• General Course Info

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    Be sure to check back often for new information related to this course.

    The original course syllabus and (if necessary) updated versions will be posted below:


    Instructor Information:

    Dr. Megan Gibbons
    office: SSC 245
    e-mail: mgibbons@bsc.edu
    phone: 205-767-4701 (emergencies only)
    office hours: by appointment, virtual or in person. 
    https://mgibbons.youcanbook.me

  • Journal Club

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    Journal Club Worksheet

      • Complete this worksheet for every article we discuss.  The only article for which you do not need to complete a worksheet is the article you present.
      • We'll use this rubric to evaluate journal club presentations.

    Journal Club Dates and Articles

    Link to     Form to evaluate journal club presentations

      • Aug 31
        • Instructor-Led Journal Club:  Link to the paper here, and here is my presentation from class

        • Sep 7
          • JC 1 Brianna: Death feining in brown snakes ; Paper found HERE
          • JC 2 Carol: Antimicrobial components of honey ; Paper found HERE 

        • Sep 14
          • JC 3 Joey: Hydrogen Peroxide and honey ; Paper found HERE
          • JC 4 Hannah: Native bees and climate change ; Paper found HERE
          • JC 5 Finn: Oral antibiotics and bacterial resistance ; Paper found HERE

    • Career and Life Prep- Resumes and Interview Skills

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      Resume-Writing Workshop

        • Want a cool place to showcase your new resumes?... Why not try Handshake?

      Interview skills!!

      See this presentation by Krulak Center's Katy Smith, for guidance on how to nail an interview!




      • Assignment

        Upload your current resume here (if you have one)

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        This is not necessary, but if you want to upload the resume you already had, you can do so here.  there are no points associated with this.

      • Assignment

        Upload your resume DRAFTS here

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        Please make sure that under each subheading, your items are placed in chronological order (most recent should be closest to the top.

      • Assignment

        Upload your REVISED resume here

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      • Assignment

        FINAL RESUME (after visit to Career Center)

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        Please go see CeCe Lacey in Career Center to have her give you feedback on your revised resume.  You need make appointments to see her and have your final revised resume submitted by Nov 16.  She says that scheduling via handshake is definitely easiest -- https://bsc.joinhandshake.com/edu.

        Make sure that, in preparation, you read what I sent to her, below.

        Here's what I told her about what we've done so far....

        "We have done a resume writing workshop, and I've given them feedback, but I think it would be great for them to meet with someone who has expertise in this area to help them finalize their resumes, and maybe to help with themes/designs, etc.  Are you available to meet with each of them sometime in the next several weeks?  I have 8 students.  There are a few things that I've told them they MUST include on their resumes, but in general, I want the resume format to somewhat flexible, depending on what it is supposed to accomplish (e.g., for grad school, biology related tech or field job, non-biology type job).  Here are a few things I focused on:
        • Highlight education near the top of the resume
        • Include (under the part where they say that they're receiving their BS in Biology), the TITLE of their senior thesis research project. 
        • Do not include anything from high school, unless it's highly relevant (e.g., starting a business, etc)
        • Use relevant subheadings, and make sure your items fit in well with the subheadings
        • List items under each subheading in chronological order
        • Maintain consistent formatting throughout the resume (font, text size, capitalization, voice, tense, etc)
        • Avoid highlighting specific COURSES but rather, highlight research experiences or skills
        • Avoid redundancy (each item should appear under one subheading only)
        • No spelling or grammar errors!
        • When possible, limit to one page (front and back) or less 
        I gave them NO feedback on style/theme and I'm sure there are other things that could be done to improve them. Are you up for this? "

    • Career and Life Prep: Discussion Topics, Personalized Assignments, How to write a professional email

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      Here I will post information about our class discussions on Work-Life Balance, The Money Issue, etc., Your personalized assignments, and how to write an email.

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        Discussion - WLB

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        MONEY ISSUES

        Much of the info came from the following website: 
        Finance in the Classroom https://financeintheclassroom.org/ .

