Course coordinators: Carl D. Hopkins
Joseph Fetcho

COURSE INFORMATION

Please read the following pages carefully as they contain important information about the organization of lectures, discussion sections, office hours, faculty, examinations, and grading policy.

Course Description. Offered every spring. 3, 4, or 5 credits (3 credits for lecture only; 4 credits with traditional or computationally-intensive discussion section, 5 credits for lecture plus writing intensive discussion). The 4 or 5-credit option is a requirement of Biology majors choosing to concentrate in Neurobiology and Behavior. Not open to freshmen. Prerequisites: 1 year of introductory biology for majors and 1 year of chemistry. May be taken independently of BIONB 2210. S/U grade option only for 3 credit students.

Course Catalog
A general introduction to the field of cellular and integrative neurobiology. Topics include neural systems, neuroanatomy, developmental neurobiology, electrical properties of nerve cells, synaptic mechanisms, neurochemistry, motor systems, sensory systems, learning, and memory. Some discussion sections include dissections of preserved brains.

Faculty

Graduate Teaching Assistants

Laboratory Coordinator for Fruitfly Labs
Patricia Rivlin. W253 Seeley Mudd Hall. rkr2 (phone 4-4359). Dr. Rivlin, Research Associate in the laboratory of Professor Ron Hoy, will coordinate mini-labs associated with Fruitfly.

Administrative Assistant.
Lori Miller, W361 Mudd Hall, lmm8 (phone 4-4300). Please contact Lori Miller, the course assistant, about administrative questions about the course, including scheduling exams, grades, and the course website.

Course Options and Course Credits Lecture Only (3 credits). This option is available for students who wish to learn the principles of neurobiology through lectures, readings, and on-ine problem sets. All course materials will be freely available on-line although there will be no discussion sections or mini-labs. Choice of Letter Grade or S/U Grade. Minimum pass grade for S/U is C-.

Lecture Plus Discussion Section (4 credits). The four credit option is available for those students concentrating in Neurobiology and Behavior and for anyone wishing to pursue the subject matter in greater depth. In addition to lectures, discussion sections meet once per week. There are two choices: Traditional Discussion and Computational Intensive. Letter Grade only.

Traditional Discussion Sections focus on important and challenging concepts presented in class through problem solving, assigned readings from original literature, demonstrations and mini-lab exercises. Ten time periods are available, posted on the course website. Topics are coordinated with lectures but secion meetings are not intended as review sessions. Questions concerning assignment to discussion sections should be addressed to the head TA.

One Computationally-Intensive Discussion Section is intended for students with some background in engineering, the physical sciences, or mathematics whoh wish to consider more quantitative and computational aspects of neurobiology. Students will discuss in greater depth the more quantitative and computationally intensive topics in neuroscience and will practice modeling and computer simulations of important neurobiological concepts. Participants will do a final project amd are exempt from the essay portion of the final examination. Participants should be familiar with elementary computer programming using MATLAB.

Lecture Plus Writing-Intensive Section (5 credits). This one section will focus on using writing as a tool to convey knowledge and aid understanding of concepts in neurobiology. Students will attend lectures and take regular exams, but consistent with the goals set forth by the Writing in the Majors program, will be evaluated primarily through writing exercises, discussions, and peer-critiques of writing. Letter Grade only.

Attendance is mandatory for all section meetings, students are held to Cornell's highest standards of academic honor; plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated and will result in failure of this course.

Reading Assignments

Textbook: The assigned textbook for this course is Neuroscience (Purves, et. al, 2008 Neuroscience, 4th edition, Sinauer Publisher, Sunderland Mass). The textbook is available through the campus store and through other bookstores in Ithaca.

Lecture Outlines: The lecturers have prepared lecture notes to accompany their presentations available individually or as an electronic booklet on the course website. All students should read the lecture outline in advance of each lecture. Lecture outlines will highlight key points of the lecture and will reproduce important illustrations There are also guides to learning objectives and study questions for each topic. The lecture outlines may also be ordered as a paper copy through the Campus Store (availability will be announced during the first week of class). The outlines are not a substitute for good lecture notes taken in class, which is the responsibility of each student. The course staff welcomes opportunities to give advice on good note-taking skills and organization.

Readings and Exercises.

Students in the 4-credit Traditional Discussion sections should download the electronic book of Readings and Exercises for their assignments and readings related to the traditional discussion section meetings. Assignments for the Writing Intensive sections and the Computationally Intensive sections will be handed out in section.

Weekly Web Quizzes

Starting in the second week of classes, all 3- and 4-credit students must complete a weekly web quiz administered as a quiz through the Blackboard system. Quizzes will consist of multiple choice questions based on material covering 3 or 4 lectures. Deadlines for completing web quizzes are posted on the course website (see calendar). The cumulative web-quiz scores will count for 11% of a student's grade. The lowest quiz score for each student will be dropped.

