• Responsibilities of each student
  

Check your e-mail daily. Occasionally I may send the class notices via e-mail.

Stay in contact with the instructor. If you have a question, problem, or are concerned with how you are doing in this course, contact me by e-mail, phone, during office hours or in class. If at any time you feel that you do not have the proper background to understand the material that is being presented, please let me know.

Attend class. Exams are based on the material we cover in lecture. Lectures will cover some material not contained in the readings. See the attendance policy below.

Learn the vocabulary. You can not understand complex biological concepts if you are not familiar with the words that are being used. Definitions can be found in the glossary of your textbook.

Read the textbook assignments before coming to class.

Review textbook assignments and your notes after each class to consolidate material. Slide shows used in class will be on the moodle web page, usually before class. You can print out an abbreviated format to bring to class to help you with note taking.

• Other opportunities for help
  Connect with your peers. Students at all levels benefit from group study sessions. If you understand the material, you will gain a deeper understanding of the material by discussing it with your peers. If you are unclear about something, your peers may be able to explain it in a different way than it was presented in the lecture
  
  Visit the Math and Science Skills Center. Our course specific tutor is Nick Severyn (e-mail: severynn), but many other tutors at the center are also available to help with biology. Nick works at the MSSC on Tuesday evenings, 7-9 p.m.
  
  The textbook CD and website (www.prenhall.com/freeman) are outstanding resources. Tutorials and self-quizzes are also available to help you review the material.
  
  Kenyon Biology 114 Web site: The following is a good site to check if you need more help, would like a different perspective from the text, or would like links additional information: http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol114/index.html. Clicking on topic index leads to listing of available modules.
  
  Look over the old exams and quizzes on the moodle site.
  
  Sunday night review sessions. In addition to office hours, I will be available most Sunday evenings, 6:30- 7:30 p.m. in FSH 103. I will announce these in class.
  
  Contact the instructor. In addition to the formal opportunities for help listed above, there are many other mechanisms for accessing help in this course. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

How to contact the instructor: Office hours, the weekly review session, and e-mail are the best ways to make contact with me. Also, you may call me at home before 9:00 p.m.

E-mail. I check my e-mail routinely during the normal working day, and can respond to many questions very quickly. E-mail is also a good first contact to make; we can arrange an in-person meeting if necessary. Please note that I generally will not check my e-mail in the evening, please do not expect rapid responses to e-mails sent in the evening.
Office hours. Come see me during my office hours. Please know that you need not have a very specific question or problem in order to come to office hours. Sometimes the most important visits are ones where we discuss general strategies for doing well in the course.

• Grades are based on:
  70% - Four fifty-minute exams.
  There will be 4 fifty-minute exams, each covering the material in that section of the course, including what is covered in the lecture just prior to the exam. Although none of the exams is strictly cumulative, you will be held responsible for major themes and fundamental concepts we have already covered in the class. The top three exams count as 20%, the lowest at 10%.
  25% - ten quizzes
  There will be ten pop quizzes given throughout the semester. Some of these will be take home. The two lowest grades will be dropped before computing the final quiz average.
  5% - class attendance and participation
  Attendance is expected, and will be recorded. Excessive unexcused absences will not be allowed. Excused absences will be granted for students on the excused absence list, with sicknesses that can be verified through the health center, and for excused varsity athletic contests. Other reasonable absences may be excused provided that they are cleared by me before hand. Grades may be reduced by a third of a letter grade for each set of 3 unexcused absences.
  Optional cumulative final: During the final period students may choose to take an optional cumulative exam. This can be used to replace one of the other four exam scores. Only the top 4 scores will count towards the final grade and the lowest one will still count 10%.

NOTE ON EXAMS AND QUIZZES: Exams or quizzes missed due to unexcused absences (e.g. my alarm didn't go off) will count as a zero. Exams missed due to an excused absence can be made up. It is the responsibility of the student to make arrangements to do so with the instructor. When an exam conflicts with a scheduled excusable event, the student must contact the instructor one week before the exam is scheduled to arrange for an alternate time. Ordinarily, this will be before the rest of the class takes the exam. Therefore, athletes should check the syllabus and their athletic contest schedules closely and make note of any conflicts.

There will be no make up quizzes. If you miss a quiz due to an excused absence, it will not count as a zero and the two lowest grades of the remaining quizzes will be dropped.

Academic Honesty.  Do not lie, cheat, or plagiarize. This class will follow the official Kenyon College position on academic honesty. It is your responsibility to review and observe the official College policy on academic honesty.

Special Needs. College policy provides for reasonable accomodations for documented physical, psychological or learning disabilities that may impact your ability to participate fully in the course. Please speak with me and with Erin Salva, Coordinator of Disability Services (PBX 5453; salvae@kenyon.edu). All information and documentation of disability is confidential. Please see the Disability Services web site for more information. Logistical details of any approved accomodation (e.g. extended exam time) must be arranged with the instructor in advance.

Jan 14 W

DNA structure(optional), Chromosomes
practice DNA bases (optional)

Ch. 4 (4.1, 4.2); pg. 130; essay pg. 87
pg 133 (the nucleus)

Ch. 14 pp. 310-318 tissue engineering paper

Mitosis
Quiz 2 likely

Ch. 12 (all except section 12.3), Fig 25.9 pg. 547

Feb 9 M

Eukaryotic transcription and splicing
PLOS article- Alternate mRNA splicing: control by combination

Applying Central Dogma Concepts I:  Regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle.

Approaches II: DNA sequencing PCR

Ch. 20 (Pg. 427, recent technological advances, fig. 20.1)

Prokaryotic Gene Expression I:  Operons

Ch. 17 (Intro, sections .1, .2 and .3)

DNA binding proteins

Ch. 17 (section 17.5) footprinting animation

Eukaryotic Gene Expression I:  Transcriptional Activation.

Ch. 18 (pp. 382-383, 18.3, 18.4)

Ch. 18 (pp. 370-371, 18.3, 18.4)

RNAi and riboswitches: Gibbs (2003) Scientific American article (local access only)

p-body articles on moodle site

Cell Movement and Gastrulation (optional)

Apr 17 f

Ch. 21 (pp. 463-466); Ch 22 (sec. 22.1)