Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho
July 1999

1. FIELD TRIPS

There will be two off-campus field trips held this semester. Attendance is required for both field trips. An excused absence from a field trip will be allowed only for the following excuses:

• 1) Death in family


• 2) Severe illness as documented by a doctor’s excuse

This rule will be strictly enforced and ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE.

If for any reason you miss a field trip and either of these excuses is not applicable, you will not receive credit for the field trip.

2. LABORATORIES

You will be allowed to miss ONE of the eight laboratory sessions during the semester without a valid excuse. Although no points will be taken off your grade for missing the laboratory, you still will be responsible for the materials on the exams so you should get the laboratory information from a friend. There are only three valid excuses for missing more than one laboratory and these reasons are:

• 1) Death in the family


• 2) Illness as documented by the infirmary or other medical personnel


• 3) A sports event which has been pre-approved by Dr. Howard at least one week in advance

There will be one laboratory make-up session to be held late in the semester for those students who miss more than one laboratory session and have a valid excuse. The date of this make-up session will be announced later in the course. Those students who miss more than one laboratory session and do not have one of the valid excuses indicated above will have two points deducted from the final grade for each missed laboratory session.

3. HOMEWORK/LABORATORY ASSIGNMENTS

Students will be given laboratory activity and/or question sheets to complete with each laboratory. These completed sheets will be due on the dates indicated by the professors. All reports should be deposited in the box marked HOMEWORK in the back of the classroom on these dates. Late reports will not be accepted unless there is a valid excuse of illness or family death.

4. COURSE PROJECTS

There will be two projects during the semester:

1) The examination of an outdoor ecosystem --- This project will consist of observing and analyzing changes in two campus ecosystems, Chickweed Corridor and Cardinal Forest. For each of these ecosystems, you must write a paper which includes the following information:

• Identification of 5 unknown plants, 5 unknown insects, and 5 other unknown animals in each of the two ecosystems.


• Write descriptions of major changes that have occurred in each ecosystem, based on observation periods announced by Dr. Howard.


• Discuss the reasons for the above changes.


• Based on your observations, develop a food chain for each of the two ecosystems.
• Summarize the major differences in the two ecosystems and explain why these differences exist.

2) The examination of a biorama, an indoor display of an ecosystem --- You will be assigned one of four permanently displayed bioramas. For your biorama, you will:

• Write a paragraph about each numbered "participant" in the display, including its role in the overall sustainability of the ecosystem.


• Develop a food chain for the ecosystem.


• Choose three of the "participants" and discuss their adaptations that permit their survival in the ecosystem.

An in-department library, in Room 112, McCort-Ward, will be available for reference for these projects. Books may be checked out for a maximum of three days use. No more than two books may be checked out at the same time. Hours for check-out and return are:

• Monday and Friday: 1:15 - 1:45 PM


• Thursday: 11:30 AM - 12:00 Noon

5. EXAMS

Two exams and one final exam will be given. The only valid excuses for missing these exams are death, illness as documented by a medical excuse or an out-of-town sports event which has been pre-approved by Dr. Howard at least two weeks in advance.

6. DETERMINATION OF GRADES

Grades will be determined based on the following point distribution:

• Exam #1 --- 12 points


• Exam #2 --- 12 points


• Final Exam --- 25 points


• Course Projects --- 24 points (12 points each)


• Laboratory exercises --- 16 points


• Field trips --- 10 points (5 points each)

_____

TOTAL 99* points

* At the end of the semester, you will have the choice of adding the one remaining percentage point to one of the above categories before the final grade is calculated.

FINAL GRADE DISTRIBUTION

• 90 - 100 A


• 80 - 89 B


• 70 - 79 C


• 60 - 69 D
  
• Below 60 F

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