Difference between revisions of "General Zoology"

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In '''General Zoology''', students learn a great amount of information from one of Northwest Missouri State University's best professors Dr. Peter Kondrashov.  Lectures start from learning about the different types of cells which includes information about organelles and how they interact.  Dr. K then moves onto Kingdom Protista, telling about the phyla, subphyla, and organisms under this kingdom.  After going quite in depth about the Kingdom Protista, the professor starts into the Kingdom Animalia.  Information ranging from the smallest animals to the biggest mammals is covered. Students in General Zoology learn the different phyla, subphyla, classes, etc.  They also learn different information about specific animals in each phyla such as leeches in Class Hirudinea or tapeworms in Phylum Platyhelminthes or dogs in Class Mammalia of Superclass Gnathostoma of Subphylum Vertebrata of Phylum Vertebrata.  Along with the lecture, lab is a very fun and interesting component to the course.  Lab meets once a week and spans two hours each week.  Since lab does not meet very often, lab and lecture often are not about the same topics. Lab is composed of looking at different protists and microscopic animals through microscopes, numerous animals preserved in glass jars, and eventually animals dissected by the students.  Students generally work in pairs during the dissection and it is handy to have a box of gloves especially during the fetal pig unit (which spans three weeks).  General Zoology sounds like a lot of work, but for people interested in biology rather than computer programming, it is a great class to take.
+
==Official Description==
 +
BIO 04-114/115
 +
Introduction to animal life including life histories, structure, functions and reproduction.  
 +
 
 +
==Class Structure==
 +
The course is split into two separate parts: Lecture (114) and Lab (115).  Each section receives its own grade, however, Lecture is three credit hours and Lab is only one credit hour.  Lecture is always taught by Dr. Kondrashov, at least during the Fall and Spring trimesters.  Lab is either taught by Dr. Kondrashov or Dr. Easterla in the Fall and Spring trimesters.
 +
 
 +
===Lecture===
 +
Information taught:
 +
*Kingdom Protista
 +
:*Different Phyla
 +
::*Different Subphyla, etc.
 +
*Kingdom Animalia
 +
:*Phyla ranging from microorganisms to humungous mammals
 +
 
 +
Dr. Kondrashov expects his students to know most of the names of the different phyla, subphyla, and sometimes classes, subclasses, and specific genus species.  Dr. Kondrashov loves mussels so pay close attention to this section of lecture.  Whenever he repeats something and gets really excited about some piece of information, expect it on the test.  He also expects you to know all the body systems he lectures and how it connects from animals higher and lower in the evolutionary tree.  He is big on comparison when it comes to different animals.
 +
 
 +
Grade structure:
 +
Four tests - 100 points each
 +
Comprehensive Final - 200 points
 +
Total - 600 points
 +
 
 +
A: 100-90
 +
B: 89-80
 +
C: 79-70
 +
D: 69-60
 +
F: 59-0
 +
 
 +
There are no rounding of grades and no extra credit
 +
 
 +
Frequently there are pop quizzes and the points earned from the pop quizzes are extra points added to your total grade.  When Dr. Kondrashov walks sneakily into the lecture hall with his laptop kind of shielded away from the class and looking stuffed with pieces of paper, expect a pop quiz and then look through your notes. 
 +
 
 +
===Lab===
 +
Lab is completely different from Lecture.   
 +
 
 +
Lab meets once a week for two hours.  There are two instructors for Zoology Lab: Dr. Kondrashov and Dr. Easterla (pronounced Dr. Easter lee).
 +
 
 +
Students in lab start looking through microscopes at different protists and then move on to microscopic animals.  After learning how to use microscopes and actually using them, students move onto dissections ranging from a small Ascaris or earthworm (or both!), to a mollusk, to the fetal pig which is a three week project.  Every week Dr. Easterla puts out about 15-20 demos of animals preserved on slides or in glass jars.  Students are expected to know these demos and slides and dissections.
 +
 
 +
Grade Structure:
 +
Midterm Exam - 100 points
 +
Non-cumulative Final Exam - 100 points
 +
Total - 200 points
 +
 
