UNIVERSITY OF THE OZARKS

DIVISION OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

 

I. Program Affiliation:  Biology

   Course Number and Title: BIO 2014,  Zoology

   Prerequisite:  BIO 1214  P.O.B. 1 or Bio 1104 Bio. Con. or Permission

   Professor:                         Office:             Phone:                      Office Hrs:

Dr. Frank Knight             S-104               ext. 1362   MF 11-12;TR 9:30-10:30            fknight@ozarks.edu

 

Description:

This is a basic course built around a systematic study of vertebrate and invertebrate animals.  The student is guided through an integrated study of taxonomy, ecology, morphology, physiology and phylogeny of representatives of the phyla of animals.  There is one 3-hour lab per week.

 

II. Required Materials:

Biology  by Campbell and Reece 6th ed.

A one-inch, 3-ring notebook/binder with tabbed dividers.

 

III. Intended Student Outcomes of the Biology Program: 

  1. Students will communicate effectively:
    1. Present a message

                                                               i.      Clearly in standard English

                                                             ii.      Precisely: concisely providing specific and sufficient details

                                                            iii.      Accurately: providing correct information cited to experiments or reliable literature

                                                            iv.      Logically: meaningfully organized

                                                              v.      Honestly: giving credit to those who deserve it

    1. Present research findings in standard professional formats:

                                                               i.      Journal style report

                                                             ii.      Oral report

                                                          iii.      Poster reports

  1. Students will think critically:
    1. Read scientific texts with comprehension
    2. Transfer and apply knowledge and skills to new situations
    3. Solve multi-step and non-routine problems
    4. Recognize, Formulate and Evaluate generalizations, interpretations and causal explanations
  2. Students will have a broad knowledge of science
    1. Major theories, concepts, methods, “facts” and vocabulary
    2. Biology sub-disciplines: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Structural and Functional Biology, Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology
    3. Allied sciences: chemistry and physics
  3. Students will be aware of their responsibilities to themselves, humanity and the planet:
    1. Examine and develop ethics, integrity and priorities relevant and appropriate to scholarship and biology associated careers.
    2. Understand, and thereby be more capable of respect, appreciation or compassion for, the diversity of life including that of humans.
    3. Contribute to the welfare of their community and ecosystem

 

IV. Class Responsibilities:

 

Students are responsible for learning, helping each other learn and behaving in a respectful, scholarly and professional manner including in their interactions with or actions towards classmates and animal subjects (living or not).

 

The professor is responsible for behaving in a respectful, scholarly and professional manner including in his interactions with or actions towards students and animal subjects (living or not); identifying topics, information and skills important for students to learn; creating and maintaining environments and opportunities in which students can learn, challenging students to improve their knowledge and skills, evaluating students fairly with diverse methods that allow students to use their various abilities to demonstrate their acquired knowledge and skills.

 

V. Attendance:

I expect you to attend every class and lab meeting.  I will be less accessible to students who are chronically absent.

 

VI. Academic Honesty

The minimum penalty for cheating or flagrant plagiarism will be a zero score for the test or assignment.  The class will establish ground rules for group member academic honesty and report violations to the prof.  See your student handbook for details of other optional penalties and procedures.

 

VII. ADA Statement

If any member of the class has a documented disability and needs special accommodations, the instructor will work with the student and the office of Student Support Services or the Jones Learning Center to provide reasonable accommodation to ensure the student a fair opportunity to perform in this class.  In order to plan for optimum success, please advise the instructor of the disability and the desired accommodations as soon as possible.  Students are strongly encouraged to notify the instructor during the first week of classes.  Without ample planning / preparation time, we cannot assure the availability of needed accommodations in a timely manner.


VIII. Course Specific ISOs

 

Read carefully with comprehension assigned textbook chapters

 

Read carefully with comprehension a book about animals.

 

Talk with classmates about animals.

 

Write intelligently about animals (see “Standards” below).

 

Collaborate with classmates to learn and help others learn required information and skills.

 

Find and read federal and state regulations for animal care and use in research.  Find and read professional guidelines, recommendations and ethical standards for animal care and use in research.  Find and read authoritative literature on Animal Right from its advocates and opponents.

