Date	Lecture Notes, PowerPoint Slides, VIPs	Tuesday Lab Exercise
Jan 25 Tue	Why Study Plants?, PPT, VIP	Quiz 1, Greenhouse Tour & Startup
Jan 27 Thu	Snow Day, Drat!
Feb 1 Tue	Another Snow Day, Double Drat!	Quiz 2, Biologist at Work Bring your laptop and/or USB drive
Feb 3 Thu	Scientific Method, PPT, VIP
Feb 8 Tue	Plant Cells, PPT, VIP Plant Cell Integration	Quiz 3, Morphology and Anatomy
Feb 10 Thu	Due: Biologist at Work Plant Leaves, PPT, VIP
Feb 15 Tue	Plant Stems, PPT, VIP Secondary Stem Growth	Quiz 4, Finish Morphology and Anatomy
Feb 17 Thu	Plant Roots, PPT, VIP
Feb 22 Tue	Due: Morphology and Anatomy Plant Flowers, PPT, VIP	Quiz 5, Flower Morphology
Feb 24 Thu	Pollen and Embryo Sac, PPT, VIP
Mar 1 Tue	Flower Morphology Bee HyperAttractive Pollination Types, PPT	Quiz 6, Bee HyperAttractive SIM Bee Hyperattractive
Mar 3 Thu	Honeybee Biology, PPT, VIP
Mar 8 Tue	Fruit Growth and Types, PPT, VIP	Quiz 7, Seeds and Fruits Seed Germination Setup
Mar 10 Thu	Seeds and Fruits Fruit Ripening, PPT, VIP Seeds and Seed Germination, PPT, VIP Seed Germ Counts
Mar 15 Tue	What is a Plant?, PPT, VIP	Quiz 8, Seed Germination Finish Growth Hormones
Mar 17 Thu	Due: Seed Germination Due: Growth Hormones Genetics, PPT, VIP
Mar 22 Tue	Spring Vacation
Mar 24 Thu
Date	Lecture Notes, PowerPoint Slides, VIPs	Tuesday Lab Exercise
Mar 29 Tue	Genetics After Mendel	Bring Your Laptop Today (If you have one) Quiz 9, HoTMendeL SIM Troubleshooting
Mar 31 Thu	Vegetative Propagation, PPT, VIP
Apr 5 Tue	Due: HoTMendeL Printout Rooting, VIP	Quiz 10, Vegetative Propagation
Apr 7 Thu	Soil Texture, Fertilizers, PPT, VIP
Apr 12 Tue	Soil pH, Cation Exchange	Bring 2-cup Soil Sample Quiz 11, Soil Analysis
Apr 14 Thu	Water, PPT, VIP
Apr 19 Tue	Pruning, PPT, VIP	Quiz 12, Water Relations
Apr 21 Thu	Grafting, PPT, VIP Due: Soil Analysis
Apr 26 Tue	Due: Water Relations Light, PPT, VIP	Quiz 13, Pruning
Apr 28 Thu	Photoperiodism,Temperature, VIP
May 3 Tue	Due: Vegetative Propagation Due: Pruning Weeds and Pests, PPT	Quiz 14, Light and Growth
May 5 Thu	Finish Pests
May 10 Tue	Course Evaluation Quiz 15 Finish Light and Growth Lab (bring your calculator) Due: Light and Growth	Sleep In Today! See you at 12:30 lecture!

ENROLLMENT:
Bio 207 is a course for non-science majors intended for use in the LAC to satisfy the Tier 2 Natural Science requirement and includes the required laboratory experience.

OBJECTIVES:
In this course the basic principles of life will be stressed. These include cellular structure, metabolism, growth, reproduction, adaptation, and evolution. This course approaches these basic principles of biology using two examples: plants and humans. We will stress plants, so you will learn about the form and function of plants, how to optimize environmental factors to maximize the growth and health of plants both in the home and in the garden, field, or orchard. In laboratory, you will apply the seven-step scientific method you learned in your Tier 1 Natural Science LAC course. And you will learn to distinguish experimental science from descriptive science. You will gain critical thinking skills and develop analytical logic in approaching solutions to simple problems. You will learn how to apply simple math and statistical testing of hypotheses to everyday questions. In short, you will further develop some basic skills in the discipline of science. These experiences qualify this course for use in the LAC.

TEXT RESOURCES:
There is no textbook for this course. Instead we have a website (URL above) as our resource. The lecture topics are links to reading material. The PPT link displays the PowerPoint slides used in lecutre. For some copyrighted material you need the username: ___________________ and the password: ____________________. If you need a textbook for your style of learning, I recommend: Capon, B. 2010. Botany for Gardeners. 3rd edition. Timber Press ($13.57 at Amazon.com). The study guide for our course consists of a handout booklet, made up of the VIPs (Very Important Pictures) linked in the schedule above. The on-line versions allow you to check your VIP responses. The laboratory manual will consist of individual exercises handed out as needed during the course.

OTHER RESOURCES:
You need a 3-ring binder to organize all course handouts. A 3-ring zipper pouch will keep supplies at hand. Load it with a pencil, mechanical preferred, with eraser (all work in ink receives a 10% penalty!), a simple calculator (+-×÷=), something to clean soil from under your fingernails, and a USB drive. A laptop computer with Microsoft Excel available (through live@edu or on the hard-drive) and wireless access will be very helpful.

QUIZZES:
There will be weekly quizzes given in laboratory covering material learned in both lecture and laboratory. None of the quizzes will be cumulative, but this course does do some "building" during the term. You can expect a variety of question types: multiple choice, matching, diagrams to draw and/or label, charts, structured essays, etc. Quiz scores will be recorded as a straight percentage of possible points. Quizzes provide 50% of the course grade.

LABORATORY:
For each exercise, you must bring the laboratory exercise worksheets. The completed worksheets will be due at the beginning of lecture class on the Thursday after all the data have been collected. Lab exercises grades are recorded as a straight percentage of possible points. Late papers will receive a penalty of 10% per day late; once the Thursday lecture has begin, your late paper is already one day late; the following Tuesday the late paper is six days late (60% off). Once the papers have been returned to any of your classmates, your late paper is no longer acceptable (=0). There are no make-up laboratory sessions. You will receive substantial penalties for relying upon data that you did not help to collect. The laboratory exercises constitute 50% of the grade.

PARTICIPATION:
My estimate of your participation in the course may provide leverage or barrier should your earned grade fall near a grade border. Attendance, attitude, and attention are three strong components to this factor in the final grade.

Attendance is particularly important based upon past student performance in this course. In determining final course grades, I will drop the lowest quiz and the lowest worksheet scores; this allows you to miss one laboratory session (with written justification) or to drop the lowest score (not both). Additional absences earn 0 grades on both quiz and worksheet.

Staying on-task, remaining engaged in class discussion, and performing as an effective team-member is the second-most important criterion. As an adult, you are expected to bring all required materials to class and to be on time. Being tardy to laboratory session will directly cut into your time for taking the quiz...so arrive on campus early enough to find parking, etc. The new garage should be open, just plan for walking time to the Science building! Commuters need to be sure your vehicle or ride is ready for New England winter driving conditions, and you need to be a courageous and defensive driver. Having a plan B is critical for a commuter. There are no special accommodations for "fearful" drivers choosing to be commuters.

CHEATING:
Copying or plagiarism will not be tolerated. While you will work together to obtain data in the laboratory, your own observations and calculations must be shown on the worksheets and quizzes. Joint efforts will receive a single score to be divided equally among the participants (i.e. even a perfect paper becomes an F at 50%). Repeated offenses may result in campus judicial action.

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENTS:
Extra credit assignments will not be given to anyone for any reason. There could be bonus points provided on quizzes for everyone to earn, however.

SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS:
I cannot provide special accommodations in this class until I receive an accommodations letter from the Office of AccessAbility Services at (860) 465-5573. If you need them, it is your responsibility to arrange for this letter as soon as possible.

If any of you have difficulty with any aspect of this course, please use my office hours (or make a special appointment with me) and/or use the tutoring and math support offered by the Academic Services Center in the Library.

This page © Ross E. Koning 1994.

Go to the Course Schedule Page.

Go to the Plant Physiology Information Homepage.

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