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SCI 135 - Introduction to Biology (Molecules & Cells) Spring 2023
This class has been CANCELLED Professor M. McDarby Office: C-231-N (and Lab, C-223) Office (in the Lab) Hours: Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri, 10-11. Telephone: 518-736-3622, lab 8856*. Office extension 8970, has Voice-Mail * Not during lab classes, please – Tues, Thurs 8-11, 2-5. E-mail. Lectures: Monday, Friday 9 - 10, C-221. Laboratory: Tuesday, 2-5 PM, C‑239. |
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LINK - HOW TO SUCCEED IN THIS COURSE |
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Introduction to Biology, Cells, SCI 135, is an overview of the science of living things that concentrates mostly on the general processes found in everything on the cellular level. This is a course for non-science majors, intended to give an introduction to the topics. It is not an in- depth biology course and is not part of a sequence: there are three SCI-level biology courses, but they are each stand-alone courses that look at different aspects of the science. Of the three, SCI 135 is most intended as a "from scratch" course - students here are not expected to have some background from a previous biology course. We will build from simple concepts upward, creating a basic science vocabulary while trying not to get too technical. Often, subjects will be presented with a view toward their impact on humans. Laboratories are set up to present concepts for discussion and/or exercises for hand-on investigation, and please note that this course does not expect students to perform dissections. Link to FMCC Catalog Description. The course learning outcomes. This course fulfills the SUNY Education Guidelines for Natural Sciences.
When you have successfully completed this course, you should have an overview understanding of the basic workings of biology and science, as well as the basic differences between the major groups of living things. You should have a basic working knowledge of how biologists think the world works, including current theories on the cell processes and how they relate to health and the environment. You should understand how basic science works through the scientific method. You should also increase your biology vocabulary and general understanding of basic biological processes, including those at work in and around human beings. We hope that you will better be able to follow current events related to biology, such as medical breakthroughs, ecological issues, and such topics in lower-level science education as young people you know may be exposed to. The Book: Introduction to Biology, Molecules and Cells, McDarby, Online.
Important Dates: Lecture Exams: February 24, March 17, April 14,
May 11. Grading: The Lecture portion of the course will count toward 40% of the grade (4 100-Point Exams), with laboratory, lab quizzes, and abstracts amounting to the remaining 60% / 600 Points.
"D" is considered passing, but often only "C" or higher are accepted as transfer credits! Laboratory classes all have associated marked reports, so missing them may lead to lost points. Make-ups are possible using the remote materials posted on Blackboard. All marked assignments and exams are scheduled in advance and those dates are posted on Blackboard – check regularly and/or mark your personal calendar. Due materials (lab reports, proposals, papers) may be handed in past the due date, (by email if no longer accessible on Blackboard) but will lose 5% per day, down to 25% for a complete and appropriately done but really late assignment. However, proposals will not be accepted on or after the due date of the paper they are for, and NO MATERIALS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER MAY 10th.
EXTRA CREDIT - There are no bonus assignments (there often are bonus points on particular assignments), but you can check every assignment except in-class quizzes and exams with Professor McDarby before the due date - he will tell you what needs to be fixed while you have time to fix it (at the due date, what you hand in is your final draft and not correctible). |
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Schedule is tentative - exams will cover the actual material covered rather than the scheduled material. Exams will be on scheduled dates unless school gets closed or instructor is hit by a bus, except for last exam, which is tentative until confirmed in early May. |
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| ABSTRACT CHECKLIST:
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| ________________ | Your NAME is on it. |
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| ________________ | Your print article / website concerns some aspect of BIOLOGY. |
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| ________________ | Your print article / website comes from an APPROPRIATE SOURCE. If a website, it is the main central page, not just a page within the site! |
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| ________________ | Your print article contains MORE THAN ONE FULL PAGE OF TEXT in its printed form (If newspaper, more than half a page of text), or your website has more than ten webpage subsites (addresses start with website address). |
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| ________________ | Your print article was PUBLISHED THIS YEAR, or your website has been updated this year. |
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| ________________ | You’ve written the TITLE ACCORDING TO THE PROPER FORMAT (see list on first handout sheet). |
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| ________________ | Your abstract is completely CHECKED FOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR, and it is DOUBLE-SPACED. |
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| ________________ | Your abstract is a BRIEF SUMMARY but COVERS THE THEME AND MAIN POINTS of the print article or website, and main subsites for the website. |
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| ________________ | You’ve INCLUDED A PHOTOCOPY of the article, or the whole publication it’s from, or the COMPLETELY ACCURATE WEB ADDRESS. |
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ABSTRACTS - MARKING DEDUCTIONS:
DEDUCTIONS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th ARTICLE OR WEBSITE TITLE: Format Errors, each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-1 . . . . . . . . -2 . . . . . . . . .-3 . . . . . . . . .-3 Format Completely Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . -8 . . . . . . . . -10 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -15 CHOSEN ARTICLE / WEBSITE: Not on Biology Topic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -15 . . . . . . . . -20 . . . . . . . . -25 . . . . . . . . . -30 Inappropriate Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -6 . . . . . . . . . -9 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . . -15 Source TOO SHORT (just barely) . . . . -6 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -18 . . . . . . . . . -24 Source MUCH too short . . . . . . . . . . . -8 to -10 . . . -12 to -20 . . . -22 to -30 . . . -30 to -40 ABSTRACT: Title Format Errors, each . . . . . . . . . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . -2 . . . . . . . . . . -4 Main Theme is Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -6 . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -18 . . . . . . . . -24 Points / Features not covered, each. . . -1 to -2 . . . . . -2 to -3 . . . . . -3 to -4 . . . -4 to -5 It isn’t quite an abstract. . . . . . . . . . . . -2 to -6. . . . . -6 to -10 . . . . -8 to -12. . -10 to -14 Not even close to being an abstract. . . . -10 . . . . . . . -20 . . . . . . . -30 . . . . . . . -40 Almost Random Statements . . . . . . . . . -12 . . . . . . . . -24 . . . . . . . . -36 . . . . . . -40 Spelling and grammar errors, each. . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -1 . . . . . . . . -1 PHOTOCOPY / ACCURATE WEB ADDRESS: Missing or Incomplete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -5 . . . . . . . . -10 . . . . . . . . -15 . . . . . . . -20 Pages Ripped from Source. . . . . . . . . . . . -5 . . . . . . . . -10 . . . . . . . . -15 . . . . . . . -20 OTHERS: Plagiarism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -15 to all Points Falsified Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10 to all Points Other Dishonesty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10 to all Points Other Form Errors, Each. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -1 to -10
Questions and Helpful Hints: Question - What sort of print article, exactly, am I looking for? First, make sure that you are looking in the right place. Science magazines are good sources, but may be much more technical than you're ready to handle. You want something that you'll be able to understand. "Hard news" magazines or newspapers can be good, too. Once you have a source, make sure that any article you might pick is long enough - it's got to have at least one full page of text - and that it is about biology in some way - in other words, it deals with the workings of living things. Know how to use the library database to target appropriate print articles!
