Florida International University

Department of Biological Science

Biscayne Bay Campus

BSC- 2023L – Human Biology Lab

Fall 2010

Updated August 24th 2010

Lab Coordinator: Dr. Richard Brinn – brinnr@fiu.edu - www.fiu.edu/~brinnr

Instructor: Depends on the section please check www.fiu.edu/~brinnr and panthersoft for details.

Required texts: Lab Manual Human Biology – Mader 11th edition.

Personal supplies required:  For your safety you will be required to  a lab coat to participate in lab activities. You will be required to follow the proper lab attire described in the Laboratory Safety Rules (download from www.fiu.edu/~brinnr) including closed-toe shoes. You must have all of this equipment by the second lab.  If you do not have your equipment, you will not be allowed into the lab.

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 go study your lab assignment a couple of days before the lab.

Exams:  There will be two exams, a midterm and a final practical exam on the dates listed on the schedule.  There will be no make-up exams given.  In the event of an emergency (listed in the syllabus) and excused absence, the student and TA will coordinate with the lab coordinator (Dr. Richard Brinn) for an alternative solution for the exam grade.  Excuses for missing both exams during the semester will not be accepted.

Quizzes:  There will be a quiz every week at the beginning of each lab except for the first lab and the lab after the midterm. The material will cover the previous lab, as well as information for that day’s lab. You will receive a grade zero 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 Instructor within a week of the missed lab otherwise the absence will be considered unexcused and will automatically given a zero. You will only be allowed one excused absences 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 to achieve the goals of the day and completely filling out task sheets including answering questions, making drawings and filling in tables. You will be graded on your ability to function as a group in performing the lab tasks. Each group member will be graded individually. 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.

Lab Manuals: You will be required to maintain your Lab Manual containing your observations and results as well as the answers to exercise questions.

Attendance: Be prepared to participate in ALL the course as scheduled.

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://www.fiu.edu/hr/eop/Forms/Policies/Sexual_harassment.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.

Grades:

Midterm – 35%      Final – 35%  Quizzes – 25%      Participation – 5%

Grade Scale:

Emergency: 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.

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

THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS DEEMED NECESSARY

Lab Schedule

Below is the schedule for the lab sections B51 and B53

Below is the schedule for the lab sections B52 and B54

Below is the schedule for the lab sections B55 and B57

Below is the schedule for the lab sections B56 and B58