Biology 278 – Animal Behavior
Syllabus for Summer Session I 2013
Time and Place:
Lecture - Every day, 9:45-11:15, Genome Sciences Rm 1374
Lab – TWTh 1:30-4:20, Wilson Rm G20
Professor:
Dr. Eric Bauer
TA:
Yuxiang Liu (liuyy@email.unc.edu)
Office: TBD
Phone: TBD
Email: ebauer@email.unc.edu
Office Hours: By appointment only
Class Website:
A website for Biol 278 is available on Sakai. This syllabus itself, lecture PPTs, grades, and various
other items will be posted throughout the semester for your reading pleasure. Bookmark it as soon
as you are able – you’ll be glad you did.
Text: Alcock, Animal Behavior, 10th Edition. Readings and course schedule are in a separate Excel file
found on the Sakai site. Readings are required, and you will be tested on facts that were not presented
in lecture but only in the readings
Special Needs: If you are a student with a documented disability who will require accommodations in
this course, please register with http://learningcenter.unc.edu/ for assistance in developing a plan to
address you academic needs. Then notify me and we will work out a solution for this course.
Course Goals: The course teaches the science of animal behavior. We will focus on what animals do,
how they do it, why they do it, and perhaps most importantly, how WE as scientists can be sure of
our information. That means we will spend a great deal of time discussing experimental procedures
and results. You will be challenged to understand the experiments and conclusions and to
think about them analytically.
Attendance Policy: Attendance is not mandatory to lectures. In fact, if you are only going to come
and sleep or text I’d rather you didn’t come. You aren’t learning anything and you are a distraction
to those who wish to learn. HOWEVER, most of the exam questions will come from material
covered in lecture, and not all topics covered in lecture are in the textbook. So, if you wish to have
a chance to pass this course I’d advise coming to lecture and paying attention.
Attendence is mandatory to the labs. Every single one. If you miss two without an adequate (and
documented) excuse then you will fail the course. This is a very short course and the labs are an
important part of the course. Moreover, there is no practical way for you to make up a missed lab.
Lastly, your lab partners are counting on your presence and participation, so missing labs hurts
them too. Emergencies and other unexpected events happen though, so if you find that you can’t
make it to a lab, Yuxiang and I will need to hear from you (or someone speaking for you) via email
by 10am of the next day.
Make-up Work: For the lectures, there are only 5 assignments, all exams. You must notify me in
advance as soon as you know that you will miss one of these exams because of a legitimate excuse.
Failure to do so will result in a “0” for that exam. If you miss an exam unexpectedly, due to illness
for example, you must notify me by 10am of the next day about why you missed it and when you
will make it up. Email me until you get a response. If you do not get a response then you cannot
assume that I have gotten your message. Failure to notify me by 10am the next day will result in a
“0” for that exam. It is my sole discretion as to what is a legitimate excuse.
For the labs, there are no make-up labs. If you miss a lab, Yuxiang will give you an alternative
assignment.
Grading: We will have 4 exams each consisting of a mix of T/F, multiple choice, and short answers.
The multiple choice questions usually require a thoughtful analysis and only rarely rely on pure
memorization. The written answers need to be clear, well-organized, complete, and concise.
The final exam will be cumulative and similar in format to the exams. Approximately half of it will
cover new material since the last exam, and the remainder will cover old material.
Lecture Assignments
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
Exam 4
Final Exam
TOTAL
40pts
94pts
71pts
72pts
181pts
458pts
Lab Assignments will be detailed in lab. Approximate total = 200pts
Additional notes: There will be no extra credit apart from that on exams. To be fair to everyone in
class, no form of curving will be used in grade calculations. The averages will speak for
themselves. This also means that I do not consider “effort” nor do I factor in “improvement” over
the course of the semester. I do not provide extra assignments to help boost your grade. I do not
drop low grades.
A
>93
C-
70-72
A-
90-93
D+
67-69
B+
87-89
D
63-66
B
83-86
D-
60-62
B-
80-82
F
<60
C+
77-79
C
73-76
Honor Code: As in any course at UNC, you are expected to adhere to the tenets of the student
honor code and you will be asked to sign your exam as an indication that you will do so.