The laboratory component is a required part of the introductory biology
course. The laboratory is designed to provide an investigative-based laboratory
experience with concepts covered in the course. Students will usually
work in teams of two or four, and are strongly encouraged to participate
in class discussions.
Class Lab Policies
- ATTENDANCE TO YOUR ASSIGNED LABORATORY SECTION IS MANDATORY!
No switching of lab sections is permitted. Make-up laboratories will
not be given under any circumstance. Missed labs will only be excused
with a VALID written medical excuse. Labs that are missed for unexcused
absences canNOT be made up.
* A single unexcused absence from lab will result in a reduction in
the final lab grade by one letter grade.
** TWO labs missed for unexcused absenses will result in a failure in
the lab (which means a failure for the course).
*** Labs missed for EXCUSED absenses (requiring written approval from
the Dean) must be made up by attendance to another lab section within
that same week. If a student is unable to make up a single lab, it will
result in a reduction in the final lab grade by one letter grade. If
a student is unable to make up TWO or more labs, the student will receive
an incomplete for the course and thus must retake BI 172.
- DRESS: All students must wear closed-toed shoes in the
laboratory at all times. Students arriving with open-toed shoes will
be required to leave lab to obtain appropriate shoes and potentially
will receive a zero if a pre-lab quiz is given. This is a SAFETY issue.
- A marble composition style laboratory notebook devoted
solely to the laboratory will be required of each student. Loose-leaf
or spiral bound notebooks are not acceptable. Your notebook must
be brought to every lab or you will be asked to leave.
- Students should prepare for lab by reading the assigned
laboratory before coming to lab. At the start of lab, your notebook
should contain the hypothesis or purpose of the week's exercise(s) and
a brief overview of methodology. All procedures conducted, data collected,
and your analysis will be recorded IN YOUR NOTEBOOK during the lab session.
- The use of cell phones or stereo headphones/music devices
in class is disruptive to others. Please turn them OFF while in class.
- There is ABSOLUTELY NO FOOD OR DRINK permitted in the
laboratories.
- Individual students will not be permitted to leave lab
until the entire class is dismissed by the instructor.
Components of the Lab
- Notebooks
- Pages of the notebook should be numbered. At the beginning
of your notebook you should make a "Table of Contents," indicating
each lab topic and the corresponding page numbers. Each laboratory write-up
should have the following sections, in order:
• Purpose/Objectives
• Methods (Procedure)
• Results (including text description, tables and graphs, sketches
and figures as appropriate)
• Interpretation/Discussion
• Assigned Questions or Problems
- Quizzes - You will be expected
to take short quizzes at the start of lab periods (frequently throughout
the semester) covering the topic of that lab and the previous weeks'
lab. The quizzes will be open lab notebook. They may or may not be announced
ahead of time. COME PREPARED!
- Lemna Project Proposal and Bibliography
- Early in the semester, you will work in small groups to conduct
an original investigation based on a specific experimental system (Lemna,
duckweed). Students will be expected to formulate their own hypotheses,
plan and execute the experiment, and collect and analyze the data. This
will include an annotated bibliography of primary literature used to
develop the proposal.
- Lemna Project Lab Report -
Each of you will individually write a formal lab report on your group’s
original investigation of Lemna ecology. Your report will follow the
format of a journal article, which is described in the Appendix of the
General Biology II Lab Manual. You can submit a copy of this paper for
initial (non-graded) comments by your instructor. It will be returned
and a final (= revised) version will be due at the end of the semester.
Although discussion of methods, data, and analysis with other students
in your group is encouraged, plagiarism is obviously prohibited.
- Lemna Project Scientific Talk
- Your lab group will be asked to prepare a 12-15 minute oral presentation
of your Original Investigation and share it with your classmates during
the last day of class. A talk is a standard means of scientific presentation;
your goal will be to prepare a concise and interesting description of
your experimental design, data, and conclusions. Instructions detailing
the presentation are available.
- Grading - The laboratory component represents
25% of your final course grade.
• Lab Notebook: 6% (3 labs will be graded in detail at the discretion
of the instructor; all labs should be in the lab notebook)
• Weekly Quizzes: 4%
• Lemna project proposal and annotated
bibliography: 2.5%
• Lemna project lab report: 5%
• Lemna project scientific talk:
2.5%
• Laboratory Practical Exam: 5%
Schedule for the Laboratory:
This schedule may change. We will announce any changes in lecture.
You will learn more in lab if you read the assigned material before it
is discussed. Materials will be available on the class website or will
be given out as handouts.
Fall, 2018 Lab Syllabus
Week |
Lab Investigation(s)
|
Lemna Project
Activities |
9/3
|
No labs this week - Welcome back to campus!
|
|
9/10
|
Lab 1: Introduction to BI 172 lab, Campus natural
history walk and classification of living things.
Handout
|
|
9/17
|
Lab 2: Evolution II: SimBio Hardy-Weinberg Equillibrium
computer lab
|
|
9/24
|
Lab 3: Using Lemna
as an experimental system. Discussion of Szabo et al. (1999)
|
Lemna pilot
study data
analysis.
Group brainstorming session to develop project.
Instructor approval of topic due before end of lab. |
10/1
|
Lab 4: Microbe/Protist Diversity Lab
|
Lemna Project proposals and Bibliography
due.
Review the Lemna
Project Guidelines
|
10/8
|
No Labs this
week - Columbus/Indigenous Peoples'
Day
|
|
10/15
|
|
Lemna Project
proposals handed back for revisions |
10/22
|
|
Set up Lemna
Projects |
10/29
|
Lab 7: Animal Diversity I: Basal metazoa Lab Handout
|
Maintain Lemna |
11/5
|
Lab 8: Animal Diversity II: Protostomes and Deuterostomes
Lab Handout
|
Maintain Lemna |
11/12
|
Lab 9: Ecology: SimBio Keystone Predator computer
lab
|
Lemna Project data
collection and analysis
|
11/19
|
No labs this week
Thanksgiving/Indigenous Peoples' Feast Day
|
|
11/26
|
Laboratory Practical Exam
|
|
12/3
|
Scientific talks on
Lemna project
Lab notebooks due at end of lab
|
15 minute scientific talks due.
Individual Lemna Lab report due.
Review (Appendix A: Scientific Writing) |
12/10
|
No labs this week - Study
for Final!
|
|
|