WELCOME: This three semester hours course is designed to introduce you to the principles and processes in biology and human body. May not be used to meet graduation requirements of students majoring in the College of Sciences and Mathematics. Corequisite: BIOL 1108 – Biology for Non-Science Majors I(Lab); Lecture + Lab = 4 credit hours (an amount of student work per credit hour = one hour of class or direct faculty instruction and two hours of out-of-class student work per week)

ATTENDANCE: You are expected to attend all lectures according to the schedule– attendance will be monitored. Sign in with your full first name and last name as listed on the class roster. Users who do not provide their full names will mark as un-attendant. Stay focused: turn off your cellphone and pack it away, respectful behavior is expected. You will be expected to study all prior material available on-line (link is provided below under class web-page @ and on D2L) before attending. Missing an exam will be permitted only by prior arrangement and make-ups will only be allowed in the case of a University approved absence (illness with a doctor's note, a family crisis, or a religious holiday).

PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: There are no specific program learning outcomes for this major addressed in this course. It is a general education core curriculum course and / or a service course.

EDUCATION CORE CURRICULUM: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has identified six core learning objectives: Critical Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Empirical and Quantitative Skills, Teamwork, Personal Responsibility, and Social Responsibility. SFA is committed to the improvement of its general education core curriculum by regular assessment of student performance on these six objectives. By enrolling in BIOL 1308 - Biology For Non- Science Majors I (Lecture) - you are also enrolling in a Core Curriculum Course that fulfills the CRITICAL THINKING and COMMUNICATION SKILLS.

Student Learning Outcomes: Who complete BIOL 1308 will be able to:
1. Explain the scientific method and critically evaluate scientific information.
2. Identify the chemical basis for life and the characteristics that distinguish living things from inanimate matter.
3. Illustrate how genetic information is passed from parents to offspring, how this genetic information is expressed by cells, and how humans are utilizing this information for the benefit of society.
4. Classify the diversity of life forms from the species to kingdom level.
5. Analyze biological interactions that occur from the sub-cellular to the ecosystem level of organization.
6. Discuss the role of evolution in the history of life on Earth.

MATERIALS: Textbook: Campbell Essential Biology with Physiology, 6th ed. by Simon et al; © 2019.( ISBN-13: 978-0134711751) link. PowerPoint presentations for each lecture will be online along with the activities, according to the provided schedule of the course. REMEMBER: draw it to know it! Handwritten lecture notes from face-to-face lectures, online lecture slides and activities can be made and used during the exam. I recommend to use GOOGLE CHROME to browse our course page.

Lecture Exams (all together) - 67 pts
BIOL1108 grade – 33 pts
Bonus points – up to 2 points to the Final grade will be assigned to each student according to attendance, participation in meetings, course evaluation completion, SI meetings, office hour visits.

SI is Trinity Smith, email. SI meetings are TR at 17:00-18:00 in room 103 (Miller Science). There are the walk-in tables, Tuesday and Thursday from 4-6 PM AARC.

MW 11:00-13:30am, or by appointment @S236

Over an e-mail avankley@sfasu.edu (please do not email through D2L). When emailing please indicate BOTH class & section # and your CID. When attaching a file, filename should be “First_LastName.ext”, it must also include your name in the document itself. Emails lacking any of the information listed above WILL BE IGNORED. Note: NO emails will be answered after 5 p.m. and/or during weekends. NO GRADE DISCUSSION over an e-mail, only by one on one meetings.

MENTAL HEALTH: SFASU values students’ mental health and the role it plays in academic and overall student success. SFA provides a variety of resources to support students mental health and wellness. Many of these resources are free, and all of them are confidential.

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Academic integrity (4.1) is a responsibility of all university faculty and students. Faculty members promote academic integrity in multiple ways including instruction on the components of academic honesty, as well as abiding by university policy on penalties for cheating and plagiarism. Academic dishonesty includes both cheating and plagiarism. Cheating includes but is not limited to (1) using or attempting to use unauthorized materials to aid in achieving a better grade on a component of a class; (2) the falsification or invention of any information, including citations, on an assigned exercise; and/or (3) helping or attempting to help another in an act of cheating or plagiarism. Plagiarism is presenting the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own. Examples of plagiarism are (1) submitting an assignment as if it were one's own work when, in fact, it is at least partly the work of another; (2) submitting a work that has been purchased or otherwise obtained from an Internet source or another source; and (3) incorporating the words or ideas of an author into one's paper without giving the author due credit. Please read the complete policy at http://www.sfasu.edu/policies/student-academic-dishonesty-4.1.pdf.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: To obtain disability related accommodations, alternate formats and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS), Human Services Building, and Room 325, 468-3004 / 468-1004 (TDD) as early as possible in the semester. Once verified, ODS will notify the course instructor and outline the accommodation and/or auxiliary aids to be provided. Failure to request services in a timely manner may delay your accommodations. For additional information, go to http://www.sfasu.edu/disabilityservices/.

WITHHELD GRADES SEMESTER GRADES POLICY (5.5): Ordinarily, at the discretion of the instructor of record and with the approval of the academic chair/director, a grade of WH will be assigned only if the student cannot complete the course work because of unavoidable circumstances. Students must complete the work within one calendar year from the end of the semester in which they receive a WH, or the grade automatically becomes an F. If students register for the same course in future terms the WH will automatically become an F and will be counted as a repeated course for the purpose of computing the grade point average.

COVID-19 mask policy: As you know, according to the recent message from the Office of the President, we are encouraged to wear masks in public indoor settings.
On-campus Resources:
SFA Counseling Services www.sfasu.edu/counselingservices

Rusk Building, 3rd Floor 936.468.2401
SFA Human Services Counseling Clinic
www.sfasu.edu/humanservices/139.asp
Human Services, Room 202 936.468.1041
Crisis Resources: Burke 24-hour crisis line: 1.800.392.8343
Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1.800.273.TALK (8255) Crisis Text Line: Text HELLO to 741-741