        There is a lot of information there, so here is a link to the PowerPoint presentations.https://financeintheclassroom.org/teacher/ppt.shtml

      • ppt

        Money Discussion Investments

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      • ppt

        Retirement Planning

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      • URL

        Essential Money Tips for New College Graduates from Forbes

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        TurboTax Free Edition

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        understanding W2 forms

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        Money Issue - advice and resources from Dr. Duncan

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        How to write an email to someone who could help you develop your career

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      • Assignment

        Your next step! Personalized assignments

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      • Assignment

        Personalized Assignment Phase II, submit here

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      • Assignment

        Personalized Assignment Phase III, submit here

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      • Assignment

        Graduate School Fair

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        BSC is hosting a Graduate School Fair  Wed. 9/28 from 3-5 pm in Bruno Great Hall.  Reps from UAB School of Nursing, UAB School of Health Professions, UAB Dental School,  UAB Optometry, VCOM & ACOM (the two Alabama Osteopathic Medical Schools),  Mercer U. Health Professions, The Ochsner Clinical School of Medicine, and many other graduate health programs will be there!

         

        Pick at least 3 graduate schools/programs at the Grad school fair that are of interest to you.  Talk to a person representing the program and find out more about it.  Spend more than 5 minutes with each one, unless it’s really busy of if they seem to brush you off.

        Some possible questions (but try to come up with your own as well!):

        1.       Are there opportunities for Research or Teaching Fellowships/Assistantships or other ways to receive tuition waivers or stipends?

        2.       How many spots are available for AY 2023-2024?

        3.       What is the minimum or average, or whatever GPA/MCAT/GRE score? 

        4.       Does having independent research experience make a difference in admission?  Be prepared to give an “elevator talk” about your research.

         

        For each of the grad schools, fill out the following:

         

        1.       Name of Graduate school

        2.       Name of Contact

        3.       Email of contact

        4.       What important information did you find out about the program?

        5.       What else did you talk about?


    • Science Communication

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        Randy Olsen Great Challenges Day

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        How to (not) give a cruddy presentation 1-12-2021

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        News article on Fossilized spider taking care of offspring

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        Science News Articles for students

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      • pdf

        ScienceWritingChecklist.EnSA.2014.Pearson

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      • URL

        Carl Zimmer's list of banned words

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      • URL

        Carl Zimmer constant updated list of banned words

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      • Assignment

        Dr. Kate LeCroy presentation Thurs, Oct 13 11 am Norton Theatre

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        Attend the presentation by BSC Alum!

        Kate LeCroy, PhD, Post-doctoral Associate at Cornell University. Saving the Bees; how studies using mason bees help us understand what is driving their decline.

        Write a one-two page essay relating it to the following themes from this class:

        1. Biological content--what are some biological terms/concepts that were discussed?  What classes did you take at BSC that incorporated these terms/concepts?

        2. Scientific communication--what were some strategies that Dr. LeCroy used to make her topic more approachable to students across campus?  what were some strategies that she used to make her presentation more interesting?  Refer specifically to items discussed by Hannah Wolfson and/or Randy Olson from our class.

        3. Science and society--how are the topics discussed by Dr. LeCroy important to regular citizens and our way of life?  Was he able to communicate the importance effectively?  Why or why not?

    • Science and Society

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      This semester you'll explore the connections between science and society in many ways...

        • In Journal Club Write-Ups through Phase II: The Broader Picture
        • As you prepare for your Senior Conference presentation, which is a general education requirement that involves sharing your research with the entire BSC community, including first-year students, coaches, grand-parents, etc.
        • Through the Science and Society paper and presentation described below...

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        To get a sense of some of the unexpected societal benefits of seemingly strange or excessively basic research, check out the Golden Goose Awards!

        The challenge of effectively communicating the benefits of scientific research to society is highlighted by some of the misunderstandings in Senator James Lankford's Federal Fumbles, including his 2017 report,  Senator Rand Paul's 2018 Festivus Report, and his 2019 Waste Report, the 2019 Tournament of Government Waste, and in other sources posted by Americans for Prosperity May and June 2018. Here's an account of several "strange" projects funded by taxpayer money (there's overlap in some of these with other documents listed).

