Division of Biological and Physical Sciences
Delta State University
Summer Session I, 2007 (Friday, 6/1/2007- Friday, 6/29/2007)

Course Syllabus
BIO 103 [Section 01 (CRN 22427)]
General Zoology (4 credits)
Lecture: 1:45-3:30 PM, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (Caylor 105)
Laboratory: 3:40-5:25 PM, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (Caylor 109)

Barry G. Campbell, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Office: 240 Caylor Hall
Laboratory: 241 Caylor Hall
Telephone #: (662) 846-4252
FAX #: (662) 846-4798
e-mail: bcampbel@deltastate.edu

Office Hours Schedule for Summer Session I, 2007
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
11:00 AM-12:00 PM 11:00 AM-12:00 PM 11:00 AM- 12:00 PM 11:00 AM-12:00 PM 11:00 AM-12:00 PM

Your instructor welcomes the opportunity to assist students in any possible way.  If you have any questions, please contact me via e-mail, telephone or stop by Caylor 109 (Zoology lab) or my office (Caylor 240) during the time periods listed above.  Look for me in the adjacent laboratory (Caylor 241) if you do not see me in my office during these times.  Occasionally, university duties require my presence elsewhere during regularly scheduled office hours; please check the message board on my office door for information about my location as well as my expected return time.  Please feel free to leave a message for me on this message board, or leave a message for me with the administrative personnel in the Division of Biological and Physical Sciences office (Walters 150).  If my regular office hours are not convenient for you, please contact me to arrange a meeting at a time that fits both of our schedules.

BIO 103 General Zoology Syllabus Contents
Required textbook
Course description & objectives
      Prerequisites
Grading
Lecture & laboratory exams
Reminder to BIO majors
Attendance
   Academic dishonesty
Students with disabilities
What has happened in class?

Required textbooks for BIO 103:

Miller, S.A. and Harley, J.P.  2007.  Zoology.  Seventh edition.  McGraw-Hill.

Lytle, C.F.  2005.  General Zoology Laboratory Guide.  Fourteenth edition.  McGraw-Hill.

The Zoology text is intended to be used by the student to support the lecture portion of BIO 103.  Students should refer to this text to read in greater detail about subjects covered by the instructor in lecture.  Specific portions of the text will not be assigned by the instructor as required course readings, but the instructor assumes that the student is reading the textbook passages that correlate with the lecture material.  For example, when the course lecture material is focused on the sponges (phylum Porifera), the student should read the portion of the textbook that specifically address the biology of the phylum Porifera.

The General Zoology Laboratory Guide should be brought to lab sessions by the student in order to assist the individual in conducting the laboratory activities.  Success in the laboratory portion of the course is dependent on both possession and use of the laboratory manual in the scheduled BIO 103 Thursday laboratory session.

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Course description and objectives: General Zoology (BIO 103) is an introduction to the kingdom Animalia, including aspects of classification, structure, function, life history, ecology, and importance to humans.  The course material is focused upon the nine major phyla in Animalia: Porifera, Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Annelida, Arthropoda, Mollusca, Echinodermata, and Chordata.  After completion of the course, the student should be able to recognize the chemical, structural, behavioral, and developmental patterns that exist among these major phyla of animals.  BIO 103 General Zoology is intended to be a course that prepares students majoring in the biological sciences for subsequent courses that deal with animal biology at a more advanced level.  The course is not designed to transform the student into a zoologist, but it will demonstrate to the student how a zoologist thinks about living things.  Your participation in the course should provide you with a basic, contemporary understanding of the material presented in lecture and laboratory sessions.

Your progress in learning the course material will be assessed through examinations in the lecture and laboratory portions of the course, and you will earn a grade that will be determined by your performance on these exercises.

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Prerequisites for the course: BIO 100 Principles of Biology is a prerequisite for BIO 103.  If you are a transfer student, see your advisor to make sure that you have had an appropriate course that is equivalent to BIO 100.

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Grading in BIO 103: You will receive a final grade based on the percentage of 400 possible points that you obtain through your participation in several course activities. These course activities are (1) Lecture examinations (50% of your final grade) and (2) Laboratory examinations (50% of your final grade).
The following scale will be used to determine your final grade:

 

Grade: A B C D F
Percentage of possible points: 100-90 89-80 79-70 69-60 <60


Lecture examinations: There will be two lecture examinations administered during regularly-scheduled lecture sessions in BIO 103 this session. Each lecture examination will be worth 100 possible points; for a total of 200 possible points. The dates for these examinations are: Exam 1, June 18, 2007 (Monday); Exam 2, June 29, 2007 (Friday).  The dates for these examinations are subject to change; any changes in examination dates will be announced/discussed in class.

Lecture examinations require the student to bring a #2 lead pencil with them to the classroom, in order to properly mark Scantron® answer sheets provided by the instructor.  Electronic devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, organizers, digital music players, etc. will not be allowed in the classroom during examinations.  Hats, caps, helmets, etc. of any type will not be permitted to be worn during an examination.

Your instructor recognizes that university-excused absences may sometimes fall on dates in the course in which an examination is scheduled.  Please inform your instructor at the earliest possible date so that accommodations can be made to resolve this conflict.

Students who arrive to take an examination after any other students have already completed the same examination will not be issued a test and an answer sheet, and will receive a grade of "0" for the exam.

