Syllabus

UNE Summer Session

LSCI 1003: Life Science – Summer Session 2024 – 6 Weeks

Credits - 3

Description

This course serves as an introductory course for pre-health professions students and non-science majors, covering basic chemical principles of general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry.  This foundational course is a systematic survey of measurements, atomic structure, periodic table trends, chemical bonding and equations, nomenclature, structures of organic compounds, and biochemicals. Altogether, this course will develop the critical thinking skills and self-confidence within the introductory sciences that come with foundational understandings.

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Program Outcomes

In lecture courses, students should be able to:

• Communicate scientific concepts and information clearly.
• Illustrate fundamental principles of scientific disciplines.
• Apply knowledge and critical thinking skills to scientific problems.

Course Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 

• Describe the composition of matter at multiple levels
• Predict the properties of atoms alone and in combination (e.g. diatomic molecules, polyatomic as well as ions)
• Write balanced chemical equations
• Identify the main organic functional groups
• Identify foundational organic molecules
• Identify major classes of biological molecules
• Describe how the chemical structure of endogenous biological molecules facilitates their biological function.
• Utilize proper chemical nomenclature to describe common chemical and biological principles

Content-specific objectives

• Chemistry

• • Solve basic unit calculations and conversions
  • Investigate the nature of matter and matter’s composition
  • Utilize the periodic table to predict the chemical reactivity of compounds
  • Investigate the rules governing how atoms come together to form molecules
  • Perform calculations that relate atoms, molecules, moles, and mass
  • Balance chemical reactions
  • Predict the products of common chemical reactions (e.g. decomposition, single/double replacement, synthesis)
  • Use the ideal gas law to determine the properties of gasses at varying temperatures and pressures

• Organic Chemistry

• • Visually analyze the structures of organic molecules
  • Recognize common organic compounds based on the combination of functional groups
  • Identify organic functional groups
  • Demonstrate knowledge of naming organic molecules
  • Examine the complexity of molecular interactions essential to living organisms

• Biochemistry

• • Describe biological molecules and their roles
  • Discuss the structure and function of biological molecules
  • Evaluate the complexity of carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, proteins
  • Examine how biochemical interactions drive metabolic reactions
  • Articulate the interdisciplinary nature of biochemistry in everyday life

Assignments

Homework Practice Quizzes

These will entail multiple-choice, matching, or true/false questions. These quizzes are untimed and are closed book and closed notes. These quizzes will be taken online through the Brightspace course site. Doing well on the quizzes will help prepare you for the weekly summative exams.

Weekly Summative Exams

These will entail multiple-choice, matching, or true/false questions. You will have 120 minutes and two attempts to complete each exam, which is closed book and closed notes. These quizzes will be taken online through the Brightspace course site.

Discussions

Each week, you will participate in discussions in which you will utilize key concepts and skills, as well as respond to your peers. These discussions emphasize the real-world application of life sciences.

Grading Policy

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

Grade Breakdown

Category	Percentage
Introductory Discussion	2%
Weekly Discussions (5 @ 4 points each)	20%
Homework Practice Quizzes (6 @ 3 points each)	18%
Weekly Summative Exams (6 @ 10 points each)	60%
TOTAL	100%

Grade Scale

Grade	Points Grade	Point Average (GPA)
A	94 – 100%	4.00
A-	90 – 93%	3.75
B+	87 – 89%	3.50
B	84 – 86%	3.00
B-	80 – 83%	2.75
C+	77 – 79%	2.50
C	74 – 76%	2.00
C-	70 – 73%	1.75
D	64 – 69%	1.00
F	00 – 63%	0.00