Instructor: Donald F. Hoyt, Professor of Biological Sciences

DEPARTMENT STATEMENT ON CHEATING

Course Objectives: To familiarize students with the principles and basic facts of Animal Physiology and with some of the laboratory techniques and equipment used in the acquisition of physiological data. The emphasis will be on mammalian physiology but there will be some coverage of other vertebrate taxa and invertebrates.

Required Course Materials: (all at Bronco Bookstore)

Hoyt, ZOO 424 Lecture Outlines

Prerequisite: ZOO 138/138L, CHM 106

Schedule of Exams: Midterm exams will be taken during the student’s lab period. See Lab Schedule for the dates of the exams. On the days of midterm exams, students in the first lab section MUST remain in the lab until 2:50 pm.

Grading System: There will be three midterm exams and one formal lab report, each worth 100 points, and a total of nine abstracts worth a total of 110 pts (see Lab Schedule for more specific details). At the time of the regularly scheduled "Final Exam" (during the final exam period) you will take the third midterm. Midterm exams will not be cumulative (they will cover the material since the previous midterm exam or beginning of the course). Students will receive the same grade in the lab and lecture parts of the course. Grades will be based upon the percentage of the total of 510 points which the student has earned. The class curve will be taken into account but the cutoff points will not be higher than the following: A - 90%; B - 80%; C - 65%; D - 50%. The A, B, and C "Cut-offs" may be as much as several percentage points lower depending upon the class curve but the D "cut-off" will not be lower than 50%.

The University requires a "significant writing component" in all courses because part of being educated is the ability to communicate effectively in the written form. The Significant Writing Component of this course is a manuscript reporting comparative data from the myogenic and neurogenic heart exercises. You will have approximately three weeks to write this manuscript which is enough time to draft, revise, proof-read, spell-check and revise again. There is even sufficient time for you to have it critically read for grammar and punctuation, therefore there is no excuse for poor writing. Accordingly, the grade will be partially based on English competency for this assignment.

Examination Method: The three midterm exams will be composed of a mixture of several kinds of multiple-choice questions, fill in the blank questions and will include at least one essay question. Midterm questions may also include quantitative problems based on formulae and relationships discussed in lecture or in lab. The first and second midterm exams will be administered twice. Different questions of approximately equal difficulty will be used in the two administrations. Following the first administration the exams will be returned promptly and the answers to the questions will be fully discussed. Students will have the option of taking either the first, the second, or both administrations of the exam. If both exams are taken, the best score achieved will be used for the grade.

Make-up Policy: There will be NO MAKE-UP EXAMS.