Announcements
13 April 2012 C.E.

I enjoyed interacting with you this semester, and I hope you learned something in the process. Please take a moment to visit your MyASU page for instructions on how to submit a course evaluation (for the laboratory component as a whole and for me as an instructor). The evaluations will be available starting 16 April. Thanks, and enjoy the estival hiatus.
12 February 2012 C.E.

The SafeAssign links are available under Assignments on the Blackboard site. Notice that two of the four Off Week assignments must be submitted electronically, and the first requires two separate uploads. Follow the instructions carefully. I will not accept paper copies for those assignments.
26 January 2012 C.E.

Notice that I've added a new menu item (Laboratory Lectures) for the audio recordings.
12 January 2012 C.E.

It occurred to me that there is something I did not mention yesterday that could be yet another source of confusion. I want to explain the difference between a controlled variable and a control group. I discussed controlled variables in person (those things in an experiment that the scientist tries to keep constant). A control group is something different. A control group is a group of subjects (like pill bugs, for example) that are not subjected to a change in the independent variable. In my example of testing plants (the subjects) for the effect of fertilizer, a well designed experiment would include a certain number of plants that receive only pure water (no fertilizer, the independent variable). These plants receiving only water would make up the control group. A control group provides a basis for comparison to the other groups (the treatment groups), which in this example would receive various levels of fertilizer (as well as water). A good scientist tries to set up an experiment so that the only thing that is different between the control group and any treatment group is the treatment (independent variable) itself. In other words, everything else (the other variables) are controlled and kept constant for all groups. I hope this makes sense, and if it does not, then feel free to email me. In fact, always feel free to email me, whether things make sense or not. Enjoy the impending weekend.
06 January 2012 C.E.

Because the enrollment for this course is so low, we will NOT be breaking the class into two groups, which is why I have stricken out the text in the earlier announcement. Instead, the entire class will meet in the laboratory every other week. Notice that this means that ALL students must attend the first meeting on 11 January. Also, the syllabus has been updated to reflect this change. Therefore, be sure you have only the syllabus with "Last updated 06 January 2012 C.E." printed at the top.
19 December 2011 C.E.

The Course Syllabus has been updated (including the schedule). Be sure you have the version that was last updated 19 December 2011 C.E.
21 November 2011 C.E.

Greetings.

Welcome to LSC365 Laboratory. I will be your instructor only for the laboratory portion of this course. Your lecture instructor is in charge of your overall grade. I will give your scores to your lecture instructor throughout the semester. Your lecture instructor will probably use Blackboard. For various reasons, I am choosing to use my own website (this one) for the laboratory component of LSC365. You are required to check these announcements daily throughout the semester, and any announcements that appear here will be official. It is a good idea to take a few minutes right now and familiarize yourself with this website. You should also take a look at the global site, because it's a pretty good chance that resources appearing in my sites for BIO181, BIO201, and BIO202 will prove useful to you, since those courses cover much of the same material as LSC365. It would be silly not to at least take a look to see what's there that might help you.

You will be assigned to one of two groups (Group A and Group 1), and each group will meet every other week. A listing of the students in each group will appear here soon. After you have been assigned to a specific group, you will be required to attend all of the sessions (but only those sessions) assigned to that group (and you may not attend any of the sessions for the other group). The schedule (including due dates for "off week" assignments) is listed in the laboratory syllabus.

I'll see you soon.

Ty

Be sure to IMMEDIATELY read and submit the Rules Consent form. This is also strictly required.