Course Description

 

The Liberal Studies for the 21st Century Program at Florida State University builds an educational foundation that will enable FSU graduates to thrive both intellectually and materially and to support themselves, their families, and their communities through a broad and critical engagement with the world in which they live and work. Liberal Studies offers a transformative experience; this course has been approved as meeting the Liberal Studies requirements and thus is designed to help you become a critical appraiser of scientific theories and the facts that support them.

                                   
Course Web Site:  The course will be hosted from the FSU Blackboard System available at: http://campus.fsu.edu
Course Materials:  All materials for lecture and laboratory, including reading, examination and laboratory materials will be presented through the second life “Liberal Studies Chemistry: A Forensic Academy” Program.  You can purchase an access code directly from Pearson Higher Education or through the University Bookstore.

NOTE: Since this is an online course there is a requirement that you have access to a good computer system and good internet connectivity and speeds. Click here to see the recommended requirements.

The CHM1020C course is open to all majors and satisfies the liberal studies science and laboratory requirement as well as the computer competency requirement for the University.

Objectives:
Students upon completing this course and lab will demonstrate the ability to:

• think critically and cogently about causal relationships with scientific reasoning. 
• assess previous experimentation and published scientific results.
• critically examine and evaluate scientific observation, hypothesis or model construction.
• articulate a variety of issues created by the complex interactions among science, technology, and society.
• use scientific perspectives to evaluate contemporary problems facing society.
• explain the process of scientific reasoning and apply scientific principles inside and outside of the laboratory or field setting.
• systematically evaluate evidence for accuracy, limitations, and relevance, and identify alternative interpretations of evidence.
• design and conduct experiments to make observations and test hypotheses, as well as to analyze and interpret data using quantitative and appropriate technological tools.

Course Outline

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Instructor

Dr. Stephanie R. Dillon
Office: 324B DLC
Phone: (850) 644-0166
E-mail: sdillon@chem.fsu.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment   

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Materials

Required -
(1) Access Code to Chemistry For Liberal Studies through Pearson Higher Education. The access code can be purchased through the FSU bookstore or directly from Pearson (Cheaper!) at:

http://www.pearsoncustom.com/fl/fsu/chm1020c_lecturelab/

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Lab Policies

Cell Phones: All cell phones are to be turned off at all times during the laboratory period. Students whose cell phones ring during a lab will be asked to leave and the missed lab will be counted as an unexcused absence.

Lab Attire: All students are required to wear long pants (from hip to foot, No Capris, No Shorts, No Leggings), closed-toe shoes and lab coats which completely cover the torso area including long sleeves and a length to mid-thigh. Long hair should be pulled back and jewelry such as rings and bracelets should be removed during the lab period. Students who do not comply with the policies regarding attire will be asked to leave and the missed lab will be counted as an unexcused absence.

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Grading

90.0%+ = A
80% - 89.9% = B
70% - 79.9% = C
60.0% - 69.9% = D
Anything below 60.0% = F

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Assignment Type	Number Given	Points for Each
Lecture Quiz	12	100
Exams	Best 3 of 4	100
Post Lab Exercises	9	100

 

Computer Competency: The final post laboratory of the semester requires the student to both navigate the system and analyze the sum total evidence collected during the entire semester. This analysis is done in both the Virtual (CNDG) software program as well as the Blackboard testing program. Students must complete this exercise to receive a final grade in the course. In order to receive a “C-” or better in the course, the student must earn at least a “C-” on the computer competency component of the course. If the student does not earn a “C-” or better on the computer competency component of the course, the student will not earn an overall grade of “C-” or better in the course, no matter how well the student performs in the remaining portion of the course.

The overall course grade will be determined based on the traditional grading scale shown above. An average of 90% or greater in the course material will earn you an A, 80% or more up to 89.9% will garner you a B and so on. The way this average will be determined is shown in the example given below: 

Example Grade Calculation:
Lecture Grades:
If your Quiz Average = 91.3% and your Exam Average = 84.7%
The overall Lecture Average = [0.913(20% Quiz )= 18.26%] + [0.847(80% Exam )=67.76%] = 86.02%          
If your overall Lab Average = 92.6%
Then your final Overall Grade = 0.8602 (75% Lecture ) + 0.926(25% Lab) = 87.65% = B

• Each of the exams, quizzes and assignments required in the course will be scored out of 100%.
• Lecture Quizzes will constitute 20.0% of the lecture grade and the Exams and Final the other 80%.
• The average scores for the quizzes and exams will be weighted to determine the overall average for the lecture component of the course.
•  For the lab, each of the post-lab assignments are equally weighted so the average of those scores can be determined directly without further calculation.
• Once the Lecture and Lab component averages are determined they are then weighted as shown to calculate the 75% and 25% portion of the overall average for the course.  It is this final overall percentage that will determine your grade in the course.

Graded Materials:

Lecture Quizzes- Each week after reading through the lecture materials and watching the videos therein, you will login to the Second Life Environment and take the Post Lecture/ Pre-Lab Quiz. The quiz will be administered through the Second Life HUD. You will be given multiple attempts to get a good score on your quiz. Note that you have to complete the quiz for the week before you will be given access to perform the lab experiment for that week.

