Instructor: Dr. Jay A. Nelson; Office: Smith 257; Tentative office hours: W 3:00-5:00; Th 11:00-12:30, . By appointment: almost anytime. While I have scheduled office hours, my general experience with office hours is that students rarely use them, preferring instead to come when it is most convenient for them. Therefore, while I will always be on campus during my office hours, I may not be in my office, in which case I will leave a note on my office door pertaining to where I may be found. I am very happy to speak with you about anything at any mutually agreeable time. Either catch me at lecture/lab or Phone #: 410-704- 3945 or e-mail <jnelson@towson.edu> to make an appointment. Certainly you should feel free to e-mail me with your questions at any time of day or even on weekends.

TEXT: Hill, Wyse and Anderson 2008. Animal Physiology: Sinauer and Associates.
The text book is to provide support for you and the assigned readings should be considered THE MINIMUM amount of reading you do in support of this course. The assigned reading should be done BEFORE the lecture on that topic. Much of the course will involve material drawn from research articles which will often-times be placed on the WEB page for you. If you already have a relatively new animal physiology book, you will probably be able to avoid buying the text. While exam material will be drawn primarily from the lectures, labs, and material on the web, you will find a good text like Hill & Wyse essential for reaching the level of comprehension I am expecting of you. For the topics it covers, this is a very timely and readable text. I would think that you would find it very useful to own this book.

Sample lecture outline:

Recitation Sections:

These are not optional! This is where you will be learning how to do the problems that you will find on the exam. Two- fifths of your grade will also come from activities you perform in recitation section and problems that you turn in as a group from the recitation sections. The results of some of your group problem solving exercises will be presented to your peers. They are designed to develop your skills at working in teams, expressing your knowledge of biology and transmitting knowledge to your peers

Sample recitation exercises:

1) EKG

2) Human muscle

3) Human Exercise

4) Action photos from recitation

Computers/Web: If you haven't become familiar with the use of computers and the world wide web yet, you will need to do so for this course. Computer analysis of data will be an integral part of the recitation sections. In addition, problem sets, recitation protocols and sample tests will only be available on our web site. If you don't have a personal computer, there are various computer labs on campus or I can provide you with access to a computer when I am in the building (lots!) and when Biol. 470 is not meeting in rm. 373. If you own a laptop, you will often find it useful at recitation.

Sample exam questions:

Your final grade will be calculated out of 500 total points. +/- grading will be used. There will be no make-up exams. The exceptions to this are illness severe enough to warrant a medical excuse and a death in the immediate family. Make-up exams will be administered at a mutually agreeable time during finals week. The final 200 points will come from your recitation work, recitation quizes, problems, participation and group problems.

The grading scale is as follows:

Percentage	Grade
> 87.5%	A
85-87.5%	A-
82.5-85%	B+
77.5-82.5%	B
75-77.5%	B-
72-75%	C+
60-72%	C
59.95-60%	C-
50-60%	D

Course schedule (2010):

1) to get a feeling for the physiological capabilities of animals

2) to begin to UNDERSTAND how animals work and prepare you for the more advanced physiology courses in our department

Sample problem sets:

1) neural

2) respiratory

3) to develop an ability to read, understand and apply the primary scientific literature

4) to collect and work with scientific data like actual scientists do

5) to challenge your brain and actually learn something, as opposed to memorizing

1) work cooperatively in group situations

2) present and analyze data effectively

3) present scientific ideas and results effectively to an audience

4) improve your knowledge of how scientific data are generated

Students with Disabilities: Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, students who have any emergency medical information I should know of or students who need special arrangements in the event of an evacuation, should make an appointment with me as early as possible in the semester, preferably no later than the first week of the semester

Academic Honesty The integrity of an academic community requires the full and correct citation of ideas and research findings. Each student can promote academic honesty by protecting his or her work from inappropriate use. Academic honesty is essential to ensure the validity of the grading system and to maintain a high standard of academic excellence throughout the university. The principle violations of academic honesty are cheating and plagiarism. Cheating includes the unauthorized use of certain materials, information, or devices in writing examinations, or in preparing papers or other assignments. Any student who aids another student in such dishonesty is also guilty of cheating. Other possible forms of cheating include submitting the same work in more than one class without permission
Plagiarism is the presentation of ideas, words, and opinions of someone else as one's own work. Paraphrased material, even if rendered in the student's own words, must be attributed to the originator of the thought.