Instructor:  Dr. Jean Billerbeck              Office Hours: TUES: 8-9 am & 3-4 pm

                    Office: KN 3015                                         TUES: 11 am - 1 pm

                    Phone: 825-2013                                         

                    Email: jbillerbeck@ccri.edu      

                  

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Course Description:  This course is a one-semester introduction to biology intended for students majoring in areas other than the sciences (i.e., non-science majors).  Students will investigate the basic biological principles needed to understand and make informed decisions regarding vital biological issues in today’s world; for example, global warming, obesity, biodiversity, cancer, race, genetic engineering, & human population growth.  The course fulfills 4 credits of Math/Science General Education requirements. (Prerequisite: ENGL 0700 & MATH 0500 with grade of “C” or appropriate placement test score.)  Lecture: 3 hrs, Lab: 2 hrs.

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Workshop Model:  This course focuses on ACTIVE LEARNING, and thus consists of weekly WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, & LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS.  Learning is an active process:  it takes a great deal of time & effort on the part of the learner (you) and requires that the learner (you) be actively engaged in his/her learning.  As the instructor, I cannot "learn you" the information, but I can act as your biology "coach" to guide you along the way.  That said, you will be expected to master one textbook chapter per week (14 chapters total) as listed on the course syllabus.  There will be no formal (i.e., boring) lectures given by the professor.  Instead, you will be expected to read, take notes, and complete on-line quizzes for the assigned chapter as homework to prepare for the weekly workshop day.  In class during the workshops, you will investigate & discuss one essay question from the chapter with a group of 3-4 students & prepare a short (10-12 min) Powerpoint® slideshow of your answer to present to the class on presentation day at the beginning of the next week.  You will also be conducting weekly activities/experiments related to the chapter topics in the laboratory.

 

Science classes such as this one cover a significant amount of material.  As your biology "coach", I recommend that you attend class regularly & keep up with class work (because you can NOT cram this stuff into your brain at the last minute!) as follows:

 

Prior to each weekly "Workshop", you MUST complete the following:

 

1. Read and take notes from the assigned chapter.  Bring your notes and book to class to utilize during the workshop!

 

2. Take and submit the online Chapter Quiz for the assigned chapter.  Quizzes MUST be submitted BEFORE class on the due date listed on the course syllabus!  This is to ensure that all students have read/understood the chapter & are prepared to actively participate in the workshop.  Thus, late quiz submissions will NOT be accepted. Additionally, you must bring a print-out of the graded quiz to class to utilize during the workshop (& as a back-up in case of internet problems). Only your 1st quiz submission (first attempt) will be counted - taking the quiz online more than once will NOT increase your quiz grade.  However, these quizzes are meant to be a learning tool:  they are open-note, open-book quizzes.  SUGGESTION:  log on to the text web page & print out a blank version of the quiz; then take time to discuss the questions with other students & search for the answers in your notes/text.  Once you feel pretty confident in your answers, log back on to the text web page & submit your answers for grading.  More time & effort will yield much higher quiz scores!

 

NOTE: Any student who fails to submit the chapter quiz PRIOR to class on the assigned due date will NOT be allowed to participate in the workshop for that week, & thus will be assigned a zero for that chapter presentation.

 

During "Workshop" day, you will:

 

1. Choose an essay question that you and your group will work to answer in your own words.  You will utilize your textbook, your instructor, & the internet as sources of information to help you to investigate your chosen question.

 

2. Generate a 10-12 minute PowerPoint presentation (10-15 slides max) that your group will present to your peers at the "presentation" class the following week. Preparing & delivering these presentations will help you to learn!  The truth is: you don't actually "know" something (i.e., you haven't mastered the material) unless you can explain it to someone else in your own words!  These presentations will be graded by the entire class (this is called peer review and is fundamental to process of science) & the instructor using a standard rubric.  You should familiarize yourself with this rubric PRIOR to making your presentation & use it as as check list to make sure that your presentation will meet the grading criteria.  Your weekly group presentation grade will be the average of my evaluation, your self-evaluation, and the evaluations by your peers.

 

During each weekly "Presentation" day, you will:

 

1. Deliver your group's Powerpoint presentation (10-12 minutes max) & field questions from the class regarding your presentation topic (3-5 minutes max).  Students in the audience are expected to listen carefully to other group's presentations & ask questions!  There will be a few "bonus" questions on each lecture exam related to the presentations, so you may also want to take notes on the other groups' presentations.  Also, students in the audience can earn bonus points on their presentation if they discover a science/factual mistake in another group's presentation & questions (not criticizes!) them about it.