Biology 1403 Lab Syllabus - Faculty & Staff, Georgia Perimeter ...

Biology 1403L - Diversity of the Living World Laboratory Syllabus
Georgia Perimeter College - Dunwoody Campus
Term: Summer Section #: 245
Instructor
Name: Houng Park Phone: 770-714-7454
Office: Office Hours: 2:30PM- 4:30PM Tuesday and Thursday
___________________________________________________________________________________
E-mail / web page: hpark@gpc.edu
Class meeting location: Room NE-1300; Class meeting day and time: 11:30AM to 2:30PM T and TR
Prerequisite: Exit or exemption from Developmental Studies English, Reading, and ESL.
Corequisite: BIOL 1403 Lecture. You must be registered for both lab and lecture at the same time. Withdrawal from
either lecture or lab will result in automatic withdrawal from both. It is strongly suggested that you take lecture and lab on
the same campus and on the same schedule (half term or full term). Lab topics on this campus follow the order of
lecture topics on this campus. If you take lecture on a different campus, topics may be covered in a different order.
Course description: This course provides the student with hands-on experience with a variety of living and preserved
organisms, including animals, plants, fungi, protozoa, algae, and bacteria, and the principles of evolution and ecology that
unite them. This course is designed for non-science majors.
Course objectives: As a consequence of completing this course, the student will be able to:
1. To allow students to develop laboratory skills and techniques; to read and follow directions; and to perform
experiments requiring analysis and interpretation of data, as well as written discussion of the results.
2. Identify and describe the distinguishing features of each of the kingdoms, and the major groups within each kingdom.
3. Identify particular specimens as members of the kingdoms and their subgroups.
4. State the major premises of the theory of evolution by natural selection, and identify and explain examples of evidence
for the theory.
5. Relate the characteristics of living organisms and preserved specimens to life processes.
6. Collect, analyze, and use data to describe the interactions among organisms and their environments.
Required text: Mader, Sylvia S. 2007. Biology 1403 – Selected Labs from Biology Laboratory Manual - 9th ed.
Grade determination: The final letter grade will be determined in the following manner:
Test I 100 pts Total points Percent Grade
Test II 100 pts 270 - 300 90 - 100 % A
2 Lab reports 60 pts (30pts. ea.) 240 - 269 80 - 89 % B
Drawings 15 pts 210 - 239 70 - 79 % C
Instructor option 25 pts 180 - 209 60 - 69 % D
Total 300 pts < 180

Drawings of materials observed during lab are an important part of the course. These drawings are intended to
help the student see more detail of these materials and should enhance understanding of the organisms and their
characters. A notebook of drawings must be kept and turned in as requested. A description of the proper format for
drawings and a list of drawings are included in this syllabus.
The portion of the grade designated as "Instructor Option" is at the discretion of individual instructor and may
consist of quizzes, pre-lab assignments, an additional lab report, or other assignments. The exact nature of the instructor
option will be discussed by each instructor on the first day of lab.
My instructor has chosen the following option: _______________________________________________
In addition to this syllabus, a lab schedule will also be distributed on the first day of lab. This schedule will
outline the specific dates for each lab exercise, as well as major tests. While every effort will be made to adhere to the lab
schedule, deviations may be necessary due to inclement weather or unforeseen emergencies. Your instructor may also
distribute an addendum that will outline their specific policy on lab reports, drawings, and the instructor option.
Attendance policy
1. Students who miss lab exercises perform very poorly in this course. The primary objective of any lab course is to
provide the student with a “hands-on” experience that will support and illustrate the concepts covered in the lecture
portion of the course. Lab is about seeing and doing. Therefore, consistent and timely attendance to lab is a must for
success in this course!
2. There will be no make-up lab exercises. Due to logistical and safety concerns, “wet labs” (labs requiring the use of
equipment, chemicals, solutions, etc) cannot be made up. Any grades collected during the missed class, such as quizzes,
cannot be made up and will be recorded as a zero. If a student misses a laboratory exercise, the exercise cannot be used
for a laboratory report. Students are responsible for any information covered in their absence. Open lab time is available
on most Fridays (8:00am-12:00pm) for review of slides, models, and some living specimens only.
3. Lab will start promptly at the scheduled time. Important introductory and safety information will be given at the
beginning of each lab. Late arrival to lab will affect your understanding of the entire lab exercise and may pose a safety
hazard to you and other students. If a quiz is given at the beginning of the lab, a student arriving late will not be
allowed to take the quiz.
4. The "practical" format of lab exams makes "make-up exams" difficult to arrange and administer; each student should
make every effort possible to be on time for lab exams. However, in the event of a verifiable illness or emergency
students should contact the instructor by the date of the exam. A comprehensive final may be given at the end of the term
to compensate for the missed exam.
