Florida International University

Department of Biological Science

Biscayne Bay Campus

BSC- 2010L – General Biology I Lab

Summer A 2021

Updated June 17th

Lab coordinator : Dr. Richard Brinn - brinnr@fiu.edu - faculty.fiu.edu/~brinnr

Head TA: Will Wied- wwied001@fiu.edu  (Phd student from the Biological Sciences department)  

Schedule and Syllabus

Dates below depend on what section you are attending.

*These are the dates that these items are ASSIGNED. Please follow the dates given by your TAs in Canvas for due dates.

Instructor: Depends on the section check at faculty.fiu.edu/~brinnr or on Panthersoft.

Required texts: No lab manual required just print task sheets !!! You must have task sheets printed before each lab!!!!

Email: By default all email messages sent by the Instructor, Head TA or the Lab coordinator to the students will be sent to their FIU email account. Please make sure you always check your FIU email account as well.   

Course description: This is the first half of the general biology laboratories offered at Florida International University, and provides practical learning to compliment topics covered in the General Biology I lecture (BSC 1010).  This introductory laboratory course investigates some basic biological mechanisms essential for cell life, photosynthesis and genetics.  This course is intended for biology majors, especially for those taking BSC 1010 during the same semester, and may be difficult for non-science majors.

Reading assignments: You are required to read each lab assignment before lab period. Reading the assignment 10 minutes before the lab starts will be a guarantee of bad quiz grades so make sure you study your lab assignment including the book and task sheets a couple of days before the lab.

Projects:  You will have two group projects that will count for a majority of your grade. The first project will be a written press release of a scientific article, and the second project will be a presentation of a scientific article. These will be due on dates listed on the schedule.  

Exams:  NO EXAMS.

Quizzes: There will be 1 quiz every lab at the beginning of each lab. The material will cover the previous lab, as well as information for that day’s lab. You will receive a grade 0 if you arrive late for the lab quiz. There will be no make-up quizzes given. Proof of excused absences must be provided to the Head TA within a week of the missed lab otherwise the absence will be considered unexcused and will automatically be given a zero. You will only be allowed one excused absence per semester due to an extreme/emergency situation.

Participation grade: You will be working in groups during the semester so group cooperation and group effort will be encouraged. Grades will be based on conducting the experiments and working with your group members. You will be graded on your ability to function as a group in performing the lab tasks and creating a project. Each group member will be graded individually. Participation points may be lost from all group members for uncleanliness, disrespect, and violation of other lab rules.

Attendance:  Please note that each lab section will meet twice a week in and thus it is critical that students attend all classes.

CDC Guidelines for COVID 19: We will be following CDC guidelines so wearing masks and keeping social distance will be recomended for this class. Please make sure you complete your P3 app sign in and wash your hands frequently.

Task Sheets:  You will be required to maintain your task sheets containing your observations and results as well as the answers to exercise questions in a 3 ring binder. Task sheets will be available on the website, and must be printed out and read prior to class in order to effectively cover all of the material in lab.  Task sheets will be reviewed by the TA at the end of lab after all materials are cleaned and put away. Each lab group will be responsible for cleaning up after themselves after each lab, including, but not limited to, glassware, lab counter tops, sinks, and all other materials used. Group participation points will be lost from all group members if their bench is not cleaned at the end of each lab.

Help:  If you need additional assistance with the information presented in this course, seek the assistance of the TA. He/she is more than willing to help those students that want to do well in this lab.  Please take advantage of his/her office hours and make appointments to see him/her. 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://hr.fiu.edu/uploads/file/EOP/Sexual_Harassment_Policy_as_of_02-10.pdf

Cheating or plagiarism will not be tolerated!!!:  Cheating (including plagiarism) is unacceptable and will be reported to University Officials. See the Student Handbook and PLAGIARISM POLICY regarding the FIU policies.

Important Information:  You will need to follow all policies as stated in the university handbook. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from the class and the course.  If you are not familiar with these policies and/or have never read them, we strongly encourage you to do so. You must be registered for the section that you plan on attending and you must attend ALL of the labs. The material for each lab is scheduled to take the duration of the class time. If you decide to stop coming to lab, you must drop yourself from the lab. We cannot drop you from the lab. Students will only be given “incompletes” based on University policy. No food or drinks are allowed in the lab. Beepers and cellular phones must be turned off during the lab period. You are required to get a FIU email account ASAP since emails will only be sent to this account.

Prerequisites or Corequisites - BSC 1010 needs to be taken at the same time.

Grades:

Press Release: 25%

Presentation: 25%

Quizzes: 35%

Participation: 5%

Task Sheet: 10%

Grade Scale:

Emergency and Excused Absence:  This section covers situations that prevent you for attending the class. For this course, “Emergency” is determined as an unpreventable event that impedes your attendance to the laboratory class.

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.

You will only be excuse of your absence if an email is sent to either the Head TA,  your Instructor or the Lab Coordinator within one week of the occurrence. This should be followed by the proper documentation. Emergency also covers natural events such as hurricanes, floods, or fires that causes the closure of FIU-BBC. Please note that the lab will be closed for the whole week if one of the week’s lab sections is closed/affected. Your instructor will do his/her best to inform you in advance via email. But it is your responsibility to find out the status of emergency. You may contact following numbers for information campus-wide, not specific to Biology Department.

National Hurricane Center (305) 229-4470

Emergency situation also include problems with late registration. Sometimes, paper work causes the delay in class registration. In such event, make-up for the missing labs can be applied. However, your instructor reserves his/her right to deny you to seat in this course.

Campus Operator (305) 919-5000

                              (305) 348-2000

Observance of Religious Holidays : It is university policy that instructors reasonably accommodate students because of observation of religious holy days. The student shall be given a reasonable amount of time to complete coursework and/or assignments missed during their approved absence. The approved make-up assignment must be equivalent in content, type, and grading scale to the missed coursework and/or assignment.  A student who desires to be excused from class to observe a holy day of his or her religious faith should notify all of his or her instructors preferably upon receipt or access to the syllabus, and no later than two weeks before the religious holy day. If a student feels that an instructor has not complied with this policy, he/she may file a complaint of discrimination with the Office of Equal Opportunity Program and Diversity in accordance with FIU Regulation 105. This policy and related procedures will be included in the Student Handbook, Undergraduate Catalog, Faculty Handbook, and Graduate Catalog

 THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS DEEMED NECESSARY