Intro Bio 151/153 Friday Newsletter

January 23, 2015

I see thingswonderful things.

-

Howard Carter answering after being asked what he was seeing as he gazed into
Tutankhamens (King Tuts) tomb for the first time.

This newsletter contains information on:

Course related 1) About these Friday Newsletters
2) Lab or Discussion conflict?
3) Discussions and Labs begin next Week
4) Mastering Biology Pre-lecture Quizzes
5) i>Clickers
6) Conflicts with our Mid-term exams
7) Honors
8) The Independent Project of Intro Bio 152 first thoughts
Other (completely optional)
i) The UW Writing Center
____________________________________________
Course related

If you have a picture with

biological content that you
think would look good in
the weekly bulletin and on
our L@UW site, please send
it our way!

1) About these Friday Newsletters

The Weekly Friday Newsletter is a trademark of the Intro Bio coordinators. We typically have this letter created
by the late afternoon or early evening of each Friday during the term. They wont always be this big. Well send
you the Newsletter each Friday attached to a brief email and well also post it in Content & Materials on the
course website. It is very important that you check out the current newsletter every week. The groundwork for
the upcoming week is presented here as well as any important deadlines or other announcements.
The newsletter is divided into two sections Course related and Other (optional). The Course related section
is something you should read entirely. The Other section is shown as optional and you should treat it that way.
There will never be any items in the Other section that are required for our class.
2) Lab or Discussion conflict?
Need to switch your lab or discussion section? Any remaining open seats will be available to the class as a
whole at 9am on Monday, January 26. Check your Student Center frequently if you need to swap sections. Be
sure to use the SWAP function. Instructions on how to do this are on front page of L@UW within the Welcome
letter in the News box.
3) Discussions and Labs begin next Week
If you have an unresolved conflict with a lab or discussion (see above), please attend any lab or discussion you
can for this first week only. When you enter that lab or discussion, please inform the TA that you are not
enrolled and are still trying to resolve your conflict issue.
Discussion:
To prepare for discussion next week, please complete the homework assignment for the week of January 26
that is posted on Learn@UW under Content & Materials>Discussion>Cell and bring it to discussion next week.
Also, be sure to review your notes from the first week of class so that you have questions for your TA if time
permits following discussion activities. You should consider this a general plan for each week of discussion.
Lab:
Note: Only 151 students are enrolled in and should attend lab. 153 students do not attend lab.
You have five assignments for your first week of lab (starting Monday, January 26). Before your lab,
please:
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1. Read pages i-xvi of Practicing Biology (your lab manual)

