Information to the Student
1 Information to the Student
This laboratory course in Animal Physiology has been designed to provide you with an
opportunity to increase your understanding of the principles of physiology, with an emphasis
on comparative animal physiology. The experiments will introduce you to principles
underlying medicine, nursing, dentistry, physical therapy, respiratory therapy, and other
health professions. The experiments are presented in a manner that will allow you to better
understand the scientific method as well as increase your observational and critical thinking
skills. Mastery of these core concepts and vocabulary will provide tools that will help you
succeed in your chosen profession.
Prerequisite
Concurrent or previous enrollment in either BIOL 3800 or BIOL 4505
Lab Grade Determination
Midterm Examination 100 pts.
Final Examination 100 pts.
Lab Reports 2 @ 50 pts each 100 pts.
Quizzes 10 @ 10 pts each 100 pts.
Participation 10 @ 10 pts each 100 pts.
Total 500 pts.
A = 450-500pts., B = 400-449., C = 350-399., D = 300-349., F = <300.
Examinations
Students will take two exams, a Midterm and a Final. Each exam will be 50 multiple choice
questions worth 2 points each. Each exam will cover only the material presented in the labs
that precede it. The Final exam will not be comprehensive.
Lab Reports
Lab reports account for a large portion of your final course grade. Generally they will be
about 10-14 pages and written as if you are explaining the background, procedure, and results
to someone who has not performed this experiment, but who is considered to be a ‘relatively
intelligent’ audience. Another biology student should be able to repeat your experiment from
your description of it.
For each lab exercise you will receive 10 participation points. If you are absent for the day
of the exercise for which a report is written, you may still turn in your report and be eligible
for all but these 10 points. You will lose these points, regardless of the justification for your
1 Information to the Student
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absence. You may also lose these points if your TA judges that you have not adequately
participated in the exercise.
Lab TAs cannot be required to grade illegible, incomprehensible reports. You may receive a
zero in such cases. All reports must be presented professionally. To achieve this, type your
report; number your pages; spell check; and proofread your report; do not include any ripped,
torn or frayed pages; and finally staple your report. You will be required to turn in a paper
copy of the report as well as turning in an electronic copy through Turnitin on Blackboard
Learn. Failure to do either of these will mean that the report will not be accepted. The
student is responsible for ensuring that the TA has received both copies.
During the semester you will be completing the experiments and using data generated by all
of the small groups working in each section of the lab. However, the production of the lab
reports is to be an individual effort and not collaboration with the members of your group or
anyone else.
Plagiarism from the lab manual, textbooks, internet or fellow students (or cheating of any
sort) are not tolerated. Appendix A details all lab report requirements.
Quizzes
Students will take 10 quizzes, worth 10 points each. Quizzes will be a mix of question types
and will be given at the beginning of the lab. Topics covered on each quiz will include
material from previous labs and from the lab given that day. Therefore, it is imperative that
students prepare by reading the exercise for that day.
Attendance and Participation
Attendance is mandatory! If you do not attend your assigned section, you will lose points for
any quizzes. If you miss either of the labs for which a lab report is due, you may still turn in
a report, but you will lose the participation points (10 pts). Students will be allowed to make
up one quiz and one exam, either the Midterm or the Final. These policies are in place to
ensure that students have the opportunity to miss one lab for (presumably) valid, unavoidable
reasons. You do not need to present documentation justifying your absence. Such
documentation will not affect the implementation of this policy. Make ups will be given
during your TA’s office hours, and should be arranged with the TA.
For each lab you will receive 10 participation points. There will be eleven lab sessions, but
your final grade will only be calculated from a total of 100 participation points. This means
that you can miss one lab without penalty for whatever reason.
An individual student will lose their participation points for a given lab day if they:
 Fail to attend more than one lab session.
 Leave the lab before the group is finished
 Fail to clean up their portion of the lab bench (including pushing their stool under
the table).
 Fail to participate in the group attempt to carry out the lab exercises
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A student group will all lose their participation points for a given lab day if they:
 Fail to clean up their instruments or their workspace
 Fail to put their supplies back in the proper location
 Fail to provide their instructor with either their lab results or a definitive statement
that the group failed to obtain results
The entire lab section will lose their participation points for a given lab day if they:
 Improperly dispose of waste materials
 Fail to properly clean up the common lab areas
Any student who misses 4 or more regular lab sessions will be given a grade of F for the lab,
regardless of the number of points that student has earned.
Use of Live Animals
During several of the experiments, you will be using live animals or preparations from live
animals (e.g. crayfish,). Your TA has been trained in the humane use of experimental
animals. All members of the lab should take special care when working with experimental
animals.
Note: Although we will utilize computerized data acquisition systems for several experiments,
do not assume your labs will be a “Plug and Play” video game. It may be necessary to
manipulate the tissue, electrodes, transducers, etc. to record the appropriate results. The extra
effort required will add to your understanding of the experimental procedure and is indicative
of physiological research, which often requires similar manipulation. Not every group will
obtain useful results for every exercise. We will be pooling all of the data from every section
so that we can emulate the actual research methodology.
Lab Cleanup
Students are responsible for cleaning the lab and equipment after each experiment. Care
should be taken with glassware and biological tissue. These must be disposed of in
containers specifically designed for this purpose. If you break any glass, be sure to clean the
area well in order to avoid injuries to other persons. If any other equipment is damaged or
broken, please inform the TA. Points will be deducted from any group that fails to follow
cleanup procedures.
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Science and the Scientific Method
1 Information to the Student
Science as a Way of Knowing
This laboratory course focuses on two separate but related topics. The first focus is
obviously animal physiology. Understanding the physiological processes that occur in
animals enables us to understand how animals, and by extension, human beings, cope with
changes in internal and external environmental conditions. The second focus of this course is
the methodology of science, with special emphasis on experimental design and statistics.
This portion of the course has even wider application than the first, since an understanding of
empirical scientific methods allows the student to evaluate scientific studies both within and
outside of the discipline of animal physiology.
The human mind has the capacity for pattern recognition and forethought. Pattern
recognition is the ability to compare observable features of the natural world and
conceptualize the similarities and differences between discrete events. Each of us does this
all of the time. We recognize objects by comparing our current sensory perceptions with our
memories of previous perceptions. When our earliest ancestors saw a familiar pattern in the
grass and recognized it as a crouching lion, they were demonstrating the profound selective
advantage of pattern recognition.
Language, a (perhaps) unique capacity of the human brain, is an extension of pattern
recognition. We generalize and group perceptions by naming them. We store the symbols