Instructions:
Part 1:
Read through the questions below. Write a paragraph, 150 words minimum, in
response to one or more of the questions below that interest you. Use D2L's spell checker or your word processor software to spell check your paragraph. (The latter will give you a word count as well.) Proofread it
yourself too, because spell checkers don't catch everything. When you are satisfied,
post your completed paragraph in the Starting Assumptions forum for this week
at the D2L discussion board.
Part 2:
Respond to the Starting Assumptions posts of at least two other students. (If
you are the first or second person to post, you will have to check back later
to complete this part of the assignment).
- Just as you spell checked and proofread your original post, you should
do the same for your responses.
- Please respond to posts with 0 responses first; once every post has at least
one response, you are free to choose any post to respond to.
- When you respond, please use the name of the student you are responding
to. That is, say "Hi Jessica" or "Hi Paul" so that you
can get used to the names of the people in class. (You can find a list of
"real" names and preferred names posted on D2L).
- What constitutes a substantive response? This means that
you have read and thought about the original post, and that after some reflection,
you are extending one or more of the thoughts in the original post or offering
an additional perspective as you might in a good conversation. It is not enough
to say simply "nice job," "I liked that," "I think you're right about XXXX," "I disagree," etc. It is OK to disagree or agree,
but the goal is to thoughtfully add something else interesting and new related
to the content of the original post. At a minimum this should be at least
50 words, and 50-100 is preferable. Check out this page for more on the topic of good and bad responses.
After you have posted your paragraph and responded to two other students,
go to Desire2Learn and complete the Gradebook
Declaration for this week's Starting Assumptions assignment. (Do not declare that you have completed these assignments until AFTER you have made your posts. Your Gradebook
Declaration is subject to the Honor Code.)
Here is the text of the Desire2Learn Gradebook Declaration:
(3 points) I have posted my spell-checked, proofread Starting Assumptions
paragraph (150 words min.) at D2L.
(2 points) I have responded to the posts of at least two other students
(1 point per response; 50-100 words for each). |
Here are the questions to get you started:
- Which TV shows do you watch that relate to science or biology?
- What recent news stories can you think of that relate to science or biology?
- Were you interested in biology as a child? Did you enjoy looking at bugs
and other types of animals? What about plants?
- Have you ever had an online course before? If so, what did you think about
it?
- Why are you taking this course online instead of taking a face-to-face
natural science course?
- Have you ever participated in online discussion boards or used Desire2Learn?
- What questions, if any, do you have about any area of biology?
- Do you have any favorite modern authors that you think belong to the category
of biology or science? Why?
- What are some movies that you think belong to the category of biology or
science and why?
- Are you a musician, dancer, painter, artist, or
photographer?
- Do you write creative stories or do any other writing?
- Do you have pets? Are you interested in animals?
- Do you garden or have houseplants? Are you interested in plants?
- Are you interested in diseases such as cancer or infections caused by bacteria,
viruses, or other infectious agents?
- Do you ever think about (or worry about) human impacts on the environment?
- Most professors at OU have research programs, much of it supported by state
and federal funding. Some of that research is intended to solve a specific
problem, but much of it is basic research with no immediate application. Do you think it is important
to financially support both basic and applied research and why?
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Contemporary Issues in Biology -- BIOL 1003
Mariëlle H. Hoefnagels, Ph.D. © 2004-2015.
biology1003 at OU dot edu (at = @, dot =.)
Last Updated
August 5, 2014 11:02 PM
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