Purpose and Assessment of the Prelab Assignments

Successful preparation is a key to success in any area. You would not go into a debate without thoroughly researching the subject, testing and practicing various arguments, and anticipating an opponent's stategy. A student who seriously prepares for a lecture would not go to class without at least doing the assigned reading, and hopefully willl take notes and formulate questions about the material. You certainly don't want to go into a laboratory without any idea of what you are going to do when you get there. Similarly, what you retain from one experience helps to prepare you for the next one. The prelab assignments are designed to help guide your preparation for individual laboratory sessions and to help you retain the important lessons.

Some of the material will be focused on content. Among the expectations for students in this course is that you have a sound fundamental knowledge of biology at the introductory level. If you have trouble with some of the questions dealing with basic biology, then you know to work on that area. Some questions and problems will require that you apply a skill that was introduced earlier in the course. If you consistently find yourself having to go back and refresh your memory then you might want to reassess your approach to learning from experience. Some prelab work will require that you apply mathematical skills and reasoning to laboratory problems. It is critical that you address any weaknesses in quantitative skills that you discover from completing prelab assignments and reviewing feedback from the instructor.

Resources

Prelabs are designed for learning and practice, not as formal exams. You may use any available resource to help you figure out how to work a type of problem. You may look at the questions/problems first, then seek help, then go back and complete the assignment. Go back and forth as many times as it takes to develop the confidence with which to tackle a prelab assignment. The only stipulation is that you first learn how to attack a problem then complete the work on your own. There is no value in having someone simply give you the answers.

Expectations and performance criteria

The criteria upon which prelab assignments are scored are very similar to the criteria that will be applied when scoring the final exam.

• Ability to apply the most basic facts and principles of biology
• Ability to apply basic algebra to practical labororatory calculations
• Ability to work with dimensions, units, and uncertain quantities
• Ability to apply fundamental statistical principles to practical situations
• Ability to apply principles of effective writing and to apply principles that are specific to technical writing
• Ability to select procedures for a laboratory protocol and to list them in logical order

Each prelab assignment counts for 2.5 points toward your final grade.

Feedback

On a regular basis you will receive an e-mail correspondence with scores and instructor's comments on prelabs and in other areas. In the event that a teaching assistant sends the comments, remember that all feedback comes from the instructor, not the TA. If you disagree with an evaluation, don't shoot the messenger. You may wish to have access to the prelab problems when you prepare for the final exam. You are strongly urged to keep a copy with your responses so that you can compare them with instructor's comments and use the materials when you prepare for the final exam.

Some items will be scored as correct/incorrect, much as you expect from a typical exam. Many of them, particularly the quantitative items, will be scored using multiple keys. Rather than recording a response as right or wrong, we will record whether or not you used appropriate units, rounded quantities correctly, or optimized a protocol, for example. An effective approach to learning from such assignments is to read each comment carefully and address any weaknesses that it identifies rather than focus on the problem itself. You won't get the same exact problem again, but you will be better equipped to address similar problems.