BIOLOGY 26-105 BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS:UNITY LABORATORY SYLLABUS
Instructor: Dr. Margaret Beard
E-mail: beard@uwosh.edu
Office: Halsey 161
Office Hours: M,W, 9;30-10:30 or by appointment
Textbook: Campbell, et al.. Biology: Concepts and Connections, 6thth edition.
Lab Manual Bio 105 – Concepts in Biology: Unity – Laboratory Manual. Fall 2010 edition
Grading: Your lab grade will include evaluations of lab reports; lab quizzes; and attendance and
participation as follows –
Lab Reports – 60%
Lab Quizzes – 20%
Attendance and Active Participation –20 %
Expectations:
1. Bring lab book and text book to lab each week
2. Read the lab exercise BEFORE coming to lab
3. Review previous work, particularly continuing/ongoing exercises BEFORE lab
4. Answer all questions and fill in all blanks in your lab book as preparation for writing the lab
report and for the quizzes. Do not hand these in, although I may well look at these during any lab
period as I circulate around the laboratory.
5. Participate in class discussion/ answer questions when called/ ask questions. Attendance is
taken. If you miss a lab you are responsible for finding out about that lab from your lab partners
See also lab make-up Policy in the Lecture Syllabus
6. Turn in lab reports in a prompt and timely fashion (see Lab Report Handout). Note: a lab report
grade will be reduced by 20% or 2 points for each day that the report is late beyond the due date.
Quizzes: Lab quizzes will generally be short-answer essay. These will ask you (1) to demonstrate you
knowledge of concepts covered in previous laboratory exercises by asking you to apply knowledge to a
new situation and/or (2) discuss basic concepts to be covered in the laboratory of the day. Quizzes will
occur at random intervals and will be unannounced. So come prepared to each laboratory period for you
can expect a lab quiz on any lab day. Missed quizzes will receive a grade of zero; missed quizzes CAN
NOT be made up.
Academic Honesty: Any evidence of any form of academic dishonesty makes you subject to the
Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures, as outlined in the Student Disciplinary Code and on the web
(http://www/uwosh.edu/dean). Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: copying a lab report
written by someone else; observing and copying a quiz answer written by someone else.
Lab Reports: Laboratory reports are meant as a way for me to assess your understanding of the
laboratory exercise and the principles it demonstrates or illustrates. You should discuss these among your
group. The first week, each student will write up a lab report. After that, each week one member of each
lab group will actually write up the lab report in the format outlined below, and also described on pages 67 in the lab manual and in Chapter 1 of the textbook. Excluding the report of the first week’s lab, there
will be 9 laboratory exercises for which lab reports are due. By the end of the semester each student will
have written up minimally three lab reports (excluding the report of the first week’s work). Lab reports
may be turned in to me any time within 24 hours of completion of the lab exercise, but MUST BE
turned in at my office within 24 hours of completion of the lab for full credit. Remember late lab
reports receive 20% less credit for each day late. There are boxes on the wall outside my office,
labeled with the lab section and time into which lab reports can be placed.
Lab reports should be typed (preferably) or at least written legibly in ink. Illegible lab reports will not be
graded.
Each lab report MUST INCLUDE the following sections.
Hypothesis: What is happening? (BIG picture). A hypothesis is a positive statement or general
explanation of an observed phenomenon; not a prediction of what you think will result for a specific
experiment. It speaks about the theory behind the experiment or exercise. Example: Termites navigate
using their sense of sight.
Proposed Experiments and Controls: What will you do to test your hypothesis? Experiments need
to be able to be repeated, so here you include enough detail to ensure this, and include controls. Example:
To test whether termites use sight – Experiment: draw colored straight lines on a piece of paper and
observe whether the termite follows the colored line; Control: draw a line with no color but that indent
the paper to the same depth as the colored lines. This control actually will let you understand whether
the termite follows color or indentation.
Predicted Results and Rationale explaining why you predict specific results: What do you expect
to observe and WHY? Predicted results are specific to your designed experiment and should be stated
BEFORE you do the experiment. As you observe your experiment you may or may find your predicted
results are found or then again you may find different results. Example: If the termites navigate by sight
(the hypothesis) then the termites will follow all and only pen lines but not the indented line (the
prediction). Rationale for this prediction is that you know from past experience and past observations
that many other animals use sight to navigate
Actual Results and Conclusion(s): What are your actual observations? State your observations in
words. Observations may also be actual measurements. Such measurements should be presented in table
and/or a graph form in your report as well as a written statement. (Combined class data/measurements
may be used in some exercises). Then discuss your observations or data. What conclusions can you draw
from your data? Was your hypothesis supported? Not supported? Don’t state conclusions that are not
evident from your data!! Particularly if your data do not support your hypothesis, a new hypothesis
and/or further experiments is called for. If this is the case state a new hypothesis and describe what other
experiments you could do. Example: Observed Results: termites followed only blue lines but not any
other colored lines and not the indentation. These observations did not support the hypothesis;
Conclusion: termites do not navigate by sight alone. Reworded hypothesis: Termites use their sense of
smell and not a sense of color to navigate: Additional experiments: draw colored lines from a number of
sources – i.e. different pens and pencils.