Web quizzes are derived from questions used on prelim examinations of previous years, and thus will be an excellent way to prepare for exams. In addition, study and preparation for web quizzes will encourage regular study and practice reviewing the concepts and content of the course.

We encourage the formation of study groups to go over the information on quizzes and previous exams, but each person should work alone when answering the quiz questions.

Course Web Site
We will make an effort to post all relevant course information on this site.   Pay close attention to this site for reguarl announcements:

http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/bionb2220/index.html

You will need to sign in and present a password (announced in class) for secure materials. The login procedure will be demonstrated in lecture.

Extra materials on the secure course website include: PowerPoint slides, audio recordings of each lecture, lecture links to supplementary materials, media (audio, video, flash animations) presented in class, and a previous year's examination. 

Exams & Grading Policy

There will be weekly web-quizzes, two prelim exams, and one final exam with two parts. Each prelim exam will be 50 minutes long and will be held during class on the dates below. The final exam will be held during exam week (to be announced) and will be 2 1⁄2 hours long, consisting of two parts: a 3rd prelim-like exam covering the final third of the semester, and a comprehensive essay portion covering the entire semester.

	Day	Date	Coverage	3 cr. option	4 cr. Discussions	4 cr. CI section	5 cr. WI section
Prelim exam 1	Fri	Feb. 20	Lectures 1-13	26%	18%	18	7 %
Prelim exam 2	Wed	Apr. 1	Lectures 14-27	26%	18%	18	7 %
Final exam part 1 (3rd prelim)	TBA	TBA	Lectures 28-42	26%	18%	18	7 %
Final exam part 2 (essays)	TBA	TBA	Entire course	11%	10%	0	9 %
Web quizzes		weekly		11 %	11%	11%	0%
Discussion sections		weekly		0	25%	35 %	70 %
Total				100%	100%	100%	100%

Exams will cover materials presented in lectures and readings. The date and time for the final exam has yet to be determined. Answer keys will be posted on the BioNB 2220 website andon the bulletin board outside W358 Mudd Hall. Students will be able to attend an oral review following each examination to review the questions and make comments on the proposed answers, or submit comments on the examination and suggestions of alternative answers. All oral and written comments will be reviewed and alternative answers considered.

All regular students are required to take the 2 scheduled prelims and final exam. No one will be allowed to take the make up examination unless a suitable written excuse has been given to Professor Carl Hopkins in advance of the scheduled examination (see web-site announcements or class-handouts). Written excuses must be signed by the appropriate authority (Coach, Academic Advisor); all excuses will be verified and must be for one of the following reasons:

1) participation in a religious holiday (a letter from your undergraduate advisor is required);
2) 3 exams in a 24 hour period (notes from each of the other professors are required);
3) sickness the day of the test (a note signed by a doctor, with date & time) or Gannet Verification of Visit form;
4) participation in a University sports event (letter from the coach is required).

Final grades will be determined from the accumulated average on all examinations, quizzes and section grades. Each exam will contribute to the overall score according to the percentages listed above.

Grading in the Traditional Discussion Sections (4 credit).
Discussion schedules are coordinated with the lecture schedule, but the sections are not intended to be question and answer periods for lectures (TA and faculty office hours serve this function). Instead, the discussions will delve deeper into topics brought up in lecture and will supplement the lecture material. There are two primary goals for the discussion sections. First, students will be introduced to current areas of research interest in the field of neurobiology, and second discussions will cover concepts, theoretical issues, and factual information. We hope you develop an appreciation and understanding for the methods most often employed to investigate neurobiology.

Because BioNB 2220 sections are group discussions, their success depends entirely upon the participation of every individual in the group. Therefore, the primary responsibilities for students are:

a) Turn in all problem sets on time. To prevent the possibility of lost papers, you are responsible to making a photocopy of your assignments before turning them in. Assignments are due in lecture on Monday on the week that section will be held.

b) Attend discussions regularly. You will be allowed one absence without penalty, although you are required to turn in the problem set for that week. Any excused absence will require written notification from the appropriate authority (Coach, Academic Advisor, etc.) and must be made up by attending an alternative section during the week.

c) Come prepared (i.e., do the assigned readings and problem sets before class).

d) Contribute to the discussions: it is essential that you talk and ask questions in these sections.

e) Allow others to contribute.

The importance of these responsibilities cannot be over-emphasized. A discussion in which only the TA or a few vocal individuals participate is both boring and a poor learning experience. If, on the other hand, everybody participates, the discussion section will be fun as well as educational.

Discussion Section Evaluation:  the section grade will contribute 25% to your over-all 4-credit course grade in BioNB 2220. Of this 25%, your grade will be composed of: Attendance 20%, Participation 20%, Written Assignments 60%.

Problem Sets and Discussion Assignments:  are available individually on the course web site under the discussion section tab. The assignments will be graded and returned to you in section the same week that they are turned in. Late problem sets will not be graded, and you will receive a zero for that assignment.