Question - How do I know if I’ve got an appropriate website? First, check the address - anything with a long address with a bunch of slashes in it is not a main site, but a subsite - find the main site by looking for a "HOME" link or by "peeling back" the address by deleting parts after a slash - work your way back slash by slash until you’ve hit what’s obviously a main website. Then, make sure that it’s biology-related and check - usually near the end somewhere - to see that it was updated this year. For reliability, look for an "ABOUT" links and see who has written the site, and whether they have the proper expertise to be trustworthy.
Question - So this is like, some sort of report? No, it's not like anything you've probably written - the closest assignment to an abstract would be the first part of a book report, where you're telling what the book is about. An abstract is about article content and coverage, not a report about the subject of the article. You also don't get to editorialize - your opinions about the article are irrelevant in an abstract.
Question - How much do I need to tell? Not much. It's as if someone looked over your shoulder as you were reading and asked, "What kind of article is that?" Your answer would be brief, but a good answer would let the person know the basic theme of the article and all of the major points it covers, so they could tell if it was something they might want to read. Keep it short - you don't need to really explain things, just mention them.
Question - Are there any "tricks" to writing a good abstract? There are many different tricks. What you want to do is break the article down to "the bare bones," and that can be done by outlining, or by making notes on a photocopy, or by reading and then waiting before you write (that last one is tricky). One definite trick is to use the checklist on the first handout page - if you can check everything off, you'll get a good mark.
Couzin-Frankel, Jennifer. 2011. A pitched battle over life span. Science, Vol 333, Iss 6042, p 549-550. This article is about how life expectancies may change in the future – will they rise, or level off? The background of the two sides and major scientists involved are discussed, as well as what sorts of near-future results would support the sides.
Sachs, Jessica Snyder. 2011. There’s a shot for that. Discover, Vol 32, Iss 8, p 51-56. This article discusses research on developing vaccines for several conditions. There are sections on vaccines for cancer, allergies, heart disease, obesity, and addiction. A sidebar supplies a glossary of vaccine-related terms.
Exploratorium. The Museum of Science, Art, and Human Perception. 2011. Palace of Fine Arts. www.exploratorium.edu January 24, 2012. This is the online site for a science museum in San Francisco. There is some information about the actual museum, but the site is primarily online content: “Hands-on activities, online exhibits, articles, videos, and more,” divided among several different types of science. There is also special content for a number of demographic groups: “Educators,” “Teens,” “Artists,” “Scientists,” and “Geeks.”
Human Genome Sequencing Center. 2011. Baylor College of Medicine. www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu January 24, 2012. This website covers a wide range of human genetics research done in this medical college. There are specific sites dealing with cancer genetics and the genetics of the bacteria that live on and inside humans, as well as many pages of general information covering basics and background for genetics research.
Small, Meredith F. 1997. Our babies, ourselves. Natural History, 106(9), pp 42-51. This article is about how caregiving for infants varies among cultures. Many contrasts between hunter-gatherer cultures and western cultures are given. A brief retrospective of how anthropological studies in this area have changed in focus appears. All of this is integrated into the biology of newborns, in such areas as nutrition and bond development. The suggestion is made that western rearing techniques may be ignoring the cues that come from the babies themselves. Several sidebar articles by other authors accompany the main article - subjects in the sidebars: practices among the Gusii people of Kenya; the rest-centered approach of the Dutch; teaching pediatricians to deal nonjudgmentally with varied approaches in different ethnic groups; effects of different approaches on crying; how long to breast-feed; and effects of parents sleeping with babies.
Rome, Lawrence C. 1997. Testing a muscle's design. American Scientist, 85(4), pp 356-363. This article reviews the research done by the author connecting the design of a muscle system with the system's particular function. After a brief introduction to muscle mechanics, examples from frog jumping, fish swimming, and toadfish vocalizing are examined in some detail.
MedHist. 2004. http://medhist.ac.uk. No Author Given. Wellcome Trust. August 29, 2004. This British site comes from a major research organization, allied with several other major sites that have links on the homepage; it calls itself the "guide to history of medicine resources on the Internet." It has mainly a search function in this field, but it also offers a "Browse by Category" option with the categories "Diseases," "Electronic publications" (sic), regional breakdowns, miscellany, "Education & research," by periods of history, "Medical speciality & technique," "People," and "Science & technology." Each category offers major reference sources and many subcategories as well. There are many sources that are modern, rather than historical. |
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