Reflect on and write about personal standards for animal care and use in research and education in the context of laws, professional standards and considering a contrary perspective of others.

 

Apply new vocabulary.

 

Memorize major animal phyla, classes and orders, and examples and diagnostic characteristics of each.

 

Classify live or preserved animals by their presented anatomical features using dichotomous keys and field guides.

 

Recognize and identify mechanisms that create and maintain the diversity of species and relevant concepts.

 

Recognize features of a cladistic, phylogenetic hypothesis (cladogram).

 

Interpret ancestral relationships of animals from cladograms.

 

Create clear, precise and logical cladograms (phylogenetic hypotheses) for simple, imaginary animals.

 

Recognize, identify and apply some concepts, principles, methods, formulae of ecology.

 

Carefully observe live animals in their habitats and through a microscope, and describe observations to others.  Photograph animals in their habitats and through a microscope.

 

Safely and confidently capture and handle a variety of wild and domestic animals.

Use a variety of tools and techniques to capture wild animals.

 

Collaborate with classmates to generate hypotheses and predictions to be tested with a natural, field experiment; and, then, to conscientiously conduct the experiment.

 

Use drift fence mark-and-recapture methods to collect data on animal populations.

 

Follow instructions in the owner’s manuals to safely and effectively operate a weather station and GPS.

 

Summarize data in tables and graphs.  Use a statistical procedure to analyze data.  Estimate a population’s size and individuals home range.  Interpret and draw conclusions from statistical results.  Discuss research findings in a larger, more general context of scientific relevance.

Create a professional scientific poster presentation of research.

 


IX. Learning Methods:

 

Observing animals first hand and in images

Using the hypothetico-deductive method and a natural experiment

Using field and laboratory animal research tools (incl. software, field guides and keys)

Reading

Talking and listening to other students

            Collaborating to understand, remember, solve, answer, interpret, and produce

Practicing and Applying acquired knowledge and skills

Writing

Talking and listening to the professor

 

X. Learning Resources:

 

Live Animals

Students’ photos and data of animals

Books: Biology by Campbell*

            Last Chance to See by Adams*            *Students are required to have these books

            Field Guides and Keys

Classmates

Videos

Web Sites

Journal Articles

Instrument Manuals

Software Manuals

Handouts

Professor

 

XI. Demonstrating Learning and ISO Acheivement

 

            A. Standards: (definitions attached)

            Clarity              Precision            Accuracy         Logic                Relevance

            Significance     Depth               Breadth            Integrity            Professionalism

 

            B. Opportunities:

Individual (1 person):            Two Essays: Ethics, Endangered Spp. (15 pts ea)

                                    One Matching Test (30 pts)

                                    Two Multiple True-False Tests (30 pts ea)

Discussion Group:  Four End of Chapt Question sets: answers & explanations (10 p.e.)

(5-6 people)                 Four Crossword Puzzles (10 pts ea)

                                    One Cladogram (10 pts)

Lab Team (2-3):        One Illustrated “About Last Night” natural history essay (10 pts)

                                    Two Lab Practical Tests (animal ID and field equip/tools) (15p.e.)

                                    One Research Participation and Poster Presentation (50 pts)

300 total points: >60%=D-, >64%=D, >67%=D+, >70=C-, >75%=C, >78%=C+,                                                      >82%=B-, >86=B, >88%=B+, >92%=A-, >95%=A

 

XII. Schedule

 

Tues/Thurs                   Discussion Topic/Activity                           Wed. Lab Activity

 

26 August            Course Introduction, Ethics:                          Ethics

28                    The animal researcher’s responsibilities to others, community, planet

2 September            Animal Rights and Animal Welfare             Animal capture, handling,

4                      Essay First Draft due, peer review                  measuring and marking

9                      Ch. 33&34,                                                            Drift Fence Study: concept,

11                    Moronic Memory Device                          equipment, proc, data, plan

16        No Class on Tuesday (Assessment Day)                 Build Drift Fence

18                    Massive Matching Test                                                                 

23                    Ch. 24                                                              Equipment Lab Practical Test 25                    Ch. 24            Crossword Pzl                                                 (DFS Begins)

