Welcome to General Biology a course in the Bachelors of Science in Life and Health Sciences degree program. I am pleased to instruct you in this course.
I know you will enjoy this course. Please learn as much as you can as you progress through it, as it does lay down a solid foundation for the rest of the curriculum. It is my pleasure to have you in the course.
This is a (4) four-semester hour course. This course is allotted ten weeks of time. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the ten-week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your textbook has arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame. Extensions of time are permitted if needed with my and/or departmental approval. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded four (4) semester hours of credit.
There are four (4) required textbooks for this course. When your order your textbooks they will come as one package.
Books: Biology by Campbell, Reece, Molles, Urry and Heyden. 7th edition. Addison Wesley and Benjamin Cummings Publisher. ISBN: 13: 978-0321-502629 The other books included in the packager are: Get Ready for Biology, Practicing Biology and Study Guide for Biology.
You can purchase these books from:
There are twp exams required for this course. – a midterm and final exam. The midterm exam is to be taken at the fifth week and the final exam must be taken by the end of the tenth week in the course. The exam is programmed and is located in the classroom for this course. The examination is "open book" objective type. You will have one (1) day to complete your exam, once you access it from the classroom. To access the exam, you must send me an email and request to have access to the exam. Upon registration, you will receive my email address. I will then program your access in. You will receive an email back from me telling you that you are now authorized to go ahead and to access your exam. To access, you will come into the classroom, click on testing, and click on the exam you are taking. You will need your User ID and PASS WORD to access the exam. The exam will appear on your screen. Once you access the exam, you have twenty-four hours to submit your answers. The program provides me the exact date and time that you accessed the exam. The program also notifies me of the exact date and time that you submitted your answers. Thus, the program is timing you. When you are ready, go back into the classroom and click in your responses and then click submit. Shortly, you will receive the exam in your email box with your computed score. You will also know what questions, if any, that you missed, and what the correct answer is. I also receive a copy of your exam and your score.
Below is the grading scale used in this course.
90-100% = A
80-89% = B
70-79% = C
Below 70% = Fail
You are encouraged to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily, communication is through email. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone if you would like. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled. Please keep my email address handy so that you can contact me whenever necessary. If at any time during this course you change your email address, please be sure to notify me right away.
See Assignments in the Classroom.
I, Catherine Moran, Ph.D., currently teach undergraduate and graduate courses at Breyer State University and Canyon College. I hold Ph.D. in Education and a Master’s degree in Education from Breyer State University. A Bachelor of Science from Kent State University with a major in Chemistry and Biology and Speech. I have worked in several hospitals as a Med. Tech. I lecture at conferences on “Assessing and Teaching Children with Learning Disabilities”.
I am the Registrar of Breyer State University.
Upon completion of this course, you will:
- Briefly describe the unifying themes that characterize the biological sciences.
- Diagram the hierarchy of structural levels in biological organization.
- Distinguish between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
- Describe the basic structure and function of DNA.
- Distinguish among the 3 domains of life.
- Distinguish between quantitative and qualitative data and between inductive and deduction reasoning.
- Explain a hypothesis.
- Distinguish between an element and compound
- Define energy and potential energy.
- Draw and label a simplified model of an atom.
- Understand the properties of water.
- Define cohesion and adhesion.
- Distinguish among a solute, solvent and solution.
- Define acid, base and pH.
- Understand the importance of Carbon.
- Understand the three types of isomers: structural, geometric and enantiomer.
- Know the 4 major classes of macromolecules.
- Know the difference between monomers and polymers.
- Know about carbohydrates, lipids and proteins.
- Know the various components of a cell.
- Understand the cellular membrane structure and its function.
- Define diffusion and osmosis.
- Understand metabolism, energy and life.
- Describe the function of enzymes.
- Understand and explain cellular respiration.
- Understand and explain photosynthesis.
- Understand and explain cell communication.
- Understand and explain the cell cycle.
- Explain the key roles in cell division.
- Know the mitotic cell cycle.
- Understand and explain meiosis
- Explain and understand Mendel and the Gene Idea.
- Understand the behavior of chromosomes.
- Understand the molecular basis of inheritance.
- Explain the connection between genes and proteins.
- Understand the synthesis and process of RNA.
- Understand protein synthesis
- Understand the genetics of viruses and bacteria.
- Understand the organization, regulation and evolution of eukaryotic genomes.
- Understand DNA technology and genomics.
- Understand development from single cell to multicellular organism.
- Understand the historical context for evolutionary theory.
- Understand phylogeny and systematic.
- Describe the 4 stages of the hypothesis for the origin of life on Earth by chemical evolution.
- Understand prokaryotes.
- Understand the role of protists.
- Understand plant diversity.
- Define gymnosperms and angiosperms.
- Understand fungi – their diversity and ecological impact.
- Understand the origins of animal diversity.
- Know and list the invertebrates.
- Understand the vertebrates.
- Understand plant structure, growth and development.
- Understand the transport mechanisms in plants.
- Understand plant nutrition.
- Understand plant responses to internal and external signals.
- Know and understand the basic principles of animal form and function.
- Understand animal nutrition.
- Understand and explain circulation and gas exchange.
- Understand and explain the various components of the immune system.
- Know immune response and immunity in health and disease.
- Define osmoregulation and excretion.
- Know the excretory system.
- Understand hormones and the endocrine system.
- Understand and explain animal reproduction.
- Understand and explain animal development.
- Understand and explain the nervous system.
- Know the nature of nerve signals.
- Understand and explain the sensory and motor mechanisms.
- Understand the concepts of ecology and the biosphere.
- Understand the concepts of behavioral ecology.
- Understand the concepts in population and community ecology and the ecosystems.
- Understand the concepts of conservation biology and restoration ecology.
- Chemistry of Life
- The cell
- Genetics
- Mechanisms of evolution
- Plant form and function
- Animal form and function
- Ecology
- The Evolutionary history of biological diversity.
For specific assignments, please click on the link "Assignments."
If you have any questions regarding this program, you may address
them to adm@breyerstate.com.
An administrative faculty member will respond to all questions.
