BIOL 106
Environmental Science
Spring 2015
Dyer
ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE SCIENCE
Spring 2015
Instructor:
Phone:
Email:
Lecture:
Lab:
Dr. Andrew Dyer
641-3443
AndyD@usca.edu
Sec 001
Sec 002
M-W
W
T
Office:
Office hours:
2:30- 3:45
9:00-11:40
1:40- 4:20
SBDG 101E
by appointment
Science 327
Science 107
Science 107
Required reading:
World on the Edge
Unquenchable
Chasing the Red Queen
Garbology
Lester Brown
Robert Glennon
Andy Dyer
Edward Humes
Required lab material: SimBio Lab packet
2011
2009
2014
2013
$16
$16
$32
$19
$12
COURSE OBJECTIVES: The course will provide students with an understanding and appreciation of
the complex interactions between humans and the environment. The course will focus on natural
resources and human population growth, and specifically on how humans interact with the environment
and what the influence of 7 billion humans can be. In this course, we will focus on just a few of the many
environmental science topics: water, food, waste, science, pollution, and the relevant science. One overall
goal will be to orient these topics around global sustainability. To focus our thinking and discussions,
lecture material will be presented to help create context and readings from the required books will help
guide discussions.
METHODS OF PRESENTATION
Lectures: Information will be presented through lectures discussion, and team-based learning. Traditional
exams will be used to evaluate student progress in the class. These exams will include multiple choice,
terms/definitions, and short answer.
Students should bring a pencil and a long-form Scantron to each exam.
There will be frequent quizzes and in-class assignments during the semester. Students are expected to
have read the material for the upcoming lecture meeting and reviewed the material from the previous
lecture in preparation. Quizzes will be given during the first 5 minutes of class, and there will be no
make-up opportunities for absence or late arrival. However, if the necessary number of quizzes are
given during the semester, the instructor will typically drop 1-2 of those grades.
Laboratory: The lab meets once a week and will cover similar topics, but in a more hands-on way. The
grade from the lab will be combined with the lecture grade and is weighted at ~40% of the total. There
are two interactive computer simulations in lab; laptop computers will be provided, but all students may
bring their own laptops/tablets to lab. The software must be installed on the computer using the login
information contained in the packet from the bookstore.
METHODS OF EVALUATION
Grading:
The final course grade will be based on the following (these are approximate point totals):
Quizzes on the readings
~20 x 5pts
100
Tests
3 x 70 pts
210
Final
100
Research paper
50
Other assignments
40
Lecture assignments
~500 pts
Lab assignments (see lab syllabus)
~280 pts
Grading scale: A (90-100%), B (80-89), C (70-79), D (60-69), F (0-59).
The grades and graded material in this course will not be curved.
Assignment scores will be kept up to date on Blackboard although the calculated grade on Blackboard is
not always correct. Please check the scores on your assignments against Blackboard to make sure the
instructor has entered the scores correctly. Mistakes are easy to make with Blackboard.
Changes: The instructor reserves the right to make changes in the lecture or laboratory schedule, the
number of quizzes and exams given, and the contents of each exam as deemed necessary. Any changes
will be announced in lecture well in advance of any important deadlines.
ATTENDANCE POLICY: Students are expected to adhere to the USCA attendance policy as stated in
the Student Handbook. The instructor will impose a penalty for absences in excess of 25% of regularly
scheduled class meetings. Missing more than 25% of the labs will result in an “F” in the course.
Absences, neither excused nor unexcused, absolve the student from meeting class assignments. Lecture
exam dates are clearly stated in the syllabus, and all students are expected to take the exams at the
regularly scheduled time. Make-up lecture exams will be considered only for a documented, excusable
reason. If you are a student-athlete, please give your game schedule to the instructor the first week of
classes. If there is an illness or emergency, you are expected to contact the instructor immediately. Be
prepared to show documentation (e.g., doctor’s excuse). Failure to contact the instructor within 24 hours
will forfeit any chance of making up the test.
Attending lecture and taking notes is the sole responsibility of the student. Under no circumstance
will the instructor provide copies of lecture notes or slides for students.
LABORATORY ATTENDANCE: Because labs are often group efforts and often require special
instruction, laboratory investigations cannot be made up. Therefore, students must make every effort
to attend laboratory sessions. If you miss a laboratory investigation, you will not be allowed to take the
associated quizzes or turn in a lab report the following week even if you get the information from your lab
partners. This also applies if you come in late, leave early, or do not participate fully. You cannot write a
report on a laboratory investigation that you did not do.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES:
1. Plan to be out of touch and to have your cell phone stored out of sight during lecture and lab time. This
includes leaving the room to answer silent rings or using the phone for text messages. If you have reason
to need to be in cell phone contact, let the instructor know.
2. It is acceptable to have an internet accessible device with you. On many occasions, the lecture
instructor may ask you to look up information on the internet as part of discussions of current topics.
COMPUTER USE AND EMAIL: All laboratory reports will require the use of a computer. You must
be able to log on to the USCA computer system in order to accomplish these laboratory exercises. If you
do not know how to sign on to the USCA computer system, you should contact the CSD HELP desk as
soon as possible.