30                    Ch. 24            E.C.Q.: A&E                                        Arthropod Diagnostics

2 October            Insect Video              

7                      Ch. 25                                                              Vertebrate Diagnostics

9                      Ch. 25             Crossword Pzl                                                 (DFS pauses)

14                    Ch. 25 and Cladogram                                     ID Lab Practical Test

16                    Ch. 25 E.C.Q.:A&E

21                    Ch. 24&25 Multi T-F Test (& Cladogram)            No Lab

            23-24 Fall Break

27                    Ch. 32                                                              Drift Fence Study resumes

29                    Ch. 32 Crossword Pzl

4 November            Ch. 32 E.C.Q.:A&E                                        Poster Instructions

6                      Mammal Video                                               (DFS continues)

11                    Ch. 50                                                              Take Down Drift Fence

13                    Ch. 50

17                    Ch. 50            Crossword Pzl                                     Data analysis

19                    Ch. 50 E.C.Q.:A&E

25                    Ch. 32&50 Multiple T-F Test                              No Lab

            26-28 Thanksgiving Holidays

2 December            Ocean Life Video                                            Poster preparation

4                      Dino Video

9                      Loose ends                                                     Posters Due

11                    Wrap up

16        Final Exam Week                                                     Present Posters


Professional and Intellectual Standards for Reports

 

Professional Presentation            Does the report physically appear suitable to submit for publication or public presentation to professional scientists?

Does the report follow formal, technical scientific form, and conventions? (Section headings, form of citations and literature cited entries, Latin words with proper font.)

Is it structured and organized appropriately for professional science? (the right content in the right section)

 

Clarity                                      Are sentences complete, grammatical, correctly punctuated, words correctly spelled?  Are modifiers correctly placed?

                                                Have you left something out? 

Could you elaborate a little more?

                                                Do your peers understand what you are saying without further explanation?

                                                Can you give one brief example or illustration to make your point more obvious?

                                                What is the purpose of this sentence, paragraph, report?

                                                Are tables and figures easy to read and appropriate for the data?  Are symbols, abbreviations, and axes accurately, obviously and unambiguously labeled and defined?

 

Precision                                  Could you be more specific? or more exact?

                                                Could you give more details, facts and real information?

                                                Is this exactly what you want to say? (and no more)

                                                Is there a shorter way of saying the same thing?

                                                Can you get to the point more directly with fewer words?

 

Logic                                        Does this make sense together?

Is this a paragraph that makes a point, actually explains something, or is it just several sentences vaguely related?

Are there transitions between paragraphs?

Does the second paragraph make sense following the first and so on?

Does your last paragraph remind you of your first?

Do your conclusions follow consistently from the purpose or thesis of the report?  from the evidence you present in the body of the report?

 

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Accuracy                                  Is the information correct?

                                                Is your source reliable?

What have you done or considered to assure that the information is correct and reliable (do you provide evidence that you are reliable and competent)?

                                                Are your sources documented in the report?

If the accuracy of the information is questionable, what should be done as a follow up to this report?  What else needs to be known?

 

Relevance & Significance            Do your data, details, examples, information, opinions and elaboration relate to the problem or question?

                                                Do they help us understand the problem or question?

                                                Is this the main point?

                                                Is this too much explanation on a peripheral idea, or trivial problem?

                                                What is/are the most important data, information, and opinions needed to address the problem?

                                                What is/are the most important ideas, information, conclusions, interpretations indicated by the data and information?

 

Depth & Breadth                        What factors make this a difficult problem?

                                                What are some of the complexities of this question?

How does this question, problem, data, information relate to other questions, problems, data and information?

What are the implications of your findings to other situations, questions, and ideas?

 

Fairness & Integrity                        Do you give credit to others where credit is due?

Do you acknowledge and cite your sources for ideas and inspiration as well as information?

Do you have a vested interest in the outcome of the issue?

                                                Have you examined your thinking for bias and prejudice?

Have you used objective methods to avoid biasing the outcomes and conclusions?

Are there relevant alternative interpretations that you should consider and address?

What are the shortcomings of your study?

What are your most likely mistakes and how, in the worst case, would such mistakes affect your results and conclusions?