2. Read pages 1 and 13-29 of Practicing Biology (your lab manual)
3. Read Concept 7.3 (pages 130-133) in your textbook (10th edition); if you have the 9th edition, it is on
pages 132-135. This reading is also posted on L@UW. See next item for location.
4. Read the Microorganisms primer document on Learn@UW
a. You can find this on our course Learn@UW site, on the Content & Materials page, under the
Laboratory section and the Cell Structure & Function 1 subsection
5. Download from Learn@UW and answer all the questions on the Cell Structure & Function pre-lab #1
document
a. You can find this in the same place as the Microorganisms primer document
b. You can ignore the Week 1 pre-lab on pages 3-4 of Practicing Biology. The document on
Learn@UW replaces that.
c. This will be checked for completion and you will lose points if you dont do it
Bring a USB memory stick with you to lab each week.
Temporary lab switching during the term: Periodically, students are faced with unique or emergency situations
that necessitate their moving to a different lab for a week or two in order to complete the lab properly.
Wherever possible, you must give your TA (and us, Brian Parks & Kerry Martin 151lec1@zoology.wisc.edu)
ample warning with a valid request (legal, job-related, University function, etc.) in order to see whether it will be
possible to accommodate your request. Bear in mind that many labs are multi-week ventures in which you are
working with partners. Therefore, it is rarely a simple process to switch to a different lab for a single week.
Very Important Note: a valid request for a temporary switch of your Intro Bio 151 lab or 151/153 discussion
does not include a switch in order to attend a non-timetabled exam in another class (for example, our midterms are not timetabled if our mid-term(s) conflict with your enrolled course schedule or other valid excuse,
we will grant an alternate exam time). If you have a mid-term in another course that conflicts with your enrolled
Intro Bio 151 lab or Intro Bio 151/153 discussion, you must ask for an alternate exam time from that other
courses professor before approaching us for a temporary switch.
4) Mastering Biology Pre-lecture Quizzes
Your pre-lecture quizzes will be available at 2pm following the lecture immediately before the lecture that they
will be due. The window for taking a quiz will go from then (2pm) to 7am on the morning of that next lecture.
The first quiz will open at 2pm on Monday, January 26. It will be due on Wednesday (1.28) morning at 7am.
The quizzes will have questions on the reading assignments for the lectures on the quiz due dates. For
example, your first quiz (due Wednesday morning) will be on material for that Wednesdays lecture. In other
words, you have to read your textbook in order to succeed with the quizzes.
These pre-lecture quizzes will count for 3% of your final course score. Of the forty (40) pre-lecture quizzes we
will give this term, we will drop your lowest ten (10) scores. This is built in to accommodate missed quizzes,
dropped internet connections and any other matters that prevent you from taking or completing a quiz.
Therefore, we will NOT be offering make-up opportunities on these quizzes.
5) i>Clickers
As you were informed in a few places now, i>Clickers will be used in our course and are required. Your
participation will be monitored (for direct credit). See the posted Course Policies document that explains this
further. Instructions for registering your clickers are found on the front page of our Learn@UW website within
the main textbox near the top of the page. Please register your clicker by today. We intend to start using them
for credit next week.
i>Clicker participation will count for 1% of your final course score. You need to answer at least one question
during a lecture to obtain clicker credit for that lecture. If you click in during 75% or more of the lectures, you
will receive full credit at the end of the semester. If you click in less than 75%, your credit will be prorated. With
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this policy built in, we do not offer make-up clicker credit if you forgot your clicker or your batteries went dead
during lecture.
6) Conflicts with our Mid-term exams
Our mid-term exams are scheduled in the evening hours during the term. The exam schedule is shown in the
Course Policies document and the Lecture Syllabus, both posted under Content & Materials on Learn@UW.
Some students will certainly have a valid course conflict with our scheduled exams. That is expected and we
make accommodations for all valid conflicts. In a future Newsletter (during the next week or two), we will ask
you to inform us of any known and valid conflict with the exams.
7) Honors:
If you want to enroll in Honors, you must do so no later than next Thursday (January 29). Honors is
open to all students in 151. Honors students will meet 10-12 times throughout the semester at a time yet to be
determined. All students signed up for Honors will receive a scheduling survey via email on January 30.
8) The Independent Project of Intro Bio 152 - first thoughts
The Intro Bio 152 Independent Project (a.k.a. - The IP) is a major term-long research project that you will begin
to set up this term and then begin and complete whenever you take Intro Bio 152. Information regarding the IP
is now available under the Content & Materials section of L@UW. You should take some time to review these
documents in order to familiarize yourself with the IP. We have also planned a few evening information
sessions. These will occur as scheduled in the posted Lab Syllabus (Content & Materials section). They will
be conducted in a room on campus still to be determined. You must attend one of these sessions if you intend
to pursue the Mentored IP option for the Independent Project.
____________________________________________
Other (optional) i) The UW Writing Center
Individual Help with Writing
Through online or face-to-face conferences, Writing Center instructors help undergraduate and graduate
students to become more effective, more confident writers. Working with students in all disciplines and at all
levels, our instructors can assist students with a variety of writing projects--from course papers and resumes
to theses and dissertations. Although we do not offer a proofreading service, WC instructors provide a critical
audience for students and friendly advice for revisions. Consultations are scheduled by appointment at the
main location and available on a first-come, first-served basis at eight satellite locations across campus.
Individual critiques of short drafts (five pages or less) are also available via email and live chats four nights
each week.
Workshops
There are over 35 free, short-term workshops for undergraduate students to help them excel with college
writing, for graduate students working on advanced writing projects or entering the job market, and for
instructors in all disciplines who teach with writing.
The Online Writing Center
We offer one of the most comprehensive online writing centers in the country. In addition to writing instruction
about short drafts via email and real-time consultations, the online Writing Center provides extensive
information about its services, descriptions, and e-registration for its short-term writing workshops, and links to
numerous resources and handouts on academic writing. Explore the UW-Madison Online Writing Center at
writing.wisc.edu and provide a link us on your class syllabi.
The Writer's Handbook
Available online 24/7, the Writers Handbook offers numerous instructional materials about writing, including
such topics as negotiating the stages of the writing process, improving grammar and punctuation, avoiding
plagiarism, and citing sources following the APA, MLA, and CSE guidelines, to name a few. Many examples
show how to improve ones writing style to make it clear, to the point, and easier to read.
The UW-Madison Writing Center--teaching students at every level and in all disciplines to become
more effective, more confident writers. Services offered free of charge through the generous support
of the College of Letters and Science.
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UW-Madison Writing Center -- 6171 Helen C. White Hall -- 608.263.1992 http://writing.wisc.edu

That's all for now...
----------------------------------------------------------------Brian M. Parks & Kerry Martin
Course Coordinators Introductory Biology 151/153 152
Associate Faculty Associates - Dept. of Zoology
250 N. Mills St.
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 265-5336 (BP), 262-3599 (KM)
FAX: (608) 262-9083
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