Syllabus

Post Baccalaureate in Pre-Health

BIOL 1015: Introduction to Zoology – Fall A 2024 – 8 Weeks

Credits - 3

Description

This course explores the animal branch of the family tree of all living things, focusing especially on vertebrates. We will learn what makes animals different from other organisms like plants or fungi, and also how the various animal species differ from each other. Major themes running through the course include: phylogenetics (how animal species are related to each other); evolution (how we got all the different kinds of animals); metabolism (how different animals survive and regulate their bodies); reproduction strategies (how animals make more animals); and ecology (how animals interact with other living things and their environments).

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Apply the tools zoologists use to communicate their science (examples include ethograms and phylogenies)
• Produce externalized mental models of your understanding of these big questions in the course:
  • What do all animal species have in common, and what are the ways they vary from each other?
  • Why and how did we end up with millions of different species of animals on the Earth?
  • How does success in sexual reproduction sometimes mean less success in basic survival for a specific animal?
  • What are the challenges of survival that all animals have to deal with? How do different species deal with those challenges?
  • What are the different ways animals can interact with each other and with their environments?
• Create a science communication project that converts information presented in specialized scientific language or graphs into a format that a non-scientist could understand

Assignments

Lectures

Course content is presented through a series a of interactive lectures. Pause points with questions are built into the videos as an opportunity to reflect on new material and test your knowledge. Responses are graded on participation.

Worksheets

Each week, you will apply new concepts and skills within a worksheet. Length and question formats will vary to allow for application across different contexts and scenarios. 

Discussions

Weekly discussion boards are structured in a give and get help format. These discussions will be a space for you to share classwork, perspectives, and questions in a collaborative environment. The prompts are open-ended and meant to help you identify personal knowledge gaps or curiosities. You will also respond to several peers using what you learned from the week to help them gain a deeper understanding of the content.

Portfolio

Throughout the modules, you will build an individual portfolio detailing your learning process and evolving understanding of the overarching questions identified in the course outcomes. The portfolio is divided into a midterm, final, and weekly individual prompts. Building a record of current perspectives and mental models through weekly portfolio assignments will aid in the completion of the midterm and final. 

SciComm Project

The SciComm project is separated into two submissions and a discussion. The goal of the project is to interpret scientific information and present it in a format that can be understood by non-scientists. The first submission is an illustrative representation of a journal article abstract. This is followed by a discussion based peer interview examining the decisions behind the illustrated abstract. The second submission is a written or audio supplement accompanying a peer’s illustration. The final product will be an article that presents to readers/listeners complex ideas from the chosen scientific journal in a way that is easy to understand. You will have a chance to resubmit the article at the end of the course after incorporating instructor feedback from the draft. 

Exams

You will complete multiple choice midterm and final proctored exams. The midterm exam will focus on the first three modules of the course while the final will be a summative assessment of content from the whole course. 

Grading Policy

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown