Frequently Asked Questions:

Why is this class so much work? It's only 1-unit!

Bio 100 lab is more work than most non biology-majors want to do for 1 unit. However, the actual work assigned falls within university guidelines for per unit load. This class seems harder than it is because most labs are a lot of work - and this is the first, or only, lab many of our students take. Also, since science isn't the focus of most of our students the subject is more challenging than a 1-unit lab might be in different type of course.

The three parts that make this course seem like a lot of work are:

1) The outside of class experiment. We include this because it truly forces students to think about the relationship between hypothesis and data like no other exercise can. It is also there to show students that "science questions" are all around us all the time. Finally, this is the main writing component to the class and the university strives to have "writing across the curriculum". In other words, by the time you graduate, if you had to write in every class you took- you'll be a better writer.

2) The in-class presentation. Practice speaking in public is so valuable that the university requires this of all students repeatedly in the basic "Comm" courses. Students who have already taken a "speech" class tell us they find our in-class presentation "pretty easy". You should know that doing a good job on this dramatically elevates the grades of nearly all Bio 100L students.

3) The Chula Vista Nature Center assignment. Because this seems like so much work, and because it necessitates that you relocate off-campus for a half-day, it is worth the value of 2 labs and 10 participation points. However, most students who feel this is far too much work make the mistake of trying to answer ALL the questions. The directions for this assignment are clear: you only need to answer a specified number of questions from each section. More questions are available to you to increase your choices and to provide you options should some animals or plants not be visible on the day you visit.

The reason we have the Nature Center assignment at all are: State guidelines require that we have one additional lab meeting than the academic calendar allows in most semesters (due to weeks that begin and end on Wed. or Th.). This outside assignment substitutes for an extra week of lab. Educationally, we assign this so that you'll get outside and observe actual plants and animals! Also, there's nowhere else in Southern California that offers education in terrestrial, fresh-water, and marine habitats and organisms.

 

Finally, when thinking about how hard this course is, remember - we don't have a final exam to study for, and most of our students who do all the work earn a grade of B or higher.

Can I crash this class?

A few people crash (or add the class after the semester had started) most of our 24-30 sections each semester. There's no way to guarantee that you'll be successful in getting into the section you want.

Each semester for about 10 years now all bio 100 Lab sections fill on the computerized enrollment by the first day of the semester. It doesn't matter if we add 1 or 2 more sections of lab - those will fill too. However, by the end of the first week of classes students begin to drop from nearly every section. The openings created by those people, and any enrolled students who fail to attend the first day, allow us to add "crashers."

Most people who try to crash get into a section of Bio 100 L but not necessarily their first choice of times. Nearly every semester the evening classes have room, in particular the Thursday evening section, for several students.

What helps me crash the class, signing the crash list first?

The only criteria we use to prioritize students crashing is attendance. That is, students who attend the first week, write their name on the "crash list", and attend in the following weeks, have priority over students who attend for the first time in the second or third week of classes. Your individual circumstances, or the order in which you filled out the crash list, are not considered.

Why aren't there more sections when we want them?

There are only three physical lab classrooms so the most we can offer is 3 sections at each time slot. The most popular times are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 11:00. The next most popular slots are Monday at 11 and then any section at 14:00 (2:00pm). We only offer one 8:00 section each day since that is an unpopular time. The one class typically fills but when we've offered two sections at 8:00 we end up with about 35 students total, not enough for 2 sections.

I understand I have to go off-campus for a field trip?

The term "Field trip" implies that your whole class will attend together, with travel provided by the campus. Unfortunately, we can't afford the expense or the liability of transporting you to our one assignment off-campus. Instead, since this assignment is available from the beginning of the semester you are free to go to the off-campus location (currently the Chula Vista Nature Center) whenever you can schedule the time.

The reason we have the Nature Center assignment at all are: State guidelines require that we have one additional lab meeting than the academic calendar allows in most semesters (due to weeks that begin and end on Wed. or Th.). This outside assignment substitutes for an extra week of lab. Educationally, we assign this so that you'll get outside and observe actual plants and animals! Also, there's nowhere else in Southern California that offers education in terrestrial, fresh-water, and marine habitats and organisms.

Will I have to cut up animals?

Cutting up dead animals and plants is called "dissection" and NO, we don't currently have any dissection assignments.

However, looking inside organisms is an excellent teaching tool. If we can solve the problems of expense, safety, disposal, and the quality of the organisms involved, we would readily add dissection.

Occasionally, we have students who wish to debate with the instructors regarding the use of animals in teaching and research. We can not devote more than a few minutes, once per semester, for such debates and we insist you respect our judgment that we must devote the majority of our class time on other topics.

Will you teach evolution or "intelligent design" (creationism)?

We teach biology based on science and therefore we teach our students about evolution.

"Intelligent design" is "Creationism" reworked in order to make it sound more acceptable to school boards and the public. This conclusion has been upheld by the courts.

Creationism is an attempt by fundamentalist and evangelical protestant Christians to force the teaching of the literal 7-day creation story of the book of Genesis as a possible scientific origin for life. The scientific community finds no merit in the seemingly scientific claims of Creationism.

Likewise the assertion by "intelligent design" authors that life is too complex to have evolved "by chance" is 1) the erection of a 'straw man' since evolutionary biology explores the causes of evolution, not uncaused "chance" and 2) an emotional appeal to our very narrow concept of time. We have little ability to conceive of the difference between 860,000 years and 2.47 million years, for example, and truly can't understand (emotionally) of how much change in an organism is reasonable in a millennium. Therefore we emotionally reject the changes science shows us have actually occurred. It is the role of university education, and science in particular, to reject such fallacious emotional conclusions and instead rely on reason for our judgements.