        In these documents, Congressional staffers use satire to critique what they perceive to be wasteful government spending. Your assignment is to construct a "one-pager" that describes the biology behind and the importance of one of these examples (related to research in biology) to a non-scientific audience.  This form of writing is commonly used in policy briefs, so you should imagine that you are communicating with a member of Congress or one of their staffers to advocate for continued funding of basic research and/or removal of your example from this satirical report. You do not have to argue that the research will most certainly cause cancer, just that it is worthy of funding.

        Analogous to what is done by debate teams across the country, you are not being asked to present your own views.  Instead, your assignment is to research the topic then argue from your assigned perspective - in this case, against the caricature in these reports.

        As you construct your argument, remember that although you should be persuasive, your arguments need to be civil and evidence-based.  Also be sure to include the key elements of a one-pager, namely:

          • Title- keep it snappy, short and informative.
          • Executive Summary- kind of like an abstract... two to three sentences summing up the entire brief. Be sure to emphasize the relevance of the research to the interests of the policy-maker and their constituents.
          • The Study- explain the research and why it is particularly important or current. Although this section should present key findings, they need to be presented in an accessible way for a non-scientist. When feasible, address the methodology and address reproducibility or corroboration by others.
          • Conclusions- provide a take-home message (or two or three).
          • Policy Recommendations- make your "ask" clearly and concisely.
          • References and Suggested Sources- use references sparingly but do suggest a few additional sources that give either background or important policy-related context.

        Formatting Guidelines for One-Pager:

          • This document should be no more than two pages in length, so it could be printed on a single page of paper.  Spacing (single vs. double) is up to you!
          • Choose fonts wisely:
            • Keep in mind that the average age of members of Congress is over 55, so don't use excessively small fonts.
            • Use bold, italics, color, etc. strategically to help you emphasize important points
          • Use bullet points as needed to highlight important items and to make it easier for busy staffers to skim your brief and still get the information they need.
          • Consider using an image or graph to help highlight important concepts or findings.

        Here is the RUBRIC that I will use to grade these.

        Sample One-Pagers:

        Formatting Guidelines for Presentation:

          • Limits:
            • as many slides as you want, but keep it simple!
            • 5 min (hard cap!)
          • Keep text to a minimum - use pictures, charts, graphs instead
          • Remember to target a general audience
          • we are going to have to divvy up studies so that the same study is not used repeatedly
          • Grading rubric for presentation 

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        Choices for your science and society papers/presentations.  Please fill out this form.

        Evaluate each others' presentations below:

        Jill
        Helen
        Nicole
        Jessica
        Tanna
        Corby
        Parker
        Ella
        Hunter
        Tim


      • Assignment

        Science and Society One-pager Draft

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        Upload your draft here

      • Assignment

        Science and Society One Pager final

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        Upload your final version of the one-pager here

      • Assignment

        Science and Society presentation

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        upload your Science and Society presentation here

    • Capstone Seminar

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      General Information

      Upon completion of BSC's general education program (Explorations), students should be able to:
      • communicate effectively
      • solve problems creatively
      • engage their social and political world
      • connect their coursework to the wider world
      • engage in self-directed teaching and learning

      With respect to connectivity, students should be able to identify and employ connections within one academic area, among academic areas, and between the academy and the wider world.  To help you achieve the goal of connectivity, every student is required to complete a scholarly senior experience and present that work to the campus community in a public presentation - the Senior Conference.

      This Senior Conference presentation should:

      • Be 15 minutes long (12 minutes to present + 3 minutes for questions)
      • Summarize the research you completed through a contract, a research-intensive course, or a rise3 research experience on- or off-campus.
      • Feature attractive and appropriate visual aids.
      • Be organized and easy to follow, not only for biologists, but also for a general audience
      • Be presented in confident and articulate manner

      For some pointers on effective use of PowerPoint, check out these helpful hints from Dr. Heaton.

      Here's some guidance for VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS

      Here is the RUBRIC that will be used to evaluate your presentation. 

      SCHEDULE for IN-CLASS PRESENTATIONS: 

      Oct 26: Brianna and Hannah
      Nov 2: Carol and Joseph
      Nov 9: Finn

      EVALUATE YOUR CLASSMATES

      SENIOR CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
      T May 10, 1-4 

      You will need to fill out and have signed a Senior Conference Verification Form which I will provide to you in class.  If you need an additional copy, click here. 

