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NOTE: You should only take this course if you are NOT majoring in the sciences or in mathematics.
Whether we like it or not, we live in a highly technological civilization. Our technologies are based on scientific principles. The local and global impacts of our use of technology, whether for good or for bad, are science-based as well. The many influences of science permeate our lives. As responsible (hopefully!) citizens, we need to have some understanding of the world around us, how our technology influences our world, and how to support or not support decisions about how science and technology will affect things in the future. To this end, we need to understand, at a fundamental level, what the process of science is all about and the role it plays in our society. The purpose of this course build upon (or start from scratch, for some folks) and expand what you know about how science works and the role it plays (and has played) in our world. BTW, this course also fulfills one of the General Education requirements for graduation from Manchester College.
Well, you don't HAVE to do anything (including taking exams, for that matter!). To do well in this course, you should attend lab since it accounts for 15% of your final grade. The labs will give you a chance to get some practical experience with the concepts we are studying. In some cases, the lab will serve as an introduction to concepts.
Contact me! If you anticipate the absence (due to field trip, MC athletic trip, funeral, etc.), please let me know in advance. Homework is always due on the due date, even if you miss class - unless you absence in unanticipated AND an excused absence. It is up to you to get together with me after you have missed a class to (A) find out if your absence can be excused and (B) make up any work that was done in class (if absence was excused).
Contact me immediately. You may be able to go to another section the same week (unless you're in the last section). Make-up labs will be allowed only under for extreme circumstances. Forgetting about lab does not meet this requirement, sorry.
To estimate your current grade, use the percentage grade breakdown outlined in the syllabus. Exclude any exams that you have not taken and include all graded work that you have done up to the current time. Be sure to exclude exam percentage portions of the total grade from your estimate for exams you have not taken!
For example, before the midterm exam (which counts as 15%), you can have a total possible of 65 percentage points for the course (recall the final exam counts as 20%, so 15% + 20% = 35% of your grade has yet to be determined). Grand sum - find and add together the following: (your average lab score (including lab quizzes) in percentage form and multiply by 15) + (your average quiz score in percentage form and multiply by 25) + (total graded homework, classwork, and groupwork points divided by the total number of possible points for each of these all multiplied by 2500 (= 25 x 100, 25% of grade and 100 to get it in percentage form)). Take this grand sum and divide it by 65 (total possible percentage points) and you will have an estimate of your current grade in percentage form prior to the midterm.
If it's after the midterm, simply include the midterm grade (in percent) multiplied by 15 in the sum and divide the grand sum by 80 (total possible percentage points) instead of 65.
I grade on a straight scale: 90% and above = A, 80 to 89% = B, 70 to 79% = C, 60 to 69% = D, below 60% = F.
Yes - perhaps. If we are discussing it, studying it, reading about it, or doing labs about it, it may very well be on a quiz or exam.
Of course you did! Check in with your Base Group.