5. Students must be on time for their scheduled exams. Students entering after the exam has begun may not be
allowed to finish.
6. A student who officially withdraws by the midpoint (_______________) of the course will receive a grade of "W". It
is the student’s responsibility to withdraw from lab. Your instructor will NOT withdraw you for lack of attendance or
other reasons. Withdrawals without penalty will not be permitted after the midpoint of the semester. Students who
withdraw after the midpoint of the semester will receive a "WF".
7. A grade of "I" is assigned only when the student, for non-academic reasons beyond his or her control, has not been
able to complete some specific part of the work required. The grade is given only when the work already done has been
of a quality acceptable to the instructor, i.e. a passing average in the course. The grade of "I" will not be given for
missing a final exam unless the student contacts the instructor and presents a verifiable reason for missing the test
Computer usage and printing
The computers in the lab rooms are to be used only for lab exercises which require a computer. Lab time is
valuable and should be used for completing the required exercises; checking e-mail or web surfing for entertainment
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purposes should be done in the open computer labs located on the ground floor of E-building.
Use of the laser printer in the lab is restricted to those specific exercises which require that data be printed. Paper
in the lab is to be used for these experiments and for drawings only. Under no circumstances should the lab printers
be used to print e-mail, lecture notes, lab notes, or research/term/lab papers. Paper usage in the lab will be
monitored and appropriate action will be taken if excess paper is consumed.
Academic honesty policy
Cheating includes any attempt to defraud, deceive, or mislead the instructor in arriving at an honest grade
assessment. Plagiarism is a form cheating that involves presenting the ideas or work of another as your own. Cheating
includes, but is not limited to:
1. On a test or quiz: looking at or copying from another student’s work, allowing another student to copy your work,
exchanging written or oral communication, using notes, or opening a text book.
2. On out-of -class assignments (including lab reports): copying from another student or printed source without
citation, having another person do your work, or allowing another student to use your work as his/her own.
3. Providing false documentation in order to be allowed to make up a missed test or assignment or to document an
excused absence.
A first offense violation of the cheating policy will result in a grade of zero for the assignment in question. A
second offense will result in assignment of an “F” grade for the course and a formal charge of academic dishonesty will
be lodged with the Campus Dean for Student Services. Polices have been established by Georgia Perimeter College to
insure due process in charges of cheating or plagiarism. A copy of these procedures can be found in the Student
Handbook.
Laboratory supplies
Disposable latex or vinyl gloves (required for dissection exercises & these will NOT be provided)
Goggles
Pencils, Notebook or folder for lab drawings
Laboratory safety policies and procedures
General Lab Safety
1. Only students enrolled in the laboratory course are allowed in the laboratory.
2. No one is allowed to eat, drink, smoke, or apply cosmetics while in the lab.
3. Bare feet are not permitted in the lab and open-toed shoes are discouraged.
4. Long hair, dangling jewelry, or loose clothing should be tied back or otherwise confined during lab.
5. Desk areas should be kept uncluttered. The tabletop area is not to be used for materials that are not essential to the
experiment (e.g., pocketbooks, lecture text books, etc.).
6. Desktops must be cleaned after each laboratory meeting.
7. Gloves and goggles must be worn while working with preserved specimens, hazardous chemicals, or as indicated by
your instructor. The labs that require gloves and goggles are indicated on the course schedule.
8. In the event of any accident, notify the instructor immediately. Do not attempt to clean up broken glass or spilled
chemicals yourself.
9. Bandage all cuts on hands before dissecting or using chemical reagents.
10. Small sharp objects such as used slides or small pieces of broken glass should be placed in a Sharps container or other
container as indicated by your instructor.
11. No lab material of any kind may leave the laboratory.
12. No students are allowed in the laboratory outside regular laboratory class time unless Science Dept. Supervisory
Personnel or a faculty member is present.
13. Know the location of emergency equipment, emergency exit locations, and telephone. Report any condition that
appears unsafe or hazardous to your instructor.
14. Wash hands before leaving the laboratory.
15. Microscopes are to be put away properly with scanning objective in place, cord wrapped with Velcro, and mechanical
stage is centered so that extended arms DO NOT hit into other scopes or walls of the cabinet.
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Chemical safety
1. Some chemicals used in this laboratory may be absorbed by contact lenses. It is advisable to remove contacts before
lab or wear tight fitting goggles during lab exercises that will involve these chemicals.
2. Dispose of all chemical waste in the proper waste container as indicated by your instructor. NEVER pour any
chemical down the sink without permission from your instructor.
