Course and Grading Information

Professor Sarah Turgeon Professor Steve George
322 Merrill
215/228 Life Sciences
Phone: 542-2625
Phone: 542-2477
E-mail: smturgeon@amherst.edu
E-mail: sageorge@amherst.edu
Office Hours: Thursday 10-12 and by appointmentOffice Hours: Tuesday 9:30-12; Friday 1:30-4

Textbook: Mark Bear, Brian Connors, and Michael Paradiso (2007) Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. 3rd ed. Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. Same text and edition as last year. The book is available at the Jeffery Amherst Bookshop. Other readings: All scientific articles listed in the course outline will be supplied by electronic reserve via the Course Documents section of our course’s Blackboard site. You are expected to print these out, read them, put a response on the Discussion Board the night before the class when the article is discussed (details to be given in class about this), and bring the printout to class. Some articles are accessible only via the Amherst network domain, so Five College students will need to print these while on the Amherst campus, or let Prof. George know to make a .pdf file available to you via e-mail. Lab materials will be handed out.  Laboratory: Labs will meet, depending on your section, on either Tuesday or Wednesday from 2:00-5:00 in Life Sciences 145. Plan to be there at least 5 minutes before 2:00 PM - we will start right on time every week. Exams: We will have three midterm exams, on February 21/22, April 3/4, and April 24/25. Two dates are shown for each exam because each can be taken either on Thursday evening from 8 - 10 PM, or Friday during class and for an additional hour, Noon - 2 PM. Each exam is worth 15% of the final grade. The final exam is a take-home exam. You can pick it up any day between Friday, May 9 and Tuesday, May 13, and turn it in up to 3 days later. The final exam is worth 25% of the final grade.  Lab Practical: There will be a practical exam covering sheep brain anatomy in the laboratory. This exam will be taken in your lab period either Tuesday or Wednesday, March 11 or 12 and is worth 10% of the final grade. Lab reports: You will prepare two written lab reports. The first one covers the second and third weeks of electrophysiology (March 25/26 and April 1/2). This report is due on Monday, April 7, and counts 8% of the final grade. The second report is on the dopamine lesion lab sequence (April 8/9, 15/16, 22/23, and 29/30.) This report is worth 12% of the final grade. More specific instructions will be provided in lab sections. A first draft of the lesion experiment report is due Friday, May 2, and the final report is due on the last day of classes, Friday, May 9Guest Lecturers: Prof. J.-P. Baird, Psychology Dept. and Neuroscience Program, Amherst (April 18) Dr. Robert Ferrante, Boston University School of Medicine (May 2)

Course and Grading Information in Word Format