 +
Same grading scale as lecture
 +
 
 +
There are slight differences between Dr. Kondrashov and Dr. Easterla:
 +
*Dr. Kondrashov
 +
:-lectures about the lab and then works with students
 +
:-has pop quizzes much like lecture
 +
:-uses terminology almost exactly like lecture
 +
:-attempts to correlate lecture with lab (but it is quite difficult)
 +
*Dr. Easterla
 +
:-comes into lab, talks for about five minutes about what lab to do, and leaves
 +
:-lets lab assistants help students
 +
:-has no extra points
 +
:-uses very archaic terminology, must be because he's from the stone age
 +
:-talks about him and his discoveries (did you know that there is a bug named after him, eh)
 +
 
 +
==Why take this class?==
 +
This class is a lot of work, but at the same time a lot of fun.  If you are a person who likes biology much more than computer science, then I recommend taking this course.  Unless of course, you are from the class after the Voyagers... then you have no choice, but if you never had choice, you'll never miss not having choice, right?  Even if General Biology seemed like crap for you, don't give up on General Zoology.  It's more specifc than General Biology and the instructor is very competent.  Also, if you want to take higher level biology courses, General Zoology is probably the prerequisite.  Take Comparative Anatomy for example, the only pre req is General Zoology; both classes are a bunch of fun and interesting to the max times 12.

Revision as of 05:01, 25 December 2004

Official Description

BIO 04-114/115 Introduction to animal life including life histories, structure, functions and reproduction.

Class Structure

The course is split into two separate parts: Lecture (114) and Lab (115). Each section receives its own grade, however, Lecture is three credit hours and Lab is only one credit hour. Lecture is always taught by Dr. Kondrashov, at least during the Fall and Spring trimesters. Lab is either taught by Dr. Kondrashov or Dr. Easterla in the Fall and Spring trimesters.

Lecture

Information taught:

  • Kingdom Protista
  • Different Phyla
  • Different Subphyla, etc.
  • Kingdom Animalia
  • Phyla ranging from microorganisms to humungous mammals

Dr. Kondrashov expects his students to know most of the names of the different phyla, subphyla, and sometimes classes, subclasses, and specific genus species. Dr. Kondrashov loves mussels so pay close attention to this section of lecture. Whenever he repeats something and gets really excited about some piece of information, expect it on the test. He also expects you to know all the body systems he lectures and how it connects from animals higher and lower in the evolutionary tree. He is big on comparison when it comes to different animals.

Grade structure: Four tests - 100 points each Comprehensive Final - 200 points Total - 600 points

A: 100-90 B: 89-80 C: 79-70 D: 69-60 F: 59-0

There are no rounding of grades and no extra credit

Frequently there are pop quizzes and the points earned from the pop quizzes are extra points added to your total grade. When Dr. Kondrashov walks sneakily into the lecture hall with his laptop kind of shielded away from the class and looking stuffed with pieces of paper, expect a pop quiz and then look through your notes.

Lab

Lab is completely different from Lecture.

Lab meets once a week for two hours. There are two instructors for Zoology Lab: Dr. Kondrashov and Dr. Easterla (pronounced Dr. Easter lee).

Students in lab start looking through microscopes at different protists and then move on to microscopic animals. After learning how to use microscopes and actually using them, students move onto dissections ranging from a small Ascaris or earthworm (or both!), to a mollusk, to the fetal pig which is a three week project. Every week Dr. Easterla puts out about 15-20 demos of animals preserved on slides or in glass jars. Students are expected to know these demos and slides and dissections.

Grade Structure: Midterm Exam - 100 points Non-cumulative Final Exam - 100 points Total - 200 points

Same grading scale as lecture

There are slight differences between Dr. Kondrashov and Dr. Easterla:

  • Dr. Kondrashov
-lectures about the lab and then works with students
-has pop quizzes much like lecture
-uses terminology almost exactly like lecture
-attempts to correlate lecture with lab (but it is quite difficult)
  • Dr. Easterla
-comes into lab, talks for about five minutes about what lab to do, and leaves
-lets lab assistants help students
-has no extra points
-uses very archaic terminology, must be because he's from the stone age
-talks about him and his discoveries (did you know that there is a bug named after him, eh)

Why take this class?

This class is a lot of work, but at the same time a lot of fun. If you are a person who likes biology much more than computer science, then I recommend taking this course. Unless of course, you are from the class after the Voyagers... then you have no choice, but if you never had choice, you'll never miss not having choice, right? Even if General Biology seemed like crap for you, don't give up on General Zoology. It's more specifc than General Biology and the instructor is very competent. Also, if you want to take higher level biology courses, General Zoology is probably the prerequisite. Take Comparative Anatomy for example, the only pre req is General Zoology; both classes are a bunch of fun and interesting to the max times 12.

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