Objectives:
This course satisfies one of the upper-level lab course requirements for the biology major. It is designed to provide you with comprehensive exposure to the subject of botany. You will learn about the structure, life history, and evolution of plants. Physiology and ecology will be kept to a minimum as ECSU offers comprehensive courses on these subjects and this course will prepare you well for taking those courses. This course will assist you in answering 30-50% of the questions on the GRE biology exam. The course covers three of the six biological "kingdoms" and spans 3 billion years of the history of life on planet Earth. If you are a person who has over-specialized in zoology, ecology, or cellular and molecular biology, this course will expand your horizons significantly. As a study of producers, this course will examine those organisms so important because of their position at the energy and elemental intake portion of the energy pyramid and the food web! This course should bring you to a better appreciation of plants, upon which we depend completely for our very survival.

Since this course focuses upon plant structures, life histories, and evolution, you are advised that the differences among the organisms known as plants are expressed most extensively and differentially in their reproductive structures, functions, and evolution. You are forewarned that this course necessarily has strong sexual content. If you are uncomfortable discussing, dissecting, and studying the sexual aspects of plants and their conspecifics, perhaps you should consider a different course for this semester.

Resources:
There is no book required for this course. If your learning style requires a formal book to guide your studies, then here is a list of standard botany books by price from Amazon.com (observed in early June 2011).

• Raven, P. H., R. F. Evert, and S. E. Eichhorn. 2005. Biology of Plants. 7th ed. Macmillan/W. H. Freeman. $122.53
• Bidlack, J. E. and S. Jansky. 2010. Stern's Introductory Plant Biology. 12th ed. McGraw-Hill Publishing. $124.70
• Mauseth, J. D. 2009. Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology. 4th ed. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. $99.64
• Rost, T. L., M. G. Barbour, R. C. Stocking. 2005. Plant Biology. 2nd ed. Cengage Learning. $183.20
• Graham, L, J. Graham, L. Wilcox. 2005. Plant Biology. 2nd ed. Pearson Publishers. $127.66

In July 2011, a new book in first edition was published:

• Kratz, R. F. 2011. Botany for Dummies. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Hoboken, NJ.

Over the summer I reviewed this text, noting its extremely informal style (Lots of contractions; setting a bad writing example!). But I also noted the Amazon.com price for the new book at under $12...WOW! This is no equivalent for a formal, full-color college-level majors text such as those above. On the other hand, there is much to be said for the price. There are some errors as might be expected in a first edition, but it is really quite a reasonable book for the price.

The class voted on the first day whether to use Botany for Dummmies as our text. The vote was 7 no, 6 yes, and 1 abstain. This shows the power of one vote. It only took one person to throw the ballot one way or the other. NEVER give up your right to vote and ALWAYS exercise your voting rights! As a compromise for nearly half of the class, I have included the readings from Botany for Dummies as a new heading in the syllabus schedule above.

My lecture notes, PowerPoint slides, homework handouts, homework resources and lab exercise materials are linked on the course schedule above for your study. I hope you appreciate the $aving$! You will receive one printed copy of homework and lab exercise worksheets. The links above allow you to download a copy for reprinting should you need a second copy. I recommend that you purchase a large three-ring binder for these and for your notes, with zipper pouch containing: Small Scissors, Metric Rule, Fine Forceps, Mechanical Pencil, Leads, Eraser, Colored Pencils, and a USB Flash Drive or other storage device for whatever computer you like to use. Because I abhor grading inky-messes, there is a 10% penalty for all laboratory papers and quizzes completed in ink; buy your pencil, keep it in your zipper pouch, and use it well.

Grading:
Your course grade will be based on 1000 points divided between 300 points for weekly quizzes, 200 points for the graded homework assignments, 200 points for graded lab assignments (attendance may be counted here), 100 points for the term project, and 200 points for the comprehensive final exam.

A Quiz will be given at the beginning of each laboratory period. Quizzes will cover lectures, readings, and laboratory material from the previous portions of the course. Most quizzes will consist of a variety of question types; it is your responsibility to be prepared for all forms of questions (MC, TF, FI, Drawing, Essay). THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES! When the students who arrived to laboratory on time are finished with the quiz, all other quiz papers will be collected (finished or not). Do not be late to laboratory! If you have a written excuse for missing one quiz, it will be excused. Missing an additional quiz will not be excused and will put a 0 score to be calculated into your grade....whether you provide a written excuse or not. If you have not missed one quiz all semester, then your lowest quiz score will be dropped from grading.

Homework and Laboratory Worksheets will be provided; if you lose yours, print a replacement from the website. They are due at the beginning of the lecture on the announced due date. A paper turned in during or after that lecture will be scored as one-day late. Late papers will receive a penalty of 10% per day late; and after the first graded paper is returned to any one of your classmates, your late work is not acceptable and will be scored as a 0. You will need to make many sketches and write much about what you have learned during each part of the course to stay "up to date." These materials include on-line anatomy homework exercises that are just as important as any other part of the course!