Exams - Every three lectures you will given an exam on the material you have covered to that point. Exams will be a combination of multiple choice, short answer, numerical answer, ordering, matching or true/false questions. Each exam will consist of 20 questions. The exams will be timed to match the time allowed for an in classroom exam. This means 50 minutes for each exam. Students registered with SDRC should designate the SDRC testing center as the proctor location for their exams and I will then be notified of any accommodations needed.

Each exam and the final will be proctored. For those students at the main campus this means you will need to sign up for an appointment at the Testing Center. For those students at off main campus locations, you will need to arrange a proctor at your location. In either case, you will complete the Online Proctor Designation Form. This form will tell us where you will take your exams and allow you to set up a proctor at a distance location if necessary. The dates on which each exam will be available through Blackboard are listed below and on the schedule:

--First Exam--
         Exam Title: Exam 1
         Date(s) Requested: 5/31/17 -6/2/17
         Duration: 50 minutes
         Exam Aids Permitted: Non-Programmable Calculator


--Second Exam--
         Exam Title: Exam 2
         Date(s) Requested: 6/21/17-6/23/17
         Duration: 50 minutes
         Exam Aids Permitted: Non-Programmable Calculator


--Third Exam--
         Exam Title: Exam 3
         Date(s) Requested: 7/19/17-7/21/17
         Duration: 50 minutes
         Exam Aids Permitted: Non-Programmable Calculator


--Fourth Exam--
         Exam Title: Final Exam
         Date(s) Requested: 8/2/17-8/4/17
         Duration: 2 hours
         Exam Aids Permitted: Non-Programmable Calculator

Post-Lab Exercises - At the completion of each lab exercise you will login to Blackboard and complete a series of questions regarding your findings in the lab. This means you should keep good notes as you process evidence in the lab as this will be the foundation material for your post lab exercises. There will be 9 post lab exercises you need to complete during the semester. Each post lab will be due the week in which you complete the lab. You will have 48 hours from the conclusion of your selected lab time to complete the post-lab exercise for that lab. For example, if you lab time is Tuesday from 1PM to 3PM you will have until Thursday at 3PM to complete the post-lab. The exact dates and times at which the post labs close will be available in the Post Lab Exercise folder in Blackboard. You will have two attempts to complete the post lab exercises and your best of the two scores will be retained.

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Course Schedule

The CHM1020C Schedule contains not only the list of lectures and labs being performed but also the due dates for both the post lecture quizzes, exams and post laboratory exercises. Please consult the schedule each week to make sure you are completing your assignments in a timely fashion. Lectures will remain available throughout the semester but Lab Episodes, Lecture quizzes, Post Lab Exercises and Exams will only be available for the times shown on the schedule. If an assignment is not completed during the window allowed it will become a zero and there are no "make ups" for these assignments. If an assignment is missed for an excusable reason, please send documentation to Dr. Dillon asap and she will prorate the missed assignment/quiz/exam. NOTE: Absences that exceed 30% of the required work for the course will result in an F for the course regardless of whether they are excused or not so if you are unable to complete 30% of the exercises/quizzes/exams through no fault of your own you should withdraw from the course.

University Attendance Policy: Excused absences include documented illness, deaths in the family and other documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. These absences will be accommodated in a way that does not arbitrarily penalize students who have a valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.

Reasonable Excuses (Documentation) Include: Illness (Note from Doctor or Thagard) Jury Duty or Court Date (Copy of Summons) Car Accident or Breakdown (Accident report or bill including time of incident) Death in Family (Copy of Obituary or service Document). This is not an all inclusive list but should give you a general idea of the magnitude of an acceptable excuse and the type of documentation required to substantiate it. Other problems will be dealt with on an individual basis.

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Academic Honor Policy

The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the University’s expectations for the integrity of students’ academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process. Students are responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living up to their pledge to “. . . be honest and truthful and . . . [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at Florida State University.”
See Academic Honor Policy  for more details.

NOTE: All violations of the Honor Policy will result in a failing grade in the course.

Americans With Disabilities Act: Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should: (1) register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center; and (2) bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for accommodation and what type. This should be done during the first week of class. This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request. For more information about services available to FSU students with disabilities, contact the:
Student Disability Resource Center 874 Traditions Way 108 Student Services Building Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167 (850) 644-9566 (voice) (850) 644-8504 (TDD) sdrc@admin.fsu.edu http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/

Free Tutoring from FSU For tutoring and writing help in any course at Florida State University, visit the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) Tutoring Services’ comprehensive list of tutoring options - see http://ace.fsu.edu/tutoring or contact tutor@fsu.edu for more information. High-quality tutoring is available by appointment and on a walk-in basis. These services are offered by tutors trained to encourage the highest level of individual academic success while upholding personal academic integrity.


Syllabus Change Policy
Except for changes that substantially affect implementation of the evaluation (grading) statement, this syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice.