Summer semester is over!
The summer session is over tomorrow; the lab portion is done - I just need to finish grading the lab final. The final was worth 50 points or 20% of their final lab grade, so I had to strike a balance with being fairly comprehensive without making it a long test. It wound up being 20 questions, most of which were short answer and worth 3-4 points. That way I can give partial credit if they at least attempt to answer the question and I like questions which require thinking and problem-solving.
The last question proved quite popular - "Many schools and universities, citing ethics and potential student objections have replaced actual frog dissections with virtual (computer software) dissections. Do you agree - give one reasonable answer why or why not."
The question which threw a couple students (and got a few laughs) - "You want to test a hamburger chain’s claim that their 49 cent hamburgers are really ‘100% beef’ with no grain/cereal fillers. When you set up your experiment, what positive and negative controls would you need? Suggest what you could use for each."
Most students gave nice examples how to test for protein, but the majority didn't realize you also need to test for the presence of starch.
Anyhow, I have two weeks off until the start of the fall semester - I'll either be teaching the class I just taught or I'll be teaching PLB 108 - Botany for non-majors.
In other news, I need to modify my research plans a little, but that's another post.
The last question proved quite popular - "Many schools and universities, citing ethics and potential student objections have replaced actual frog dissections with virtual (computer software) dissections. Do you agree - give one reasonable answer why or why not."
The question which threw a couple students (and got a few laughs) - "You want to test a hamburger chain’s claim that their 49 cent hamburgers are really ‘100% beef’ with no grain/cereal fillers. When you set up your experiment, what positive and negative controls would you need? Suggest what you could use for each."
Most students gave nice examples how to test for protein, but the majority didn't realize you also need to test for the presence of starch.
Anyhow, I have two weeks off until the start of the fall semester - I'll either be teaching the class I just taught or I'll be teaching PLB 108 - Botany for non-majors.
In other news, I need to modify my research plans a little, but that's another post.