Welcome to BIO 1511

Lab Instructor:
Lab Instructor Email:
Class Time:
Office Hours:

Lab Coordinator: Dr. Madelyn Tucker

Office: 2012 Science Hall
Email: madelyntucker@wayne.edu
You must use your WSU email for all communication!
 Study Strategy of the Week
Get organized!
At the start of the semester you receive several syllabi with exam
dates, project due dates, and other information. Take some time
to enter those into a planner or calendar (you all have access to
the Outlook calendar, or there's always Google).
That way you'll be able to see which weeks will have multiple
assignments or exams, so you can plan your schedule
accordingly.
It also allows you to plan for down-time so you won't feel so
overwhelmed.
Set yourself up for success this semester!
 How to Succeed in Bio 1511
1. Come to lab and be prepared
– Read the lab manual and review the slideshow to prepare for quizzes and
class activities
– >1/3 of your score comes from these weekly tasks, so make sure to get as
many points as possible – they add up
2. Actively participate during class
– The activities are designed to help you understand the content, so do your
best to complete them accurately
3. Ask for help
– Attend office hours, engage with your lab instructor and fellow students
during class
4. Don’t cram
– There is too much content to be able to cram it all in one or two days
before the exam. Study early!
 How to Succeed in Bio 1511
5. Keep up with homework
• The point breakdown for the class provides approximately
equal points for in-class work (quizzes and participation),
homework, and exams
• If you get decent grades for assignments in each category you
will be successful. If you neglect any category severely your
overall grade will suffer.
6. Every point counts, so take advantage of revisions,
weekly quizzes and participation, etc.
7. Take advantage of help
– Learning Assistants will hold drop-in study sessions weekly
(schedule posted in Canvas)
– Lab instructors have office hours you can attend
Lab Materials

• Lab manual is required

– Revised 6th edition
– Print edition only
– Available at the
campus bookstore
 Lab Safety Dress Code
and Rules
• Wear only closed-toe shoes – no flip-flops/sandals
• Long hair must be tied back, loose sleeves secured
• Shorts or skirts must come to the knees or longer
• Shirts must cover the shoulders
• No food or drink (other than capped water bottles)
• Report all spills or breakage to the instructor
immediately
If you are not dressed appropriately you will not be
allowed to participate in lab
 Lab Safety Rules
• No eating or drinking in lab
• Properly dispose of chemicals,
broken glass, and other materials
as directed by your lab instructor
• No guests, children, or animals
other than service animals
• Refer to the lab manual pgs. vii-
viii
 Lab Policies
• Labs must be completed the week they are scheduled
– Up to 2 make-ups may be allowed, contact your lab instructor for
more information
• Late assignments will be assessed a 10% per-day penalty
– All assignments must be submitted in person (on paper) or
through Canvas when indicated, emailed submissions are not
allowed
– Late assignments may be submitted to the office in the
Biological Sciences building and accompanied by an email to
your lab instructor so they know it’s been submitted
• Exam make-ups only allowed in cases of a documented emergency
• SDS accommodations should be discussed with the lab coordinator
(Dr. Tucker: madelyntucker@wayne.edu)
 Canvas
• Weekly slideshows, assignments, and other materials will be
posted; check Canvas regularly and turn on your notifications!!
• Grades are posted on Canvas for your convenience; check to
ensure they’re consistent with graded assignments
 Assignments – Overview

Weekly Quizzes: 11 @ 10 points each, drop 3 80 points

Weekly Participation: 11 @ 5 points each, drop 3 40 points
Scientific Paper Reading Assignment 10 points
Annotated Bibliography 20 points
Lab Report 30 points
Scientific Argumentation 10 points
Lab Exams: 2 @ 55 points each 110 points
Total 300 points
 Grading Scale

• Final grades will be determined based on the following

breakdown.
• This grading scale may be modified if appropriate
depending on class averages and distributions.

A 276 or more points C 216 to 230 points

A- 270 to 275 points C- 210 to 215 points
B+ 261 to 269 points D+ 201 to 209 points
B 246 to 260 points D 186 to 200 points
B- 240 to 245 points D- 180 to 185 points
C+ 231 to 239 points F 179 points or fewer
 Assignments – Weekly Quizzes

• Quiz content covers the topics for that week

– Bring hand-written notes to use during the quizzes – nothing
printed will be allowed!
– Look for bold terms and major topics in lab manual and
slideshows
• Quiz begins at the start of class, 10 minutes once started
– If you are late you may not make up the quiz once it’s over
• Lowest 3 scores will be dropped – NO MAKEUPS!
• No quizzes on days with exams
 Assignments - Weekly Lab Participation

