Syllabus

Fall, 2008

Class Times/Places:

Office Hours:

I will be on campus most weekdays. You are welcome to call or come and find me in my office or lab (Harned Hall 304) at any time. Although there is always a chance that I may have something under way which can not be interrupted, I can usually stop and help. Additional means of contacting me are the phone (number above) and email (just click on the "email Me" buttons on any of my web pages).

Accommodating those with disabilities:

The Biology Department, in conjunction with the Office of Disabled Student Services, makes reasonable accommodation for qualified students with medically documented disabilities. If you need an accommodation, please contact Dan Steely of TSU's Disabled Student Services Office at 963-7400 (phone) or 963-5051 (fax), preferably in the first week of class.

Course Description:

Credit Hours: This course is a 3 credit hour graduate course.

Catalog Description. This course is designed to strengthen students competence in areas related to ecology, evolution, and systematics. The topics covered will be chosen through dialog between all members of the class (students and faculty). Final decision will be made by the official course instructor.

Once topics are chosen and assigned to particular students, they must survey the current literature and select articles that present the relevant ideas and some that exemplify the status of our knowledge of the topic. The instructor will guide the students during this process. Once the relevant articles are chosen, the student will give copies to other class members at least a week before presenting. Students will present their findings as informal seminars in which they lead class discussion about the chosen subject. The seminars should focus both on an explanation of the important ideas and on the methods through which data are gathered and evaluated in support of the ideas. Class members not presenting are expected to have familiarized themselves with the chosen articles and to have questions and criticisms ready for discussion.

Course Objectives:

This course will allow graduate students to identify areas of ecology, evolution, and systematics where they wish to strengthen their understanding and to gain competency through searching the literature, selecting key papers and books, and synthesizing their new knowledge into a presentation for the class. The focus will be both on the materials presented and on the process of learning outside of the lecture-oriented classroom. The class will serve both to strengthen students competency in the subject areas and in the process of learning after the end of formal education.

Evaluation:

Evaluation will be based on the quality of a student's presentations to the class and on their degree of involvement in others presentations.  Quality will be decided on the criteria of: adequacy of materials selected for presentation, organization, thoroughness and accuracy of the presentation. Involvement will be decided on the criteria of familiarity with assigned readings, participation in discussion, and regularity of attendance

Each student is expected to attend all sessions, to prepare for each session that he or she is not the presenter by reading all assigned materials and by generating discussion topics prior to class, and, for sessions at which he or she is a presenter, to give each member of the class an outline of the presentation (or a powerpoint of the presentation if that is the method chosen for the presentation).

Disclaimer:

The instructor reserves the right to change the occurrence, timing and content of seminars, lectures, laboratory exercises, and examinations.

Schedule:

List of Readings For Each Presentation:

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Last updated on September 4, 2008