Using the Bios 211 Course Web Site

***If you have difficulty navigating this web site or have trouble obtaining the information that you need, please send an inquiry or arrange to meet with an instructor.*** Each major section can be reached from the home page or the top navigation bar of each individual web page.

Navigating the course web site

The top menu bar takes you to any of the major sections described on the home (index) page. The left navigation bar (magenta buttons) takes you to the different divisions within a major section. When a division consists of multiple pages, use the Next and Back buttons to cover a topic in the intended order. Relevant links are listed above the titles of some pages, and links are placed in text for your convenience. Use the weekly schedules pages to decide which topics to cover for each laboratory study.

We are well aware that many people are not comfortable learning from web pages and that many students would much prefer to use printed materials. Unfortunately, when we use a traditional "laboratory manual" the work often degenerates into a "cookbook" exercise. You learn more when you have to seek out the information that you need instead of being led by the nose. At least for this course all of the information that you need is on a single web site. In the real world you would have to do a literature search and use dozens or even hundreds of sources to obtain similar information.

We also save a lot of paper this way and we can update the site at any time. Other instructors at Rice or anywhere in the world can use these materials (and they do, in fact). All the same, we know that some people will want to print the materials rather than read them off a screen. If you print off the entire site or part of it, remember that you still have to go through them and select the specific information that you need to prepare for laboratory work, write a paper, etc.

Printing the presentations and web pages

If you print a slide presentation, it is strongly recommended that you print from the pdf file, not the web page version. It will be in grayscale, but all of the notes will be included on each page. If you print from the web presentation (in color) you may lose some of the notes, and you will probably have to print one page at a time.

When you print web pages take advantage of the preview option. You may want to adjust the scale (%) to make the text come out properly, or to reduce the number of pages and therefore, the cost.

Weekly schedules

The schedules section includes instructions for beginning the course and an "announcements" page followed by a week by week schedule and a list of assignments with due dates. Essential communications will be sent by electronic mail. Because e-mail alone can be unreliable, the announcements page will reproduce communications that are sent by the instructor to the entire class and will report when feedback has been sent on specific assignments. Check the announcements frequently, and if you fail to receive an announced communication please follow the recommendations on the policies page under communication and feedback.

The schedules are your guide to course activities and how to prepare for them. Each schedule page outlines what will be done that week, what resources are available, suggestions for using the web resources and what information you are expected to obtain from them, and assignments that are due or are coming due. It will help if you read ahead so that you know what is in store for the class in the weeks to come. For your convenience each schedule page includes direct links to important resources.

Laboratory guides

The schedules pages will direct you to readings in the Laboratory Guides section. In the guides each laboratory study is presented in a sequence of pages. Each guide provides background information that you will need to prepare for and complete the laboratory work, to analyze the results, and to write up the project.

Each schedule page describes specific goals for your reading. Use the resources to obtain the information that you need; the information is not intended to be memorized. You are encouraged to read all of the material, but please stay focused on your specific objectives.

Above the title to each guide page is a set of links to other background pages and to methodology, analytical, and writing resources, including recommendations for writing the research papers.

Laboratory methods

Here is where you will find details on methodology that you will apply to individual projects. General information can be found here, such as the rationale behind an assay or the principles of differential centrifugation. The section also describes project-specific methods such as fractionation of liver tissue to obtain isolated mitochondria or how to prepare a protein sample for SDS-PAGE. When you are chasing down all of the resources that are related to a particular lab study, be selective. The recommended reading may include more information than you will actually need.

Writing/analytical resources

Writing and analytical resources include guidelines for writing research papers and keeping a laboratory notebook. This section will help you with quantitative data analysis and help you to work with dimensions and units, graphing, and statistical methods.

Some of these materials, especially the pdf resources, were written for students in any department in natural sciences and engineering. They present fundamental information that applies universally, not just to research in biological sciences. Resources in pdf format are identified. The links to such files may take you out of the Bios 211 web site.

Expectations and assessment

We tend to become so focused on details of assignments that we often forget that the objective of course work is to retain and be able to use information and experience in the future. The assessment section describes the purpose, expectations, and grading criteria for each type of assignment and long term learning objectives for the course. It also describes the overall goals of our natural sciences laboratory program.

You should peruse the course/program objectives right away, so that instructor and student work toward the same purpose. As each type of assignment comes up for the first time have a look at the corresponding assessment page. Identify the purpose of the assignment and the basis on which your performance will be assessed. As you tackle the work try to think of what specific program objectives are addressed. For example, the early pre-lab assignments are largely quantitative. Look at the objectives under "Basic Laboratory Skills" that are related to quantitative work and keep them in mind as you complete the assignment.

Other resources

This laboratory course and its web site are meant to be self contained. That is, you should not need access to additional resources, aside perhaps from a general biology textbook, in order to do well. You may wish to use a textbook or library resources to clarify your understanding of some of the background information presented in the studies. You are encouraged to seek help from the instructor, of course.