• You will lab complete activities during class

• You must show your completed activity to your lab
instructor and receive their signature/initials to receive credit
• Must attend class meeting and sign in and out for credit
• Grading will be for completion, accuracy is your
responsibility
• Lowest 3 scores will be dropped – No makeups or late
assignments accepted
 Assignments – Homework
• All homework is due at the beginning of class, anything
submitted after the quiz will be marked late
• If submitting electronically you must submit through
Canvas, emailed submissions will not be accepted
– Review your submissions in Canvas to be sure they can be
viewed
– Acceptable formats: doc, docx, pdf
– Mac-only formats are not accepted (for instance Pages)
• Incompatible files or illegible/unreadable formats will
receive a late penalty or no credit if resubmission is late!
• This is true even if your lab instructor does not notice the
issue until after the assignment is too late to receive
points!!! Don’t let this happen to you!!!
 Assignments – Lab Report and Exams
• Lab Report
– Online submission via Canvas, email submission is not permitted
– Must use filename in the following format: “your last
name_labreport_bio1511_sum2024”
– Plagiarism will not be tolerated - see plagiarism policy in
syllabus
– Can revise and re-submit for half of your missed points back
• Exams
– Format will be short answer, essay, matching, etc.
– No quizzes or participation on exam days
– Class will be split into halves to spread out
 Policies for Assignments

• No extra credit will be offered under any circumstances!

• Any discussion or disagreement regarding any lab score
must be clarified with the lab instructor within 7 days of
receiving the graded assignment
• Please refer to the lab syllabus for more information on
other assignments and policies
 Assignment
Week Topics
s Due
Week 1 Introduction and Canvas - Syllabus, Policies, Safety, Dress Code
5/6-5/8 Chapter 1 - Exploring Biology and Experimental Equipment
Scientific
Week 2 Paper
Chapter 2 - Biochemistry of Carbohydrates
5/13-5/15 Reading
Assignment
Week 3
Chapter 3 - Biochemistry of Amino Acids and Proteins
5/20-5/22
Monday classes held on Friday, May 31
Week 4
Chapter 4 - Enzymes: Catalysts of Reactions
5/27-5/29
Appendix and Canvas - Resources for Writing Lab Reports
Week 5 Annotated
Chapter 5 - ELISA and Detection of Diseases
6/3-6/5 Bibliography
Week 6
Exam 1
6/10-6/12
Week 7 Wednesday classes held on Friday, June 14 (previous week)
6/17-6/19 Chapter 6 - Prokaryotes and Microscopy
Week 8 Enzymes lab
Chapter 7 - Cellular Respiration
6/24-6/26 report
Week 9
Chapter 8 - Photosynthesis
7/1-7/3
Enzymes lab
Week 10
Chapter 9 - PCR: Amplification of DNA report
7/8-7/10
revisions
Week 11
Chapter 10 - Gel Electrophoresis and Staining of PCR Samples
7/15-7/17
Scientific
Week 12 Chapter 11 - Mendelian Genetics and Blood Typing
argumentation
7/22-7/24 Scientific Argumentation Activity
assignment
Week 13
Exam 2
7/29-7/31
 Exploring Biology and Experimental
Equipment: Objectives

• Understand the scientific method: the order of steps, what

each step entails, and so forth.
• Understand different kinds of observations and what types of
data are obtained from them.
• Be able to convert between units of measure in the metric
system.
• Describe the process of accurately measuring length, mass,
volume, temperature.
• Know which tools are used for making specific
measurements
 Science in General
• Science does not seek to “prove” things
– Nothing can truly be proven, but alternatives can be tested and
accepted when not disproved
• A theory is one of the most-known things in science
– When people say “in-theory” it refers to an educated guess (a
hypothesis in science)
– A hypothesis can only become a theory when it’s been tested by
many different people in different ways and has not been
disproved
– Science is constantly reevaluating previous studies and designing
new ones, and hypotheses and theories can change based on new
evidence
• Statistical significance is a big deal
– A result can only be “significant” if rigorous statistical analysis
reveals a causal relationship
 The Scientific Method
• Throughout this class, we will use some
of the previous concepts to evaluate data
• We will also apply the Scientific Method
in lab to learn about biology
• We will be using the Scientific Method to:
– Make observations
– Ask questions
– Form a hypothesis
– Conduct experiments
– Analyze results
• This is a cycle, when complete it starts
over again with new questions
The Scientific Method
 Observation: Desk lamp doesn’t work.

Question: Why doesn’t the desk lamp work?

