Instructor: Roberta S. Lacefield	Office Location: Rm 143A and on-line
Virtual and Face-to-Face Office Hours: Office Schedule	Phone#: 912 285-6027 (OFFICE) or 912 283-8243 (HOME) Please do NOT call the home number after 8:30pm. The consequences of disobedience are catastrophic.;-)
NOTE: For Spring '07 Discussion and WebCT email will be checked twice daily weekdays but only rarely during weekends. I will also be available for Chat M-F, 8AM to 9AM. Send me an invitation if you have a question.

Text and Other Required Materials

• There is no required text book for this course. Resources, readings, and labs are available through WebCT.
• You will need a bound composition notebook or a spiral bound notebook which will become your lab notebook. (Note: an official lab notebook has graph paper on one side of each page. If you are not using one of these, you will need to glue in graph paper as needed.)
  In your notebook you will record your hypotheses, experiments, observations, thoughts, and results as you work through this class and apply the Scientific Method.

Course Rationale and Objectives:
The lab takes a hands-on approach to learning the objectives of the course. The hands-on approach will include at-home labs and choosing from a list of field trips. While engaging in authentic research, the following lab-specific objectives will be addressed.

1. Maintain appropriate documentation for an experiment.
2. Learn to communicate and critique "scientifically." Recognize and create hypotheses. Critique methods and results.
3. Describe data using tables, equations, or graphs.
4. Use and understand the vocabulary of scientific labs. (This vocabulary may include but not be limited to hypothesis, control group, control variable, dependent and independent variable)
5. Make observations, recognize patterns, and understand the role of pattern recognition in science, mathematics, and technology.

Grades

Weighted Averages (by type):   Lab Notebook, Lab Reports, Participation, Field Trips, and Lab Quizzes - 80%   Final Project or Final Lab - 20%

100% - 90% = A (Excellent work/all directions followed) 89% - 80% = B (Good work/most directions followed) 79% - 70% = C (Satisfied minimum criteria in all areas) 55% - 69% = D (This grade may not satisfy some program requirements/see catalog) Below 55% = F (No credit)

ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap and obligates colleges and universities to make certain adjustments and accommodations to ensure that handicapped persons have the opportunity to participate fully in all educational programs and activities. Please contact the instructor immediately if you are facing accessibility challenges--PARTCULARLY issues with pdf files.

(THE SMALL PRINT:) Plagiarism
Plagiarism is prohibited. Plagiarism is defined by Webster as the stealing and passing off of the ideas or words of another as one's own. Further, the MLA Handbook states, "Plagiarism may take the form of repeating another's sentences as your own, adopting a particularly apt phrase as your own, or even presenting someone else's line of thinking in the development of a thesis as though it were your own." Alleged violations involving plagiarism and other academic misconduct will be handled according to the procedures outlined in the Waycross College Student Handbook.

Course Drop/Withdrawal
Waycross College policy states that a student who secures the necessary approval may officially drop a course without academic penalty by the designated date published in the Academic Calendar and receive a "W" grade for the quarter. The "W" grade is not computed in the student's grade point average. A course is officially dropped by completing the course drop request form and following the prescribed approval process. (Warning: To remain eligible for financial aid, a student must successfully complete two-thirds (67%) of the hours for which s/he is enrolled. A grade of W or WF is considered noncompletion for financial aid purposes.

Students who stop attending classes without processing drop or withdrawal forms will receive a grade of F or WF for each course in which they are enrolled. In order to officially drop a course without penalty, a student must contact his/her advisor and fill out a Drop/Add form. To withdraw from college contact the Registrar's office before the designated date published in the Academic Calendar in the College Catalog. A nonpunitive grade for courses dropped after the published deadline can be assigned only with the approval of the Vice President and Dean of Academic and Student Services and in cases of extenuating personal hardship. DO NOT DISAPPEAR!! Contact me and we will work something out.

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