3. Do not taste chemicals or pipette solutions by mouth.
4. Wash your hands if you contact any chemical solution. Assume that all reagents are poisonous and act accordingly.
Read labels on chemicals for any safety precautions and know the nature of the chemicals you are using.
5. Students with special conditions (pregnancy, nursing mothers, allergies, depression of immune system through such
things as disease, chemotherapy, transplants, etc.) should be aware that science laboratories contain materials which, if
handled improperly, may have a hazardous effect on them. These students should contact their doctor for advice about
continuing in the laboratory. Students who wish to withdraw from a laboratory after consultation with their doctor should
submit a letter from the physician within the first two weeks of class indicating that the student should not continue in the
laboratory due to a health risk. Information about the chemical compounds used in science laboratories is available from
the lab coordinator
Biohazard safety
1. Any biologically contaminated items (toothpicks, sheep blood, swabs, slides) must be placed into the appropriate
disposal container as indicated by your instructor.
2. Students must only handle their own cheek cells and bodily fluids.
3. Do not use the microscope if you have an eye infection.
4. Preserved animals that are used over multiple lab periods must be sprayed with preservative, placed in an appropriate
storage bag, sealed , and placed in your group’s bin or can at the end of each lab period. Any parts from the animals must
be discarded into the biohazard container as indicated by your instructor. Organisms that are used for only one class
period must be discarded into the biohazard container as well.
Instructions for lab drawings
1. Drawings MUST be done from live or preserved specimens or
microscope slides; copies of illustrations from the lab manual or
textbook are NOT acceptable (see "Plagiarism" above).
2. Use only one side of unlined white paper. Drawings must be
done in pencil.
3.Center each drawing on 1/2 page (2 per page) leaving a 1 inch
margin on all four sides of the page
4. Print the NUMBER, TITLE, and TOTAL magnification
beneath drawing.
5. Refer to the table for structures which must be located and labeled.
1. Squamous epithelial cell
600X
Nucleus
Cell
membrane
Cell wall
6. Print titles and labels; plan layout so that indicator lines do not cross.
7. Keep your drawings in a notebook or folder with your
name on it. Drawings must be organized in the order listed in the table.
Heterocyst
2. Anabaena
600X
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Laboratory drawings list
TITLE Ex LABELS SPECIMEN
1. Onion root tip 18 root cap, zone of cell division, zone of elongation, prepared slide
zone of maturation
2. Dicot seedling 21 cotyledons, roots, apical bud, true leaves live
3. Monocot seedling 21 leaves, root system live
4. Dicot flower 17,1 pistil: ovary, stigma, style; stamen: anther, filament; live or model
821 sepals, petals
5. Monocot flower 17,1 pistil: ovary, stigma, style; stamen: anther, filament; live or model
821 sepals, petals
6. Male and female pine 17 Male cone: pollen, scale
prepared slide
cones
Female cone: ovule, scale
7. Moss 16 gametophyte, sporophyte live specimen
8. Moss (ls) 16 antheridial head: antheridium, sperm
archegonial head: archegonium, egg
prepared
slides
9. Fern sporophyte 16 frond, sorus live or dried
10. Fern gametophyte (wm) 16 antheridium, archegonium, prothallus prepared slide
11. Equisetum 16 stem, leaves, strobilus live or dried
12. Lancelet (wm); (slide 24 dorsal nerve cord, notochord, gill bars, mouth, prepared slide
labeled Amphioxus)
tentacles, atriopore, anus
13. Earthworm (cs) 23 epidermis, circular muscle, longitudinal muscle, prepared slide
intestine, setae, coelom
14. Ascaris (cs)
22 epidermis, muscle, ovaries or testes, intestine, prepared slide
[Cross sections are not in
the lab manual. Fig 22.9
can be used a guide.
pseudocoelom
15. Planaria (wm) 22 auricle, eyespots, gastrovascular cavity , pharynx prepared slide
16. Planaria (cs) 22 epidermis, gastrodermis, gut, mesodermal tissue prepared slide
17. Hydra (wm) 22 mouth, tentacles, foot, epidermis, gastrodermis, prepared slide
mesoglea, gastrovascular cavity
18. Sponge (ls); (slide 22 spicules, sponge wall, central cavity (spongocoel), prepared slide
labeled Grantia)
cells
19. Lichen (sect.) 33 algal cells, fungal cells prepared slide
20. Rhizopus (wm) 15 asexual stage: hyphae, sporangium
prepared slide
sexual stage: zygospore
21. Yeast 15 vegetative cell, budding cell wet mount
22. Mushroom 15 cap, gills, stalk live
23. Amoeba 14 nucleus, cytoplasm, pseudopodium wet mount or
prepared slide
24. Paramecium 14 nucleus, cytoplasm, oral groove, cilia wet mount or
prepared slide
25. Spirogyra 14 cell, cell wall, chloroplast, pyrenoid, nucleus (visible
only on prepared slides)
wet mount or
prepared slide
26. Fucus 14 air vesicles, blade, holdfast, receptacle preserved
specimen
27. Euglena 14 chloroplasts, flagellum, nucleus wet mount
28. Diatoms 14 (no labels--draw at least three different shapes) prepared slide
or wet mount
29. Anabaena 14 cell, cell wall, heterocyst wet mount
30. Bacteria 14 bacillus, coccus, spirillum prepared slide
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Disabilities Act and requires assistance or support services, please seek assistance through the Center for Disability
Services. A CDS Counselor will coordinate those services.