The Term Project is to prepare a large (probably 30 pages or more with sketches) paper on the comparative morphology, anatomy, development, growth, and reproduction of Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) and Zea mays (popcorn). Obviously the first few in-lab classes will be your guides as to things to do, sketches to make, observations to record, graphs to print from Excel. Because nearly half of you have failed to meet the department's intermediate writing requirement (Bio 050), this first submission will be due when we start talking about life cycles...the date-specific is weather and growth-dependent...so it will be announced later with a due date of one week in the future. This is not much warning, so be sure you are keeping up on this work. The first submission is not expected to cover flowers and fruits. The second submission will be due near the end of the semester; this later paper will include the reproductive biology of beans and corn. The late penalty for worksheets described above applies to this term project report as well! If you have failed to meet the Bio 050 requirement, you will be assigned additional writing work to determine whether you have made the grade or not.

Because the work for the term project is performed largely outside of class time, you will be assigned a proximity card with a particular serial number on it. This card opens the door numbered Science 120, thus giving you access to the greenhouse and headhouse during hours when the building is open. Please do not provide access to other people...the software on the electronic lock records your uses so, if there are problems, they can be traced to you! Please keep your proximity card so you do not lose it; if you do lose yours, please notify me immediately so I can have the system reject your card until you find it. At the end of the term project I will be asking for return of the proximity card; if yours is not returned at or before the final exam, you will fail the course.

The Final Exam is a comprehensive examination of the entire course. Lecture, Homework, and Laboratory material will be integrated into this exam. The Exam will be short answer and short essay with sketches, etc. Questions are likely to be focused longitudinally through the course rather than horizontally through each group of plants (i.e. unlike the quizzes!). "Seeing the forest" will be more important than "knowing its trees" for this exam. It will be given during the final exam week on the day specifically assigned to our lecture time. Please be sure to work your travel, work and other schedules around this date and time!

I will do my level best to grade student work as fairly and as objectively as I know to try. I am open to your suggestions about fairness. I am open to reconsidering any grading that you may feel was unfair within one week of a graded quiz or other paper's return to you. I cannot address concerns that go unexpressed, so I invite you to my office hours to discuss every concern you may have in this course. Two students who compare grading on their separate papers and believe they have found an example of special treatment, should come in together to discuss it objectively. I will never take points away from any points awarded on a paper. However, it may be that two answers that seem to be "the same" are, in fact, different enough that one is correct and the other is wrong. It may only be the addition of a single word that makes a difference between a point and no point. It may be that the point was not awarded in one case because the word was not connected properly to a structure on a diagram, etc. There is also a chance that I failed to mark an incorrect answer wrong on one paper by accident; although I will not take away points awarded on a paper, it is important to understand that I will not compound such a mistake on other papers. Please come in to discuss your concerns; I am happy to explain my grading to you and to make any adjustments as are correct and fair.

Participation:
Participation in this laboratory course is essential but, due to its subjective nature, is not given grading credit in a specific numerical sense except as it applies to the field exercises during the laboratory time slot. However, should your course grade come near a grading border, my sense of your participation in this course will be used as leverage into or barrier from the next-higher grade. Being on-time to all classes, having all materials needed for class, turning in assignments on time or early, being thorough in your laboratory work, being attentive in both lab and lecture classes, working efficiently and cooperatively with lab partners, asking pertinent questions, having answers to my questions in lectures, etc. are all good ways to impress me about your committment to learning botany. If you are a person who procrastinates, who does only the minimum, who is tardy with papers, who complains about academic workloads, who watches lab partners doing the work, who sleeps in class, who can not or will not do simple math, or who answers cell phone calls or text-messaging in class...well...you will get exactly what you earn...and only what you earn.

A few students are under the mistaken impression that learning exercises are or should be initiated and completed, including all calculations and answering of thought questions, within the 3, 50-minute lectures and the 3-hour laboratory class period. I remind you that the university catalog and I are in agreement that, for the six hours of in-class time each week, you are also expected to spend at least twelve (**12**) hours each week on your own time completing course work! Failing to distinguish what to do during laboratory time vs homework time is one reason students often claim that the laboratory exercises in my courses are too long. It is important to identify and complete data collection in class and to avoid breaking out calculators or computers in laboratory time to do the homework thinking and homework calculations. It is also good practice to spend no laboratory time in social conversation...as much fun and as tempting as that activity may be.

The biology department and I expect you to monitor your university email address for important communications from the university, from the department, and from your biology instructors. In this course, the official syllabus is the on-line version as modified during the semester; you are expected to check the on-line syllabus frequently and regularly for changes, especially due dates for assignments.

Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Points allocated for data that you did not help to collect will be discounted completely. Attendance is critical to good performance, particularly in laboratory. Keeping up in reading the website, studying, etc. is important. If you lack time-management skills, ask me how to learn them.

If you have not yet met the intermediate writing requirement in biology (8 points or more from the core courses), it is your responsibility to notify me of this problem. I will respond by providing you with additional writing requirements in this course so that perhaps you can demonstrate that you are ready for Senior Seminar.

If you are a student with a disability and believe you need accommodations for this class, it is your responsibility to immediately contact the Office of AccessAbility Services. I cannot provide accommodations based upon disability until I have received a directive letter from that office.

This page © Ross E. Koning 1994.

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Send comments and bug reports to Ross Koning at rkoning@snet.net.