creating data as a citizen scientist.

• Module Exams + Final: Each module of information will be followed with an exam that will be taken in the testing center (unless otherwise specified). There is a final exam at the end of the course that can replace one of the module exams.

• Lab Exams: You will take 5 Lab Exams at the beginning of lab on the appointed dates. The exams will reflect the material from the previous module’s labs and the pre-lab information for those labs. You will be given a password at the beginning of class and will take the exam in blackboard. While there are computers that can be used in the class you are encouraged to bring your own laptop computers to class for this purpose.

• Lab Study Guides: Each week you will construct a study guide for the lab that will be turned in as a group at the end of each week. These study guides will take the place of lab reports and will be meant to be used as a grade and to study for the lab exams.

• Extra Credit: Extra credit may come in various forms but the total amount of extra credit will not exceed 50 points for the course.

Required Texts/Materials/Software

1. Required: Biology by Campbell and Reece (12th Edition) is the required text. There is a lot of information in this textbook that will be essential to your learning in this course.

2. Recommended: Vandegraaff’s Photo Atlas. This is also a highly recommended lab book and will help you with identifications and anatomy of the various organisms you will be examining in the lab Material.

3. All students will be required to utilize computers during this course.

4. All students will be required to utilize digital photography during this course (cell phone camera is adequate).

COURSE OUTLINE/CALENDAR - Fall 2022

• All deadlines for quizzes, assignments and projects are at the end of the day (11:59pm) of the due date.
• The last day to turn in all work is December 11.  No work will be accepted after this date.

Student Learning Outcomes

Course-Level

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the scientific method and apply it in a biological context

• Describe the process of evolution, including a basic understanding of the evidence for evolution, natural selection as a mechanism, and the basic patterns of the evolutionary process.

• Describe the major patterns of life on Earth, including abiogenesis, the origin of eukaryotes, the origin of multicellularity, and the major changes to the Earth’s ecosystems over geologic time.

• Identify and differentiate the taxonomic membership of the major groups of organisms, including viruses, prokaryotes, protists, plants, and animals.

• Describe the important structure/function relationships of plants and animals, and explain the concepts of homeostasis, and cellular exchange both within the organism and between the organism and its environment.

Program-Level

As a required course for an Associates of Science in Biology, students completing this course will be able to:

• Describe and explain the processes of evolution, taxonomy, and systematics.

• Describe and explain the history of life on Earth and the diversity of organisms present today and through time.

• Describe and explain the structure and function relationships that exist within plants and animals

General Education

As a Core Curriculum course, students completing this course will demonstrate competence in:

• Critical Thinking - Gathering, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and applying information.

• Interpersonal Skills - Interacting collaboratively to achieve common goals.

• Quantitative and Empirical Reasoning - Applying mathematical, logical and scientific principles and methods.

• Written, Oral and Visual Communication - Communicating effectively, adapting to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.

Departmental Common Course Objectives

The ACC Biology Department has specified the content of this course in the departmental common course objectives. The departmental objectives are located at http://sites.austincc.edu/biology/common-course-objectives/.