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or disability, be excluded from employment or participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity conducted by GPC.
The Regents’ Test: The University of Georgia requires that all students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs in
the University System institutions (including Georgia Perimeter College) successfully complete all parts of a competency
examination in reading and English composition. This competency examination is commonly called “the Regents’ Test”,
and it is free of charge. A student has two attempts to pass this test before accumulating 45 hours of collegiate credit.
Please sign up for the Regents’ Test when you enroll in English 1102. Do this in time to have two attempts before
accumulating 45 credit hours.
Affirmative action statement: Georgia Perimeter College adheres to affirmative action policies designed to promote
diversity and equal opportunity for all faculty and students.
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Instructions for biology laboratory reports
A complete laboratory report should follow the general form used in writing a professional scientific paper. The material
in the report should be organized into six sections. Your lab report must contain the sections indicated below. With the
exception of the title page, each section (intro, methods, etc.) should be labeled to make your report easier to follow.
Title Page: You should have a title that is limited to your subject matter, but as descriptive as possible. Avoid overly
general titles, ex. "The termites". A more appropriate title might be, "A demonstration of ink preferences in wooddwelling
termites". This page should also include a list of your fellow experimenters. While you will complete the
experiments in groups, each student must individually complete and write his or her own lab report.
Introduction: This section should introduce the topic of your experiment and should include any PERTINENT
background information needed to understand the experiment. Cite references for background material where
appropriate. At the end of this section, you should state the major objective or purpose of your experiment (this should be
concise) and clearly state your hypothesis.
Materials and Methods: In this section, you should describe the materials used and the EXACT procedures that you
followed while performing your experiment. If you used a different procedure than listed in the lab manual, you should
describe the procedure that you actually used. A person should be able to read this section and perform your experiment
exactly the way you did. Do not give the results of your experiment in this section, only materials and procedures.
Results: This section should include 2 parts: 1. a written description of the results in the body of the paper, 2. a graph(s)
or table(s) on a separate page displaying the results. Do not explain or comment on the significance of the results here,
just give the data. Every table or graph must have a descriptive title ("termite data" is not descriptive enough) and
labeled axes with units of measure clearly indicated. Tables consist of columns and rows of numbers or other information
and should be numbered in sequence and referred to in the written results section, ex. "Termites followed the red ink for
an average of 5 seconds (Table 1)." Graphs are called figures and are referred to in the same manner, ex. Fig.1.
Discussion: In this section, you should indicate if your hypothesis was supported, explain your results, and indicate the
significance of the results. A hypothesis cannot be proven by a single experiment. You should interpret your results as
"supportive of" or "failed to support" the hypothesis. To the best of your ability, you should explain what was occurring
during your experiment, why you got the results that you did, and any possible sources of error. You should also indicate
the significance of your results. How might this information be used What are the implications of your results Lastly,
you may want to develop further experiments that might be used to lend more support to the hypothesis, or develop a
totally new hypothesis based on your results.
Literature cited: Whenever you cite a fact or an idea, cite the reference giving credit to your sources. This should be done
in the body of the report so that it is clear to the reader. For example: "That cytochrome included three distinct enzymes
was first shown by Keilin (1925)" or "It is known that cytochrome consists of three distinct enzymes (Keilin, 1925)." The
literature cited section consists of a list of references which should include the author's name, initials, year of publication,
journal, specific volume, and the pages. For example: Keilin, D., 1925. Proc. Rev. Soc. London, B98: 312-329
When referencing books use the following form: Eckert, R., and D. Randell, 1978. Animal Physiology. 1st ed. W.H.
Freeman and Co. 510 pp.
Additional points:
1. The report should be concise. Four to six typewritten pages should be sufficient.
2. Avoid the first person, ex. "the termites were placed on the paper, and the time each termite followed each line
measured with a stopwatch" not "Suzi placed the termites on the paper, and I timed how long each termite followed the
lines".
3. Use precise English and avoid useless words such as "First,...Next,...Then,..." or "then we proceeded to".
4. Use complete sentences with good grammar and spelling.
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