Text: Freeman and Herron, Evolutionary Analysis, 4th Edition.
Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Website: http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_freeman_evol_4/
Course objectives: Gain insight into the processes that have
shaped the history of life on earth.
Cheating on an exam will result in failure of the course and further University discipline. Cheating on a quiz will result in failure of the quiz and further University discipline. Note that CSUN policy has changed as follows: (1) if the instructor becomes aware of cheating, plagiarism, or other violations of the conduct code the instructor is required to report the misconduct to the Office of the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, and (2) if a student fails a course because of academic misconduct, they can no longer repeat the course for grade forgiveness.
It is your responsibility to be aware of the CSUN student conduct code, and to follow it. The conduct code can be found at: http://www.csun.edu/a&r/soc/studentconduct.html
Class Withdrawal The Biology Department withdrawal policy states:
"Unrestricted withdrawals are permitted only until the end of the third
week. Thereafter, requests to drop a class will be honored only when a
verifiable serious and compelling reason exists and when there is no viable
alternative to withdrawal. Poor performance is NOT an acceptable
reason for withdrawal. During the last three weeks of the semester withdrawals
will not be approved except when a student is withdrawing from ALL classes
for verifiable medical reasons." That policy clearly does not apply well to summer school; you should check with Tseng College regarding drops.
Classroom ettiquette: don't be late, turn off your cell phones.
Grading:
You can earn a grade of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D or F in this course. I do not "give" students grades; you earn them and you get what you get based on class points with a standard grading scale (rounded to nearest 1%): A = 94% and above; A- = 90% -> 93%; B+ = 87% -> 89%; B = 84% -> 86%; etc.
Your grade will be based on 900 points. There will be four regular exams, each worth 100 class points (400 class points total). There is also a comprehensive final exam (200 class points). IF YOU MISS AN EXAM WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL, THEN YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED A MAKE-UP EXAM. There will also be two types of quizzes. (1) For each chapter covered, you are to do the multiple choice portions of the online chapter review quiz using the book publisher's website http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_freeman_evol_4/ and email me the result (dave.gray@csun.edu) BEFORE the class covering that chapter starts (i.e. before 1 PM of the day we cover that material). LATE ONLINE QUIZZES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR ANY REASON. (2) We will also have in class quizzes at the end of our lecture/discussion time. THERE ARE NO MAKE UP QUIZZES FOR MISSED IN CLASS QUIZZES FOR ANY REASON. There are 34 total quizzes (online and in class); you can miss four with no penalty, the other 30 quizzes will be worth 10 class points each, for a total of 300 class points. The remaining four quizzes (if completed) can be used as extra credit, up to 40 class points.
NOTE: all in class quizzes and exams will be paperless. The questions will be displayed on screen, you will be given time to answer, and then the next question will appear. You can not go at your own pace, and you can not go back to previous questions. If you are late for an exam or quiz, you will not be able to complete the missed portions. Quizzes and exams will be multiple choice, so you will need several scantron forms per week; bring a form with you every day.
Basic Schedule
Module |
Topics |
Evolution Basics |
May 28 Introduction, course syllabus, expectations, grading, etc. May 29 Darwinian Natural Selection (Ch. 3) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] May 30 Tree Thinking, reading 1 is here, reading 2 is here [lecture/discussion, in class quiz] May 31 Evidence of Evolution (Ch. 2) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 3 Constructing Phylogenies (Ch. 4) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 4 In class study day & discussion for Exam 1 June 5 Exam 1, Evolution Basics *************************************************************************************** |
Population and Evolutionary Genetics |
June 6 Mutation and Genetic Variation (Ch. 5) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 7 Microevolutionary Population Genetics I (Ch. 6) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 10 Microevolutionary Population Genetics II (Ch. 7) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 11 Multilocus Evolution I: Linkage and Sex (Ch. 8) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 12 Multilocus Evolution II: Quantitative genetics (Ch. 9) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 13 In class study day & discussion for Exam 2 June 14 Exam 2, Evolutionary Genetics *************************************************************************************** |
Adaptation: Puzzles and Constraints |
June 17 Studying Adaptation (Ch. 10) part 1, part 2 [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 18 Sexual Selection (Ch. 11) part 1, part 2 [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 19 Kin Selection and Social Behavior (Ch. 12) part 1, part 2 [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 20 Life History Theory and Analysis (Ch. 13) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 21 In class study day & discussion for Exam 2 June 24 Exam 3, Adaptation *************************************************************************************** |
Macroevolution |
June 25 Speciation and Diversification (Ch. 16) part 1 part 2 [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 26 Speciation research: reproductive isolation and genetics in crickets. slides are here; reading is here [lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 27 Origin of Life (Ch. 17) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] June 28 Cambrian Explosion (Ch. 18) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] July 1 Great Transformations Video July 2 Human Evolution (Ch. 20) [online quiz, lecture/discussion, in class quiz] July 3 In class study day & discussion for Exam 3 July 4 [Independence Day, No Class] July 5 Exam 4, Macroevolution *************************************************************************************** |
Final |
July 8 In class study day & discussion for Comprehensive Final Exam July 9 Comprehensive Final Exam |