Syllabus
BIOL 4301, section 017
Topics in Undergraduate Biology Laboratory Education
SPRING 2006

Instructor: Dr. Michael Dini
Office Hours: M-R, 11:00-11:30, or by appt.
Office: Biology 07
Telephone: 742-2729
E-Mail: michael.dini@ttu.edu

Class Meetings: F, 12-2
Location: Biology 022

1. COURSE OVERVIEW

This course places undergraduates in the general biology laboratory alongside graduate students, both of whom serve as teaching assistants in the same laboratory section. It is meant to give the student, who might be anticipating graduate school, experience in teaching a college-level science laboratory. All aspects of teaching in the laboratory are performed by students who enroll in this course: lecturing, demonstrating, quizzing and evaluating, correction and, especially, guiding lab groups in experimental design. Students are not responsible for lab set-up or take-down, nor for any janitorial duties.

The students, serving as Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTAs), have it as their primary aim to provide expert guidance to students who are enrolled in BIOL 1403 or BIOL 1404. All UTAs have excelled in their biology courses and are able to guide students through the challenging task of experimental design. They also assist the graduate TA in all TA duties, thereby increasing the amount of contact between instructional staff and students and making the laboratory a safer environment. Finally, they assist the course instructor in evaluating lab activities and in trouble-shooting. They assist in the correction of essays from the regular lecture exams.

2. ENROLLMENT

Enrollment in this course is by invitation only. Students who earn As in either BIOL 1403 or 1404 are invited by the instructor to enroll by personal letter, issued several weeks before advance registration is set to begin. The invitation stands for as long as the student is enrolled as an undergraduate at Texas Tech. Soon after registering for the course, the student should meet with Dr. Dini so that assignment to a laboratory section can be made. The UTA attends all TA prep sessions (Friday afternoons from 12-2) all scheduled meetings of his/her assigned lab section, essay-correcting sessions (certain Fridays from 2-5), occasional meetings with the other UTAs, and meetings with his/her graduate teaching partner. The student should plan to be on campus the Friday before classes start, to attend the first TA prep session. The course cannot be re-taken for credit.

3. EVALUATION

Regular attendance at all meetings is required and a necessary feature to pass this course. UTAs also keep a journal of their experiences in the laboratory. Each journal entry should describe the UTA's role during the period, the response of students to the laboratory activities, activities that went particularly well or poorly, an evaluation of the reasons for any poor outcomes and suggested ways to improve the laboratory exercises. The journal should also contain the UTA's self-evaluation of his/her performance in the laboratory. Entries for individual lab periods should be submitted on separate pages.  Journal entries can be submitted to the instructor via e-mail as they are completed or in writing at the request of the instructor. Students will need to have a functional e-mail address by the start of the semester.

When laboratory activities provide inconclusive results or do not run as expected, UTAs are called upon to hypothesize as to the source of the problem, to make predictions and to test those predictions until they can provide a conclusion as to the best solution for the problem. This sometimes requires time to be spent outside of the normal lab meetings. The instructor may, or may not, require the conclusions to be given as a formal group lab report.

4. TIPS FOR SUCCESS

a) Close cooperation with your graduate teaching partner is critical. You should know well in advance of your lab section what each of you will do, when you will do it and how it will be done.
b) As in any partnership, open lines of communication are exceedingly important. Be honest and open about expressing dissatisfaction, either to your graduate partner, or to the course instructor.
c) Be familiar with the Guidelines for TAs, provided by your instructor, as well as with the lab schedule and laboratory procedures.
d) Make yourself utterly familiar with the layout and supplies of the prep room (room 019). You will be called upon by your students to find equipment and supplies on a moment's notice.