Objectives:
This course satisfies one of the 300-level course requirements for the biology major. It is designed to provide you with comprehensive exposure to the subject of botany. You will learn about the structure, life history, and evolution of plants. Physiology and ecology will be kept to a minimum as ECSU offers comprehensive courses on these subjects and this course will prepare you well for taking those courses. This course will assist you in answering 30-50% of the questions on the GRE biology exam. The course covers three of the six biological "kingdoms" and spans 3 billion years of the history of life on planet Earth. If you are a person who has over-specialized in zoology, ecology, or cellular and molecular biology, this course will expand your horizons significantly. As a study of producers, this course will examine those organisms so important because of their position at the energy and elemental intake portion of the energy pyramid and the food web! Human survival depends upon these organisms.

Resources:
There is no formal book for this course. The lecture notes and so on are the World-Wide-Website (URL above). On the ECSU local network you need to type in www. before plantphys.info in that address...sorry ECSU has strange local rules. I hope you appreciate the $aving$! Likewise there is no lab manual but there will be lab handouts for each week. I recommend that you purchase a large three-ring binder for these and your notes, with zipper pouch containing: Small Scissors, Metric Rule, Fine Forceps, Mechanical Pencil, Leads, Eraser, one or storage discs for whatever computer you like to use. I will provide additional materials to assist your learning, very likely via the WWWsite.

Grading:
Your course grade will be based on 1000 points probably divided 500 points for daily quizzes and 500 points for lab components.

Quizzes each morning will cover lectures, readings, and laboratory material from the previous day of class (or earlier). Each quiz will consist of a variety of question types. THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP QUIZZES! If you have a written excuse for missing one quiz, it will be excused. Missing an additional quiz will put a 0 score to be calculated into your grade....whether you provide a written excuse or not.

Lab materials will be due as announced during the term. Late papers will receive a penalty of 10% per day late; and after graded work is returned to your classmates, your late work is not acceptable. You will need to make many sketches and write much about what you have learned during each day to stay "up to date." These materials include on-line anatomy exercises that are just as important as any other part of the lab work!

Participation:
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Attendance is critical to good performance. Keeping up in reading the website, studying, etc. is important. If you lack time-management skills, ask me how to learn them. My assessment of your participation may provide leverage or barrier should your earned grade fall near a grade border.

If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your responsibility to contact the Office of AccessAbility Services at (860) 465-5573. To avoid any delay in the receipt of accommodations, you should contact the Office of AccessAbility Services as soon as possible. Please note that I cannot provide accommodations based upon disability until I have received an accommodation letter from the Office of AccessAbility Services. Your cooperation is appreciated.

This page © Ross E. Koning 1994.

Go to the Course Schedule Page.

Go to the Plant Physiology Information Homepage.

Send comments and bug reports to Ross Koning at rkoning@snet.net.