    • Concept Inventory Exam

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      • Quiz

        Concept Inventory Exam--Requires Respondus LockDown Browser

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        You will take this exam using lockdown browser, which keeps you from searching the internet while you take it.  If you can't get lockown browser to work on your regular device, you may need to use a different device (not compatible with some laptops), perhaps in a computer lab.  

    • Reflections on Growth - Personal Statement

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      BI 475 Reflections on Professional Growth Paper

      The ability to articulate how much you have grown during your time at BSC is a valuable skill that will translate into better personal statements for graduate/professional school, better cover letters for job applications, and better interviews as you move forward in your career. This assignment is based on your opinion, so do not simply write what you think I want to hear.  Be honest and explain what you got out of your four years at BSC, especially your work as a biology major.

      Although your reflection needs to be 3-5 pages (typed, double-spaced) long, other formatting aspects are flexible. For example, you can use it as a draft personal statement for some future graduate/professional school application.  Alternatively, you could structure it as answers to common interview questions like: describe your greatest strengths/weaknesses, describe a challenge you faced and how you overcame it, describe how you deal with stress, etc.  Several additional prompts for reflection are included below:

      Your senior research experience:

      ·         In what context (course, contract, other) did you complete this research experience?

      ·         What did you do during this research project?

      ·         How did your prior BSC coursework help prepare you for this experience?

      ·         What aspects of this experience went well? Which of your personal characteristics (e.g. – patience, attention to detail, self-motivation, etc.) helped fuel this success?

      ·         What aspects of this experience were challenging? Which of your personal characteristics helped you cope with and/or overcome these difficulties?

      ·         If you could start over, would you do things differently?  If so, how?

      ·         What advice would you give to other students who pursue this research in the future?

      ·         How will this research experience help you in the next phase of your education or career?

      An internship:

      ·         When and where was this internship?

      ·         What did you do during this internship?

      ·         How did your prior BSC coursework help prepare you for this internship?

      ·         What aspects of this internship went well? Which of your personal characteristics (e.g. – time management, introversion/extroversion, empathy, etc.) helped fuel this success?

      ·         What aspects of this internship were challenging? Which of your personal characteristics helped you cope with and/or overcome these difficulties?

      ·         If you could start over, would you do things differently?  If so, how?

      ·         What advice would you give to other students who pursue this type of internship in the future?

      ·         How will this internship help you in the next phase of your education or career?

      The biology major overall:

      ·         What led to your decision to become a biology major?

      ·         Did the major meet or exceed your expectations?  Why or why not?

      ·         What aspects of the major (courses, faculty, staff, students, etc.) were most valuable to your growth?  Why?

      ·         If you could start college over, would you choose to be a biology major? Why or why not?

      ·         How will the biology major help you in the next phase of your education or career?

      Lab Reports:

      ·         Take a moment to think back to your first year in College when you were enrolled in introductory science courses like BI 115, BI 125, and CH 120.

      ·         What was it like to be in the introductory labs?

      .   Describe your level of understanding of and comfort with the protocols you followed.

      .   How much freedom were you given to design your own protocols?

      .  Describe your level of understanding of and comfort with the scientific questions you were studying.

      .  How much freedom were you given to pursue your own questions?

      .  Describe your level of understanding of and comfort with the process of scientific writing.

      .   What prior experience, if any, did you have with this style of writing?.   Describe any events (experimental successes or failures, academic successes or failures, etc.) that were particularly memorable

      ·         Review your freshman year lab report

      .     Describe the level and quality of the writing.

      .    Describe any scientific misconceptions or data misinterpretation that you see.

      ·         Now use these same questions to guide a reflection on a more recent laboratory research experience or your senior research experience

       


    • End of term surveys

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      Please complete the survey marking the end of the term. 

      Senior Exit Survey (upload your confirmation of completion)


      • Assignment

        Senior Exit Survey

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        Submit your confirmation of Senior Exit survey here.  

    • Topic 12

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      • Topic 13

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