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Biology 113
Energy Transfer and Development
Credit hours: 5
GEC categories:
Prerequisites: Chemistry 101 or 121. However, it has been my experience that students who struggle through their chemistry courses will also struggle through Biology 113, perhaps more so. It cannot be stated strongly enough that individuals who are interested in biology should take their chemistry studies very, very seriously. DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF DERAILING YOUR BIOLOGY GOALS AND INTERESTS BY ATTEMPTING BIOLOGY 113 WITHOUT THE NECESSARY COMMITMENT AND PREPARATION! If you have never had a college-level biology course or equivalent (e.g., biology in high schools the way college-preparatory courses ought to be taught, but usually are not, particularly when teachers are uncomfortable with teaching chemistry-, math-, or evolution-based biology), then please strongly consider taking Biology 101 before attempting Biology 113.
Text Books:
| Title | Author(s) | Publisher | ISBN |
Example Syllabus:
Website: http://www.phage.org/biology.htm
Course Objectives: To give students a feel for/understanding of organisms at the level of a cell and below in all of their glorious complexity, including an introduction to genetics.
Course Content: This is a typical introductory biology course for majors with an approximately average level of rigor/difficulty. Academically strong students will find Biology 113 challenging but not overwhelming. Students who are not used to rigorous college-level science courses, however, may find Biology 113 to be extremely difficult. Basically in ten weeks we go through the first 20 chapters of our text, covering most of three units called "The Chemistry of Life," "The Cell,", and "Genetics." About half of the course is chemistry!!!! Another sixth or fifth is math!!! You can see all of the material you will be held responsible for at http://www.phage.org/bio_113_schedule.htm. Be prepared to devote a minimum of about 20 hours/week to this class. Typically 50% of the class present on day 1 will receive a grade of D+ or less. If you are not prepared to seriously dedicate yourself to learning biology, then don't sign up for this course. See: http://www.phage.org/bio_113_warning.htm for more information on what it takes to succeed in this course.
Method of Presentation: Lecture and lab with lots of encouragement of student participation/responsibility for the material. Lack of student participation (and preparation) will seriously hamper the learning experience. No assignments will be handed in or graded. Your lab efforts will be graded using one or two lab exams. These will be open book exams, but students who blow off labs or attend but don't care will tend to fail these lab exams. I will assume and expect that students will not only keep up with text reading but that they will keep up with the material on a daily basis. Some can pass this course without putting forth a serious effort. Most can't.
Method of Evaluation: There will be up to three midterms, one non-comprehensive portion of the final, one comprehensive portion of the final, and up to two lab exams. Question types may include just about every variety. In addition, you may be quizzed approximately daily.
