Important Dates:
Monday, September 6th:  Labor Day, No classes
Friday, October 15th:  Fall Break, No classes
Friday, October 29th:  Last Day to Withdraw From Classes.  Please review the procedures.  If you drop after this date you will receive a WF.  Assess how things are going in order to avoid any unnecessary problems
Wednesday- Sunday, November 24-28: Thanksgiving, No classes
Monday – Saturday, December 13-18: Finals.

GRADING:  90-100  A;  80-89  B;  70-79  C;  60-69  D;  Below 60 . . . . F!

TESTING:  I believe in testing frequently in order to keep materials more manageable and easier to retain.  We will quiz weekly at the beginning of each lab period on Tuesday.  These will generally be fairly short and over the previous weeks material and all quizzes will be of equal weight. The quiz portion of your grade will equate to approximately 60% of your total.

LABS:  We have a number of very exciting labs lined up but I need to caution you as to the probable success of these activities.  Last fall we had some great luck with our labs and every effort will be made to ensure their success but please keep in mind that our lab facility is somewhat average and we may need to improvise frequently.  Aside from this I hope that the results are not as important as the process by which we attempt to gain our outcomes.  Some of the procedures are very detailed and precise.  We will also frequently work with partners so sit near someone you can get along with.
You will carry out an ongoing lab with fruit flies.  At the end of the semester you will be required to hand in a report detailing your work with these flies.  We will talk much more about this later.  The lab portion of the class including reports will equate to approximately 25% of your total.

PROJECTS:  There are two projects during the semester both deal primarily with finding and utilizing information obtained on the World Wide Web.
1. You will create three pamphlets designed to present information about three different genetic disorders.  You will need to research the diseases thoroughly including physical manifistations of the disease, the location of the gene, the specific modification of the “normal” gene to create the disorder, the incidence of the disorder in the population, relevant treatments if any and organizations that are dedicated to the disorder.  These organizations will likely be the sources of information you used to create your pamphlet and will in essence be your bibliography.
2. You will create a guide of 15-20 web sites that deal with genetic information.  With each entry you will include a summary of what can be found at the site.  This is actually very easy to do and we will accumulate these during the semester.  You may find it surprising that you end up with 30-40 instead of 20!
This component of the class will comprise 15% of your total for the class.

Attendance:
Although WNCC does have a formal attendance policy I have never used it, the exception being lab where attendance has a point value.  I have always been of the belief that you are all big boys and girls now and should be responsible for your actions.  If you want to sign up for a class, pay tuition and then not show up that is your choice.  In reality it matters little if you missed because of an illness or because you couldn’t get your can out of bed, the end result is the same. . . you missed class.  It matters little if your absence is excused or not . . . you missed class.  By the same token, if you can’t stay awake during class . . . you missed class.  If you constantly talk to your neighbor during class . . . . you missed class.  If you are late to class . . . . you missed class.  A pattern should be developing for you by now.  It is truly amazing what you can accomplish when you go to class!

It should be fairly obvious that missing class isn’t a good idea, just like missing work means you won’t get paid.  The ultimate measure of your attendance is of course your grade.  Absences always have a way of showing up on test scores.

I do realize that life happens.  If you know ahead of time you will be missing it would be helpful to let me know so I can give you an idea about what you will be missing and how far the rest of us will be progressing in your absence.  Life does move on.

Disabilities:
If you have a particular documented disability that impacts your ability to perform in this class I need to know.  It is best to present any pertinent documentation to Norm Stephenson who is the counseling director.  He is best equipped to make determinations about the best ways to accommodate any disability.  He then will contact me to work out a plan of attack.  There are no guarantees that we will be able to do everything we can but if we do not know you are here then we can’t even try.

Internet access:
You are not required to get an Internet account but access is provided for you free of charge by virtue of being enrolled in classes at WNCC.  BIOS2120 class materials are available on the web.  This gives you the opportunity to download class notes so you don’t have to write everything you see on the overhead.  You would then actually get to listen to the presentation, what a deal!  The class notes are not provided as a substitute for class attendance.  Don’t get lulled into a false sense of security that allows you to assume that because you have the notes it is ok to miss class.  You couldn’t be more wrong.

Notes can be found at:  http://www.wncc.net/courses/dnash    click on Genetics

The genetics component of the site is constantly under construction and reorganization please be patient with the information you find there it might not always be in a place you would expect it to be.
 

Probable Laboratory Schedule Fall 2004
August 24: Mitosis/ Meiosis/ Cell cycle
August 31: Drosophila melanogaster: Introduction to sexing, culturing and isolation of virgin females
September 7: Principles of Probability/ Chi square
September 14: Monohybrid and Dihybrid crosses
September 21: Sex chromosomes and Barr bodies
September 28: Salivary gland (Polytene) chromosomes, Blood Karyotypes?
October 5: Linkage, Crossing over Problems
October 12: Transformation of E. coli
October 19: Principles and Practice of Agar Electrophoresis
October 26: DNA restriction analysis
November 2: Chromatographic Characterization of D. melanogaster mutants
November 9: Mapping of Restriction sites on Plasmid DNA
November 16: DNA fingerprinting I
November 23: DNA fingerprinting II
November 30: Cancer Detection, Population Genetics/ Hardy-Weinberg Principle
December 7: Wrap up/ clean up
 

Back to Genetics at WNCC