Florida International University
Department of Biological Sciences
Biscayne Bay Campus
OCB2003 – Introduction to Marine Biology
Global Learning Course
Updated May 10th
Dr. Richard Brinn
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Email: brinnr@fiu.edu When sending email please include course, student name and panther ID in the subject.
Course Description:
This course satisfies both UCC (University Core
Curriculum) and Global Learning requirements for non science majors
students.
Students attending this course already live in a globalized society,
where the marine environment is an essential part of their lives
directly or indirectly even if they don’t comprehend how this happens.
Many countries around the world are strongly utilizing the sea for their
basic needs including food, shelter, entertainment and health. These
marine ecosystems also provide valuable services to local and global
interests. Humans have great influence on the oceans, usually in a
negative manner, and in many cases cause irreversible changes. In this
class, students will be introduced to the basic principles of marine
biology, spanning from organisms to ecosystems. They will learn about
the ways that humans depend upon the ocean for their survival, how they
impact, and attempt to protect marine resources. This course will
enhance students’ interest in studying marine biology.
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Students will be
able to articulate the interrelatedness among increasing world
populations, intensified human activities, and limited marine biological
resources.
·
Students will be
able to assess the effect of different regional stakeholders on
regulating the fisheries and other marine resources in international
waters.
·
Students will be
able to formulate possible solutions for problems, such as conserving
endangered species, pollution, considering various national, regional
and global interests.
Webpage : http://faculty.fiu.edu/~brinnr
Lecture Notes: All lecture notes will be posted as PowerPoint presentations in Blackboard.
Text: There is one text required for this course. Marine Biology By Castro and Huber, 2010 – McGraw Hill – 10th Edition.
Reading assignments: You will be required to read and understand some scientific articles during the semester.
Attendance: Be prepared to participate in ALL the course as scheduled! Attendance is mandatory and students who miss often should expect to receive a failing grade. Not all material that is discussed in class will be found in the readings or slides on Blackboard, yet the exams will include it. Students will be graded on their participation, discussions and other class activities. Students should also be aware that frequent and extreme lateness in coming to class will be noted by the professor, as it is in every class. The best way to convince your instructor that you don’t care about the class is to be late or absent. Habitual extreme lateness is rude, disruptive, selfish, and immature. The correlation between high grades and punctual attendance is very high in just about all classes.
Help: If you need additional assistance with the information presented in this course, seek the assistance of the professor. If the office hours on the Biscayne Bay Campus are inconvenient, other arrangements can be made. Sexual Harassment Policy: The Faculty Senate voted to require each professor to include a statement about this in the syllabus. FIU’s sexual harassment policy is available online: http://www.fiu.edu/hr/eop/Forms/Policies/Sexual_harassment.pdf
Cheating or plagiarism will not be tolerated!!! : Students caught cheating during an examination or plagiarizing will be subject to the Academic Misconduct procedures and penalties.
Exams: There will be 3 major exams, article discussions and other activities.
Extra Credit : The exams and assignments listed above will be the only grades you will receive for the class. Extra credit assignments will not be allowed under any circumstances, so please do not ask if you can do one. Experience shows that the expectation of being able to do extra credit simply encourages students to take regular assignments less seriously, and allowing it is also unfair to students whose schedules don’t permit them to participate in it. Also, the time spent on extra assignments takes away from time needed to do better on subsequent regular assignments.
Emergency: This section covers situations that prevent you for attending the class or/and exams. For this course, “Emergency” is determined as an unpreventable event that prevents attendance to class or/and an exam. Emergency situations are:
1.Medical
emergency with Medical Doctor’s note/emergency room.
2.Automobile
accident with police report (lack of ride is NOT an emergency case).
3.Death
of immediate family members.
Emergency also includes natural events such as hurricanes, floods, or fires that causes the closure of FIU-BBC. Make-Up Exams Make up exams will not be allowed unless you have a very good and official excuse, like a note from a doctor, hospital, parole officer, or court (not a mechanic). You must notify your Professors in advance by email within 48 hours and present your original official excuse within 1 week. In any case, the make-up test will consist of the following essay question: "Please discuss the key material that we have covered in class since the last exam. You will be evaluated on your ability to determine what the most important ideas and concepts are and to present them clearly and concisely." You will have 60 minutes to write your essay, closed book (no notes). IMPORTANT : If you miss any exam on the scheduled dates you must send an email to the main professor within 48 hours after the exam and show proper documentation within 1 week to be eligible for a makeup. If these rules are not followed your grade will be a zero for that exam. Incomplete Grades An incomplete grade is a temporary symbol given at the discretion of the instructor for work not completed because of serious interruption not caused by the student's own negligence. In any case, more than half of the work of the course has to have been completed. An incomplete grade must be made up as quickly as possible, but no later than two consecutive semesters or it will automatically default to the grade the student earned in the course (which is normally an F in the absence of all work completed). There is no extension to the two consecutive semester deadline. The student must not register again for the course to make up the incomplete. In order to receive an incomplete for this class, valid documentation must be provided for the reason the student is requesting the incomplete. The reason, again, must be out of the student's control. The grades received in the interrupted semester will be transferred to the make up semester where only the incomplete labs will be completed. If you complete the course an incomplete grade will not be granted. Grades:
Schedule may be subject to change when deemed necessary.
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