Hypothesis #1: Hypothesis #2:

Bulb is improperly screwed in. Bulb is burnt out.

Prediction: Reinstalling Prediction: Replacing

bulb will fix problem. bulb will fix problem.

Test of prediction: Test of prediction:

Reinstall bulb. Replace bulb.

Result: Result:
Desk lamp doesn’t work. Lamp works.
Hypothesis is not supported. Hypothesis is supported.
© 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
Taking Measurements & Recording Data:
Measuring Length
• Tools: rulers, meter stick
• Units: millimeters (mm), centimeters (cm), meters
(m), and kilometers (km)
• Measure your and your lab group’s mobile phones
and calculate the average size
• Average =

cm
 Taking Measurements & Recording Data:
Measuring Mass
• Tools: balances and scales
• Units: micrograms (μg), milligrams (mg), grams (g), kilograms (kg)
• Always use a container when finding the weight of a substance --
do not place the substance directly on the balance
• Tare the balance (set it to zero) with the container in place if you
do not want to include the weight of the container in your
measurement
 Taking Measurements & Recording Data:
Measuring Volume

• Tools: graduated cylinders, pipettes

• Units: microliters (μl), milliliters (ml),
liters (L)
• To read the volume: hold the
graduated cylinder at eye level and
read at the meniscus
 Taking Measurements & Recording Data:
Measuring Volume
Measure small amounts
(ml, μl) of liquids with
pipettors:
1. Apply a new tip to the
pipettor
2. Press to 1st stop and
release to draw liquid in
3. Press to 2nd stop to expel
liquid
4. Remove from sample
before you release!
5. Press button to eject tip
 Taking Measurements & Recording Data:
Measuring Temperature
• Tools: thermometer
• Units: degrees Celsius (ºC)
 Reporting these Data
• Once you’ve gathered all this information, it needs to
be clearly organized and communicated
• Graphs, tables, reports, and papers are used to report
results of experiments
• You will write a lab report later this semester and will
use some of these techniques when crafting your
report
 Creating and Interpreting Graphs
• Your graph should be the right type and display data in
an appropriate and meaningful way.
• Important items to include when creating a graph:
• Figure legend: explains what data is in your graph or table
• for tables, legend goes above figure
• for graphs, legend goes below figure
• Labels for the axes: include units
• x-axis: independent variable
• y-axis: dependent variable
• Scale and tick marks
• divide each axis into sections of equal measure
• Data: include a legend if needed
 Types of Graphs
• Bar Graph: shows data that are
independent from each other
and can be grouped into
categories

• Line Graph: shows changes of

a variable over time

Figure 3. Average daily temperature (in degrees F) in New York City

during the study period.
 Graphing Your Results
• Set up your axes; include measurements and units
• x-axis: independent variable; the variable that is being measured
• from zero or the lowest value to highest in equal increments
• y-axis: dependent variable; the variable that is being tested
• from zero or the lowest value to highest in equal increments
Water temperature (degrees Fahrenheit)

220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20

0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Water temperature (degrees Celsius)
 Graphing Your Results
Celsius Fahrenheit
• Plot your points 0 32
20 68
100 212

• Once you have finished plotting the points, you should be

able to determine the Celsius/Fahrenheit equivalents for any
temperatures on this scale.
Water temperature (degrees Fahrenheit)

220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20

0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Water temperature (degrees Celsius)
 Reading Scientific Papers
• As scientists, reading literature is incredibly important
• Understanding the structure of the content in papers will also
help you construct a lab report of your own later this semester
– Introduction: Gives background information about the topic, references
previous studies, identifies the research questions and hypotheses of
the current study
– Methods: Describes the methodology of the study in such a way as to
be reproduceable by other researchers
– Results: Reports the results of the study in text, graphs, and tables
– Discussion: Interprets the results of the study, provides context for
those results, reports shortcomings of the study, draws conclusions
based on the results, and suggests topics or areas that can benefit from
further investigation
– Bibliography: Full citation for each reference used in the paper
• Look for these sections in the paper you read for homework
 Due Next Week
• Scientific Paper Reading
Assignment
– Read Russell and
Rychlik (2001)
– Turn in “Reading and
reviewing a scientific
article” worksheet
next week
– Due at the beginning
of class
 Study Guide for Exam
• Understand the scientific method and how it’s
applied
• Know which tools are used for measuring mass,
volume, temperature, etc. and how to use them
• Know which information belongs in different
sections of a lab report/scientific article
• Interpret a graph and understand which data
belong on which axis
• Answer questions relating to the lab procedures
 Next Week
• Scientific paper reading assignment due at start of class
• Biochemistry of Carbohydrates