Sargent Lab - Teaching

Syllabus (Under Construction): Note: This syllabus is still being updated and will be complete by the end of the first week of classes. A longer, more detailed, version of the syllabus will be available as a pdf file on the course Canvas website.

Lecture Instructor: Craig Sargent, Office: 115-116, MDR#3.

Contact Information:
Telephone: 859-257-8742, 
e-mail: csargent@email.uky.edu, 
www: http://darwin.uky.edu/~sargent/

Recitation Instructor: Dr. Madhu Srinivasan, madu@uky.edu

TAs:   James Shaffer, jim.shaffer@uky.edu
           Justin Kratovil, justin.kratovil@uky.edu
           Benjamin Cloud, benjamin.cloud@uky.edu
           Allyssa Kilanowski, allyssa.kilanowski@gmail.com

Required Textbook: Evolution: Making Sense of Life, by Carl Zimmer and Douglas J. Emlen. Either edition is acceptable. 

Course Description: This course will introduce you to the breadth of modern evolutionary biology, from theory to empirical evidence, from the basics of natural selection and population genetics to new insights gained from molecular biology and development (aka EvoDevo). Both the curriculum and your textbook emphasize an inquiry-based, active-learning approach. The course consists of both a lecture portion, and a recitation portion.

Recitation: Note: Recitation begins the week of January 23rd. Recitation meets 2 hours per week in B-06, TH Morgan Building. The weekly recitation schedule, syllabus and handout source will be posted shortly.

Grading: 

• Lecture: 75% of your overall course grade
• Exams: 60% of your overall course grade (3 Exams @ 20% per exam)
• Homework:  15% of your overall course grade
• Recitation: 25% of your class grade

Grading Scale:

A = 100% to 90%; B = 89.9% to 80%; C = 79.9% to 70%; D = 69.9% to 60%; E = 59.9% to 0%

Attendance: Even though attendance in lecture is not kept, you must attend in order to get a good grade. Reading newspapers/books, talking to others, surfing the Internet, texting, sleeping, and other disruptive/disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated. Note: Attendance in recitation is mandatory. 

Exams: There will be three examinations, two midterms and one final, each worth 20% of your final grade. The final exam will cover the last third of the course, and will not be comprehensive. Each exam will consist of 40 multiple choice questions.

If a student misses an exam and has an excused absence, she/he is entitled to a make up exam. If she/he informs me before a missed exam, very often she/he will be given the same exam as the rest of the class. If she/he informs me after a missed exam, she/he will be given a different exam from the rest of the class. Students who miss exams with un-excused absences will incur a 10% penalty for missing the original exam. All missed exams must be made up within one week of the originally scheduled exam date, unless extreme circumstances (e.g. medical or family emergencies) prevent this. Disputes on graded assignments need to be addressed within one week from when the assignment was returned.

Final Exam: The final exam will take place on Monday, May 1st, from 1-3 pm. It will cover material that was not on exams 1and 2. 

Homework: The Homework section of the course is is worth 15% of your grade, and consists of uploading your assignments at 5 pre-assigned intervals (see Table Below). For each assignment, you are to design 2 multiple choice questions on the material covered in lecture. Each question should have 4 choices for answers (a, b, c, d) per question, a brief explanation for why the correct answer is correct and the others incorrect, and for why you think these are "good" questions. I will likely use at least some of your questions on exams. In designing your 2 questions, make them from different levels of analysis in the revised Bloom's Taxonomy, i.e. Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing.

These 5 assignments are worth 15% of your final grade, 3% per assignment. The rubric for grading these assignments is: 3 points if they are done on time and there are no major mistakes; 2 points if they are up to one week late, or are on time but contain one or more mistakes, 1 point if they are less than 1 week late and contain mistakes, and 0 points otherwise.

Grade protests: If you think we have miss-graded any piece of your work, I ask that you follow 3 simple steps: 

1. Type a brief explanation of the problem with the exam, quiz, or recitation assignment. 
2. Staple this explanation to the exam, quiz, or assignment. 
3. Give such exams and quizzes to me and recitation materials to your TA. Deadline for any re-grade of exams, quizzes or recitation assignments is one week (7 days) after the exam or assignment was first returned. We will return our decision a week later.

Missing Exams: If you are going to miss an exam, you must contact me before the time of the exam, if possible. This only pertains if missing falls under one of the acceptable excuses recognized by the university (see "excused absences" below). If you will miss for one of these reasons, you must email (csargent@uky.edu) before the class or recitation begins. You must then provide me with convincing documentation no later than 7 days after missing. Failure to comply with these simple rules just means that your absence is unexcused (i.e., zero on assignments/exams). All missed exams must be made up within one week of the originally scheduled exam date, unless extreme circumstances (e.g. medical or family emergencies) prevent this. The make-up will have different questions from what was on the original exam.  

Missing recitations: Missed recitations cannot be made up as these take hours to set up and conduct. If missed for legitimate reasons and proper documentation is provided, recitation attendance points and participation points will be prorated. A student who misses recitation must obtain data from a classmate in order to prepare the assignment to turn in. Convincing documentation for missing a recitation must be provided to your recitation leader no later than 7 days after missing. For those with convincing documentation, assignments from missed recitations must be turned in no later than 14 days after missing that recitation. No exceptions! Note: Missing 3 or more recitations with excused absences, and not making them up, may result in your getting a W or an I in the course. Missing three or more recitations with unexcused absences may result in your failing the course.

Excused Absences: Students need to notify the professor of absences prior to class when possible. S.R. 5.2.4.2 defines the following as acceptable reasons for excused absences: (a) serious illness, (b) illness or death of family member, (c) University-related trips, and (d) major religious holidays. Students anticipating an absence for a major religious holiday are responsible for notifying the instructor in writing of anticipated absences due to their observance of such holidays no later than the last day in the semester to add a class. Information regarding dates of major religious holidays may be obtained through the religious liaison, Mr. Jake Karnes (859-257-2754).

Use of laptop computers in class: 
You can use laptops in class to take notes if you wish. 

Texting and using other communication technologies in class: 
All communication devices must be turned off and put away during class. 

Cheating: Cheating as defined in the student handbook section 6.3.2, is defined as follows: "cheating is defined by its general usage. It includes, but is not limited to the wrongfully giving, taking, or presenting any information or material by a student with the intent of aiding himself/herself or another on any acadeemic work which is considered in any way in the determination of the final grade." Any question of definition shall be referred to the University Appeals Board. I have a zero-tolerance policy in this class.

Accommodations due to disability: If you have a documented disability that requires academic accommodations, please see me as soon as possible during scheduled office hours. In order to receive accommodations in this course, you must provide me with a Letter of Accommodation from the Disability Resource Center for coordination of campus disability services available to students with disabilities.