objectives, assignments, grading

Ecology, Spring 2004
COURSE OBJECTIVES, ASSIGNMENTS, AND GRADING

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The goal of this course is to enable you:

to explain how organisms interact with each other and with the environment.
to analyze how these interactions influence patterns of distribution and abundance.
to analyze the structure of and changes in populations, communities, and ecosystems.
to apply ecological concepts to novel situations, especially real-life issues.
to read scientific journal articles critically and evaluate the authors’ conclusions.
to give oral presentations that synthesize information on ecological topics.
to develop questions and pose hypotheses about ecological patterns and processes.
to collect and analyze ecological data in order to evaluate hypotheses.

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ASSIGNMENTS

Textbook readings – Reading assignments will be posted on the course website. Read the assigned sections of the text before the class period for which it is assigned. Lectures and in-class activities will presume that you have read the assignment.

Discussions – Six times during the semester you will be assigned to read and discuss a popular essay or journal article from the primary literature. Before each discussion, you will turn in a pre-discussion report that includes responses to questions that will be given to guide your reading as well as questions or comments that you have about the article. You will be responsible for leading one discussion during the semester. Material covered in discussions is likely to appear on exams.

Peer teaching presentations – For each of the set of peer teaching presentations, you will be assigned a specific topic. You will research the topic and then teach the rest of the class about your topic. Information presented during these peer teaching activities may appear on exams.

Applied ecology presentation – Your presentation will be a formal oral report on an aspect of applied ecology (i.e., how an ecological concept is relevant to a real-world issue). For this assignment, you will need to independently research your topic and synthesize your findings into a cohesive report.

Research reports – You will write research reports on the phenotypic plasticity lab and the biodiversity lab, in the style of scientific journal articles. The first research report will be a simplified version will include an abstract, methods, and results. Your second research report will be a complete scientific research report, containing an abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion as well as references to relevant primary literature.

Independent research project and presentation – Individually or in groups of two, you will conduct an independent research project that follows up one of our labs, field trips, or in-class activities. You will be responsible for posing a novel question, stating the question as a hypothesis, designing an experiment to address your hypothesis, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting results in our independent research symposium.

In-class activities and short assignments – During the semester, we will have a variety of in-class activities, including labs and field trips as well as hands-on simulations. The goal of these activities and assignments is to give you the opportunity to apply material from lectures in hands-on activities and real-life settings. Your participation in these activities is required. Most activities will include a brief assignment to assess your understanding of the activity.

Exams – There will be three exams in this course – two midterm exams and a comprehensive final exam. Exams will include a variety of question types, including multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. Each exam will also include a section of problems drawn from a study guide that you will receive at least a week before the test.

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GRADING

The components of the course described above will be worth the following points and percentages of your final grade:

Course component	total points	% of grade
Discussions (6 x 25)	150	15%
Peer teaching presentations (2 x 25)	50	5%
Applied ecology presentation	50	5%
Research report 1	100	10%
Research report 2	150	15%
Independent project and presentation	80	8%
In-class activities	120	12%
Exam 1	100	10%
Exam 2	100	10%
Final exam	100	10%
Total	1000	100%

Grading scale:

	90% - 100% = A	If you earn 90% or more of the possible points, you are guaranteed an A in this course, and so on. You will get the grade you earn, regardless of others’ performance.
	80% - 89.9% = B
	70% - 79.9% = C
	55% - 69.9% = D
	0% - 54.9% = F

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