Laboratory syllabus (Spring 2020)
BIOL 220L: Botany & Society Laboratory Syllabus
Instructor contact information
Instructor: Dr. Katherine Farrah
Cell phone / text messages:
E-mail: kfarrah@uscupstate.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays 3-6pm (by email, text or cell phone calls) and other times by appointment.
Communications: I am easily reached throughout most of the course by email, cell phone or texts to my cell phone. If you want to talk by phone or text, use the cell phone number.
Texting - If you text, please include your name in the text message and use conventional writing norms (not texting norms). Because I cannot verify identities based on phone numbers, texting is not a good way to ask about your grades or anything private, but it is a good way to ask about assignment instructions, due dates, etc.
Email - For questions about grades, email is the appropriate choice. Email is also a good way to ask longer questions about assignments.
Phone - Call me most anytime at your convenience – I am often available in the evening before 9pm and after 10am in the morning. If the call goes to voicemail, be sure to leave a message so we can set up another time to talk.
Web Resources
The course’s Blackboard website will be used to disseminate readings and announcements and to submit assignments and receive feedback. Other online resources will be linked through the course’s Blackboard page. There are separate Blackboard pages for lecture and laboratory assignments; the tab for laboratory assignments includes an “L” after the course number.
Objectives
Gain experience in modifying plants and plant environments to achieve desired goals.
Practice recognizing features that distinguish different plant groups.
Reinforce ability to engage in hypothesis testing and interpret data.
Use databases and other online tools to explore the natural world.
Practice communicating scientific findings.
Course management system
Instructions will be provided and assignments will be submitted via the Blackboard course management system, accessed through the USC Upstate homepage (find it under the "Quick links" menu).
Laboratory Format & Logistics
The laboratory for this course is entirely "online", except that you are expected to come to campus to pick up supplies in the first week of the course. (Note that most of the exercises require you to engage in activities with living plants; in that respect it is different than many online courses.)
Participating in an online laboratory requires logistical considerations beyond those that occur in an on-campus laboratory.
The order of laboratory exercises is designed to coincide with and complement lecture material.
Some laboratory exercises will involve growing plants at home. This will require table or windowsill space in front of a sunny window (preferably not north facing or heavily shaded) and a supplementary light source, such as a desk lamp with a compact fluorescent or LED bulb, which you need to provide. An outlet timer will be provided to cycle the light on and off.
Some laboratory exercises will require that you explore natural areas, such as wooded parks or walking trails. Other exercises will require that you visit a supermarket with fresh produce and that you procure fresh flowers to dissect from a supermarket or florist.
Some laboratory exercises will require use of a photo-capable smart device (iOS or Android phone or tablet). You will need access to a laptop or desktop computer for some exercises.
Some laboratory exercises will require working with water and other chemicals. This will be more convenient with use of a kitchen, but activities can be completed in a dorm.
You will be supplied with unusual or hard-to-find laboratory materials, which you will pick up from campus around the start of the semester. This will include living plants. If the plants die before they are needed, you will be responsible for retrieving replacements from the USC Upstate campus or finding suitable alternatives where you live.
You will be responsible for acquiring some materials. This will include common office supplies (e.g. scissors), food items available at typical grocery stores (e.g. apples, potato, etc.), cut flowers (e.g. lilies), isopropyl alcohol - 91% or higher concentration (available at pharmacies), and freezer or a cooler with ice.
You will be supplied with safety equipment, including safety glasses and gloves. As with in-person laboratories, you will be required to use safety equipment appropriate to the experiment being conducted.
Academic conduct
There are several instances of academic misconduct that may occur in online courses. These behaviors include, but are not limited, to the following:
sharing quiz or test questions or answers with other students in the current or previous semesters;
plagiarizing (defined by the USC Upstate library as “using others' words or ideas without consistent, correctly formatted acknowledgement”);
digitally manipulating images to make them appear as your own work when they were taken or created by someone else.
Infractions to USC’s Code of Academic Integrity are found in the student handbook on pages 147-148. Such behaviors will be treated as academic misconduct and addressed in a manner consistent USC Upstate Academic Conduct policy. Sanctions of Academic Integrity violations include, but are not limited to, failure on an assignment, failure in the course, and an indication on the transcript that academic misconduct occurred. These are listed on page 148 of the student handbook.
Help from others
The enrolled student in the course is required to be the primary individual completing the assigned tasks. Written work, including making graphs, completing problem sets, and writing lab reports, must be the exclusive work of the student enrolled in the course. However, enrolled students are encouraged to involve other individuals when helpful for logistical reasons, such as when collecting photo or video documentation of experiments, or for safety reasons, such as when exploring natural areas. Anyone assisting is expected to observe the same safety measures as enrolled students.
Multiple enrolled students are allowed to work together but their products must be unique. For example, students working together should not document the same sets of plants during field exercises, and students must each maintain their own ferns, Coleus, and terrariums.
Grading
Your laboratory grade will be based on your successful completion of lab tasks; grades are assigned based on the percentage of points earned divided by points available; laboratory is worth 25% of your final course grade. The lab schedule is listed below and in Blackboard under “Schedule of Lab Topics”.
Laboratory Schedule
Each week’s lab assignments are due on Thursday (Th.) of that week by 10:59 pm. Plan ahead.
See Weekly Lab Folders for detailed instructions and assignments
Note: the schedule is subject to change
Week
Beginning
Topics -
1
January 13
(Th.) Introductory activities
2
January 20
(Th. Or Friday) Plant terrariums, situate coleus and fern dishes
3
January 27
(Th.) Dichotomous keys, Winter twigs
4
February 3
(Th.) Tree rings, Fern journal
5
February 10
(Th.) Leaf shapes, find examples of leaves and vegetative traits
Identify poison ivy
6
February 17
(Th.) Gymnosperms
7
February 24
(Th.) Flowers, Terrarium questions
8
March 2
(Th.) Starch Test, Nutrition Sources
9
March 9
Spring Break – hooray!
10
March 16
(Th.) Coleus cutting and grafting, Plant radish Parentals
11
March 23
(Th.) Phenology, Plant radish F1, Fern Journal update
12
March 30
(Th.) DNA extraction, Plant radish F2
13
April 6
(Th.) Community Plant Activity, Analyze F1, Document F2
14
April 13
(Th.) Radish genetics: Radish final analysis
15
April 20
(Th.) Cooling power of shade trees, Terrarium update
16
April 29
(Th.) No lab!
Tutoring & Writing Center
Students may receive free tutoring for this course through USC Upstate’s Student Success Center Academic Support linked here. Students may receive help with writing assignments from the USC Upstate Writing Center, which is linked here.
Accommodations
USC Upstate supports the ongoing development of an accessible university that embraces diversity through educational programming, services, resources and facilities that are usable by all members of the campus community. In keeping with University policy, any student with a disability who requests academic accommodations should contact Disability Services at 503-5199 to arrange an appointment with a Disability Services staff member. Students are encouraged to seek an appointment as early in the semester as possible, as accommodations are not provided retroactively. As indicated above, all students are allowed to enlist help from others during laboratory activities, subject to the constraints indicated above (see ‘Enlisting Help from Others’).