Bi8: Intro to Molecular Bio
Bi8: Intro to Molecular Bio
Course Policy available for download
Bi 8 General Policies, Winter term 2012
General policies
Bi8 is a course that you take because you want to do so – either because you are really interested in the subject for your own curiosity, or because you have chosen a biology-intensive major as your option. No one has to take Bi8. We therefore consider all of you to be scientists in training and will try to provide assignments and feedback that help you gain all the skills and knowledge you will need to follow your own desire.
The course will have two exams, four problem sets, and two required oral presentations by each member of the class.
The exams, both midterm and final, are CLOSED BOOK, CLOSED NOTES, CLOSED INTERNET. You are not to consult with anyone else about the material from the time you open the exam till you are finished writing. The exams are take-home, written exams with a time limit between 3 and 5 hr, depending on the exam. The time limit is to level the playing field and to indicate the scope and degree of detail that is expected in the answers.
The homeworks are designed to encourage you to work with the material on a continuing basis throughout the term. There are two problem sets before the midterm and two after the midterm. They are all open book, open notes, and you are welcome to discuss the material with other students and TAs in order to come to your conclusions about the questions. However, when you actually compose your answers, they must be written independently and in your own words. Plagiarism from published or on-line sources and copying of other students’ answers are both violations of the Honor Code. In the professional world, these would be clear examples of “scientific misconduct”. Copying is not legitimate collaboration and will be reported to the BoC automatically. If you have questions about the boundary, ask the teaching staff.
The oral presentations are new this year, and they will occupy the recitation sections after the first week. The idea is for each student to explain some aspect of the course material to the other members of the section, with each student having five minutes for presentation and five minutes for answering questions. Lists of questions will be posted a week before the recitation, and students can pick the topic they wish to present on a first come, first serve basis. All students will sign up for one presentation date before the midterm and one in the second half of the course. This will enable people who are initially shy or unsure to gain their bearings, learn from their classmates, and give at least one great presentation.
Grading and Pass/Fail
For those of you who are freshmen, Caltech policy still mandates P/F grades on your final report for this second term (this policy may change in future years). However, we will handle your assignments and grading exactly as though the course were given for standard A, B, C, D, F letter grades for all class members. You will see what your letter grade would be, and how you are doing relative to the others in the class, whether you end up with a P or an F. If you want to master molecular biology for future work, this will let you know what you are aiming for.
The grade will be based on the exams and the problem sets, with some added credit for class participation. The final will be worth 40% of the grade, the midterm will be worth 25% of the grade, and each problem set will be worth 7.5% (x4 = 30%). The remaining 5% of the grade will come from the presentations (0-2 x 2%+ an extra point for participation in discussion). Grading for the presentations will be on a 3-step scale, from 0 (minimal effort, but honest) to 2 percent of the total grade (excellent clarity and good answers to questions). Students who skip any presentation without rescheduling in advance will be penalized by at least 5% of the total grade. If you do not want to participate in the recitations, you cannot receive a passing grade for the class.
There is no pre-set distribution of grades – if all the students in the class do superbly, you could all get A’s. However, more normally grades will range from the 50’s to the low 90’s. People earning less than 50% of points for the term will fail, as will people who skip two or more of the assignments (including the oral presentations). For letter grade equivalents, the grading will be on a curve-adjusted scale, so that exact breakpoints between, e.g., “B+” and “A-” grades or “C+” and “B-” grades will be determined as we go, based on the clustering of scores in the class. You will see the histograms that we use for these splits and be able to see how you did. If you are on the margin, we will give you extra credit for strong class participation throughout the term.
Some people in the course may not need it for their majors and may be taking it for Institute biology credit in place of one of the “Bi1’s” or other courses. Some of these students are upperclassmen. Although the default for upperclassmen is to take Bi8 for grades, we do not require you to take it for grades unless you need it for your major.
Late work policy
To be fair, everyone in the class should have the same amount of time to deal with the assignments. To ensure level standards, too, we need to be able to grade everyone’s work in parallel and we need to assume that you have done the work before the answers to the assignments are posted. With this large class, any late assignments are challenging. In general, we will post the answers on line within two days after the due date. Work that is handed in by the deadline will get full credit. Work that is handed in after the deadline, but before the answers are posted will get partial credit. Obviously, any work that is not handed in until after answers are posted will not be given any credit, except under rare and well-documented circumstances.
If you know in advance that one of the deadlines conflicts with an obligation, such as travel to an interview or conference, it’s your responsibility to contact the TAs and arrange an alternative due date for your work. If you do this in advance, you will not be penalized. If you get sick or have an accident that prevents you medically from finishing your work, you may also be given extra time, but only under these circumstances: you must get a note from a doctor or registered health professional. Dean Green can be very helpful as a sounding board for any problems you may have, but she is not a substitute for a doctor. A supportive note from Dean Green can explain the situation, but does not protect you from the requirement to give us written evidence that you are really sick. Again, if you are sick you should also talk with the TAs to arrange a new due date for your work, and you need to abide by this.