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Laboratory examinations: There will be two laboratory practical examinations given during regularly-scheduled laboratory sessions in BIO 103 this semester. Each laboratory examination will be worth 100 possible points, for a total of 200 possible points. The dates for these examinations are: Laboratory Exam 1, June 18, 2007 (Monday), and Laboratory Exam 2, June 29, 2007 (Friday).  The dates for these examinations are subject to change; any changes in examination dates will be announced/discussed in class.

Optional assignments may be offered by the instructor during the session as "extra credit".  The student should be aware, however, that extra credit points will not be awarded if the student has a failing grade (<60 %) in the lecture and laboratory portions of the course.

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A reminder to all Biology majors: Division of Biological and Physical Sciences policy requires that a biology major must complete all introductory science core courses with a grade of "C" or better.  If you are a student majoring in biology, you must complete this course with a grade of "C" or better in order to gain "full admission" status in the Division of Biological and Physical Sciences, and thus be permitted to enroll in upper division courses.  See the Delta State University Undergraduate Bulletin for further explanation of the academic requirements of the Division of Biological and Physical Sciences.  Some information about the department's academic programs and requirements are visible at DSU's Division of Biological and Physical Sciences web site.

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Class attendance policy: The following statement concerning course attendance is taken from the Delta State University Undergraduate Bulletin.

"CLASS ATTENDANCE

CLASS ATTENDANCE AND ABSENCE.  Students who will not be present at the first class meeting must contact the instructor before classes begin.  A student who pre-registers for classes and is unable to attend must remove these courses from the registration term.  Failure to remove the registration or to notify the Registrar or Bursar will result in charges to the student account and financial obligations to the university.  A student who registers for classes and never meets the classes will be reported to the Registrar's Office by the instructors as a No Show.  No Shows are reported to the Financial Aid Office and may affect the student's current and future financial aid.  A grade of NS will be posted for these courses.

 Regular and punctual attendance at all scheduled classes and activities is expected of all students and is regarded as integral to course credit. University policy holds that students must attend a minimum of 75 percent of all scheduled classes and activities. When a student accumulates absences for any reason greater than 25 percent of the scheduled meetings of class, the student receives a grade of F in the class.

Particular policies and procedures on absences and makeup work are established for each class and are announced in writing at the beginning of the term. Each student is directly responsible to the individual professor for absences and for making up work missed. A student absent from class when a test is scheduled is entitled to a makeup test if evidence is presented to the instructor that absence was due to illness or death in the immediate family.

Official absences are granted to students required by the University to miss class for events such as athletics, performing groups, and student government groups. Commuting students are excused from classes during periods of time when the Weather Bureau has issued a weather advisory of hazardous driving conditions. For these absences which are authorized by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, students are entitled to make up any work missed.

A student who has been reported as having excessive absences has the right to appeal the Attendance Committee and may continue to meet class with the permission of the Committee during the period of appeal. For more information about the appeal process, contact the Vice President for Academic Affairs."

The above policy will be adhered to by your instructor in BIO 103 during this session. Makeup examinations are offered only when the student's absence is excused, due to documented illness, death in the immediate family, and/or any official absence granted to the student by the Vice President for Academic Affairs of Delta State University. The student should contact the Vice President for Academic Affairs office for the proper procedures in documenting illness or death in the immediate family. When a student becomes aware that a circumstance may interfere with the student's ability to attend any course examination, the student should inform the instructor of the situation as soon as possible, via telephone, FAX, e-mail, or in person. Course materials (such as handouts) may be provided occasionally by the instructor during class meetings, on a one-time-only basis, and the instructor will not provide to students these materials that were not obtained as a consequence of an unexcused class absence. Punctuality is encouraged; if late arrival to class is unavoidable, the student should enter the classroom in a manner that creates as little disruption as possible. Students who are chronically late, or whose late arrival disrupts the class, will be asked to meet with the instructor outside of regular class hours to discuss the situation.

Students with perfect attendance in lecture and laboratory sessions this session will have an additional 3 percentage points added to their final point percentage total.  The student's presence in class will be recorded through the passing around class of a sign-in sheet; it is the student's responsibility to sign this sheet each and every class session, in order to be noted as "present" for lectures and labs.  A student who arrives either 10 minutes late to class, or later than the instructor (in those rare instances when the instructor is late to class), will be considered "absent" for that class session.

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Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty, in any form, will not be tolerated by your instructor, and any case of academic dishonesty that is detected will be dealt with according to Delta State University's regulations.  Consult the most recent issue of the Delta State University Undergraduate Bulletin for details about DSU's official policy on academic dishonesty.

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Students with disabilities: If a student has a disability that qualifies under the Americans with Disabilities Act and requires accommodation, he/she should contact the Academic Support Lab for information on appropriate policies and procedures.

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What has happened in class?

The purpose of this section of the course website is to provide the student with a brief description of the material covered during each lecture session, as well as provide links to the PowerPoint presentations shown during lectures.  The PowerPoint presentations have been converted to a format that is visible online using nothing but Internet Explorer (no other add-ins, programs, etc. needed), so the student should  be able to view these presentations whenever/wherever they can access the Internet.  Students should check this part of this site frequently for updates of lecture material.

Click here to see what has happened in each lecture session of BIO 103 this semester.

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