All official email communications, including class announcements, are made to USCA email accounts.
Students should check their USCA email account on a regular basis and use this account for
communication with the instructor. In order to protect the privacy of the student, the instructor will not
reply to emails sent from non-USCA accounts (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo). Also, because of federal law, no
grades or scores can be communicated by phone or email; you must come to the instructor’s office.
DISABILITY STATEMENT: If you have a physical, psychological, and/or learning disability which
might affect your performance in this class, please contact the Office of Disability Services, 126A B&E,
(803) 641-3609, as soon as possible. The Disability Services Office will determine appropriate
accommodations based on medical documentation.
CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR
It is the instructor’s right to remove from the classroom any student who disrupts or disturbs the
proceeding of the class. Disruption of the class includes but is not limited to the use of any portable
electronic devices, including cell phones, MP3 players; iPods, etc. unless prior approval has been given to
a student or unless required for the course. In extreme cases the faculty member can request assistance
from University Police. If the student who has been ejected causes similar disturbances in subsequent
meetings of the class, he/she may be denied admittance to the class for the remainder of the semester and
assigned a grade of F.
Writing and written assignments
If you refer to a written source, you may not quote the source even if you use quotation marks. That is, do
not use the author’s words, parts of the sentence, the entire sentence, anything. Rewrite the ideas in
YOUR words.
Does spelling count? Yes, it does. And so does grammar. How you use words is a reflection of the
quality of your thought and expression, the effort you put into the assignment, and your ability to
recognize poor English.
A short note about PLAGIARISM
Any and all work turned in for credit is assumed to be your work and the product of your brain and your
brain alone. Every word and every sentence is your work. Work can be considered plagiarism even if it
is not exact copying. My advice is “don’t make me look” because when I get suspicious enough to look, I
usually find. For your information, it is plagiarism….
*if you fail to cite a reference after giving a factual statement;
*if you fail to use quotation marks (and I do not allow quoting in science papers so there are no
quotation marks anyway);
*if you rephrase someone else’s work or merely change a few words;
*if you have the same order and form of sentences as the source material;
*if you consistently mis-cite or mis-use cites in a way that suggests intentional avoidance of
detection;
*if you and a lab partner work together and turn in work that is substantially the same.
If a “draft” of a paper has any of the above problems, it is still plagiarism.
If I cannot tell who produced a piece of work, no credit will be assigned.
If the references given are not accessible to the instructor, no credit will be given. Therefore, if you use
obscure or unusual references, it is your responsibility to turn in a copy with the assignment or make it
available to me.
Be aware that what was allowed in high school does not necessarily apply at USCA. If there is anything
about the above statements that are not clear, don’t wait until an assignment is due to find out more.
Many students believe that having no more than three consecutive words from an original source will fool
the electronic programs that detect plagiarism. I don’t use those programs; I read the papers that are given
in the reference list and compare them to the student’s work. If I find any of the problems listed above,
there will be no first warning. There is no latitude given because there is no excuse for plagiarism.
Therefore, if I find any work that is too similar to other work, either in the class or out of the class, please
understand that I have no options but to follow the rules as outlined in the USCA Faculty Manual. The
student(s) involved will be summoned to my office, the situation will be explained, there will be no
options for “redoing” the work, a zero will be given to the assignment, and a formal letter will be sent to
the student and to the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs documenting the situation. As
with all academic issues, there is an avenue for appeal (detailed in the USCA Student Handbook), but it is
not with me.
Tentative Lecture Schedule
Week
1
Date
Jan 12-14
Topic
Environmental Science and Sustainability
Reading
WOTE 1
2
Jan 21
Water, water wars, water woes
WOTE 2; UQ Prologue,
Conclusion,1
3
Jan 26-28
Water crazy
UQ 2, 17 (for Weds)
4
Feb 2-4
Video- Salton Sea
Water – domestic and recreation
WOTE 4, UQ 13
5
Feb 9-11
Water – hydrocycle, energy
UQ 3, 5; UQ 16
6
Feb 16-18
Water solutions
WOTE 2, 3
Test 1-Water
7
Feb 23-25
Food and water
Food and populations and poverty
WOTE 5, 6
8
Mar 2-4
Farming and biology/science
CRQ 1, 3, 4
Spring Break
9
Mar 16-18
Adaptations and resistance
CRQ 7, 8, 9, 10
10
Mar 23
Mar 25
Food for 9 billion
Test 2- Food
WOTE-12
11
Mar 30-Apr 1
Waste- A big problem
GARB Mon Intro:1-14,
Epilog:256-262, 2:36-52
Weds 4:75-93
12
Apr 6-8
Waste- Plastic and biomagnification
GARB Mon 3:65-71, 5:97114; Weds 6:115-128
13
Apr 13-15
Waste- Solutions
Test 3- Waste
GARB Mon 10:187-220
14
Apr 20-22
Poverty and nature
WOTE 10, 11
15
Apr 27
Personal choices
April 29
Final – 2:00pm