BIOL1100 Lab Syllabus

Fall 2012

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*All e-mails are firstname.lastname@anokaramsey.edu  phones begin with 763-433-x

Tentative Schedule

Any deviations from this schedule will be announced beforehand.  Be sure to read the assigned textbook and lab manual readings before your lab meeting. * These labs are conducted outside. Dress accordingly for the predicted weather and possibility of poison ivy and thorns.

Grading: Each lab is worth 20 points, except the group semester project (40 points). You are allowed to drop your lowest grade for one lab, except the semester project.  Writing a passing lab report is mandatory. If you do not write the lab report on the water sampling lab, then you will have to write a lab report on the transformation lab to pass the class.  You will be given 1 opportunity to rewrite your lab report if you do not receive  at least 10.5 points (70%).   An extra credit point will be given if you use a peer tutor or SmarThinking tutor to help write your report.

Many labs have pre-lab quizzes as indicated on the schedule.  The reading assignment and quiz questions can be found at: http://webs.anokaramsey.edu/mckearnan/BIOL1100/BIOL1100.htm.  Failure to follow lab safety procedures can also reduce your points received.  The maximum possible point total in lab is 220 points.  Your lab points will become part of your course grade.

Tardiness and Absences

Students are expected to be on time for lab. The following policies apply to tardiness and absences:

·      Missing more than two labs is an automatic failure of the lab portion of the class.

·      If you are tardy or absent, you are still responsible for any and all announcements and material presented during your absence.

·      Pre-lab quizzes will not be offered to students who are late or absent.  If you arrive during the pre-lab quiz, you are required to finish the quiz with the rest of the students by the original deadline set by the instructor. 

·      If you miss a lab when a graded group activity or writing assignment is assigned, you cannot complete that assignment for points if you don’t complete the lab activity.

Under exceptional circumstances, you may make up a lab in another section only once per semester. You must have your absence excused by your own instructor in advance, and have prior permission from the lab instructor in the section you attend for the make-up. You are required to complete the graded activities of the section you are making the lab up in, which may be different from the graded activities used by your original instructor in the lab section you are missing.

Late Work Policy

All work is expected to be turned in during the lab period it is due. For every day that an assignment is late, 10% will be deducted from the points possible.  If turned in on the day it is due, but after lab is over, it will be considered one day late.  No assignments will be accepted more than one full week beyond the due date.

Academic Honesty

ARCC Biology Department does not tolerate plagiarism or cheating on graded material, including pre-lab quizzes, lab reports or assignments.  Activities that are considered not acceptable in lab include, but are not limited to:

•   copying answers from another student's quiz, assignment or instructor’s key

•   knowingly allowing someone to copy your answers on a pre-lab quiz or assignment

•   informing other students of specific or general content on a pre-lab quiz

•   willingly listening to specific or general content on a pre-lab quiz (if unreported by you to an instructor, you will be considered a willing participant)

•   using unauthorized written material or diagrams , e.g. cheat sheet, during a pre-lab quiz

•   using exact or similar wording as that of another student, textbook, website, etc. on an assignment without proper acknowledgement,  (see pp. 14-15 in manual) and,

•   having someone else complete your assignment that is meant to be your own work.

Any incidents of plagiarism or cheating will result in a minimum of a zero grade for that assignment, with no possibility of dropping that grade, and will be reported to the Dean of Student Services.  Subsequent incidents will result in a no passing grade for the course.  Plagiarism and cheating only degrades the learning experience and is unlikely to benefit you in the long run.

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Last revised: Wednesday, 11 April 2007