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There are three
different SC - Level courses in Biology offered at
FMCC. SC courses are intended for non-science majors,
and fulfill requirements for science electives. (The other
Biology offerings, the BI courses, are for science majors, or
programs that require more intensive science preparation, such as
psychology, engineering, or forestry. Sometimes, these
four-hour courses may be needed for certain transfer destinations,
even into non-science programs.) The
three courses are SC 135 (Introduction to Biology -
Molecules & Cells), SC 137
(Human Biology), and SC 139
(Introduction to Biology - Plants and Animals). All of
them are two hours of lecture per week plus a three-hour
laboratory. Here's a quick look at how they differ -
TYPICAL STUDENT.
SC 135 is intended for students with no background at all -
either they didn't take high school biology, did very poorly
in it, or took a long time ago. SC 137 also
works for students with no background, but there's a lot of
reading, so good English skills are required. SC 139
assumes students have enough background so that they're
familiar with very basic terms. SC 135 is the only
one of the three that has no dissection exercises.
COURSE CONTENT.
SC 135's content is similar to the material any modern basic
biology course; this means a lot of chemistry and a
focus on little things that are difficult for some students
to relate to. SC 135 is a requirement in programs
where that sort of knowledge will be needed, such as
Nursing. Laboratory exercises include a lot of basic
science and biology concepts. SC 137 is, as you would
expect, focused on biology as it relates to human beings -
there will be basic biology integrated, but most of the
coverage will be particular to humans and the biological
entities that infect them. Labs tend to be
human-biology-centered as well. SC 139 is, to some
extent, a "retro" approach that looks at biology
from a historical perspective, then investigates larger
living things with a bit of an overview. Labs mix some
basics with plant- and animal-particular exercises.
MATERIALS.
SC 135 works from a basic textbook and a few handouts.
SC 137 utilizes a Family Medical Guide put out by the
American Medical Association, plus a great many handouts,
usually written for a general audience. SC 139 uses a
textbook available online,
plus a few handouts. All laboratory materials are
provided (there is a lab fee paid by students).
TESTING.
Both SC 135 and SC 139 use in-class testing on material
covered in class. There are also lab
quizzes. The idea here is to put some basic knowledge
into actual memory, where it may be useful later. SC
137 uses take-home exams, with questions whose answers may
be from the class notes, the book, lab materials, or the
handouts. This avoids anxiety some may have for
in-class exams, but is more reading- and
writing-intensive. This is an attempt to train
students to read medical-oriented materials for particular
information, as well as comprehension, so that they are able
to do this later when the need arises. All three
classes include lab exercises, each lab period, that are
marked. Questions are both procedural, pure course
content-oriented, and reliant on some critical thinking.
WRITING
ASSIGNMENTS. SC 135 assigns several relatively short
writing tasks that focus on critical thinking or reading
comprehension. Both SC
137 and SC 139 assign short (at least 4 pages) research
papers whose topics focus on aspects of either human or
plant/animal biology, and involve doing background research,
then organizing it and explaining in your own words in a
defined format. All assignments are marked on content,
following the format properly, and proper English usage.
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