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288-A Woodward Building; Phone: 704-687-8527
email: sschnedr@uncc.edu
Office hours: 2-3 MW, or by appointment

Course Description: Animal Behavior provides a broad, general survey of the neurological and physiological basis and the main categories of behavior of invertebrate and vertebrate animals. The course has a strong evolutionary approach, and most all behaviors are examined as adaptations to an organism’s natural environment.

Text Books: Optional: Animal Behavior, 8^th Edition; J. Alcock ISBN 0-87893-005-1

Lecture Tests: There will be four exams, each worth 100 points, and an optional comprehensive final, worth 200 points. All tests will be True/False and multiple choice. The tentative exam schedule is as follows:

** The comprehensive final exam is optional, unless you miss a regular exam. At the end of the course, if you are satisfied with the grade you have, then you can choose not to take the final exam. If you miss an exam (even if the absence is excused), then you MUST take the comprehensive final regardless of the grade you have in the course.

If you opt not to take the final exam, your course grade will be based on 400 pts. If you choose to take the final exam, your course grade will be based on 600 pts. For BIOL 5243 (who must write a 200 pt. term paper), the course grade will be based on a total of 600 pts. or 800 pts., depending upon whether the final exam is taken

The grading scale for the course is: 90-100% = A; 80-89% = B; 70-79% = C; 60-69% = D; <60% = F.

Make up exams are not given. If a exam is missed, you must provide within one week of the exam date official documentation for the absence (e.g. verification of a doctor's visit; a funeral announcement; etc.). The documentation MUST contain a current phone and/or fax number so that the excuse can be verified. If the absence is excused by Dr. Schneider, then the grade for the comprehensive final will be counted in place of the missed exam. If the absence is not excused than a grade of zero will be recorded for the missed exam. Only one excused absence for an exam is allowed during the semester.

Academic Integrity: Students have the responsibility to know and observe the requirements of the UNCC Code of Student Academic Integrity, outlined in the catalog and summarized below:

CODE OF STUDENT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

THE UNC CHARLOTTE CODE OF STUDENT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY governs the responsibility of students to maintain integrity in academic work, defines violations of the standards, describes procedures for handling alleged violations of the standards, and lists applicable penalties. The following conduct is prohibited in that Code as violating those standards:

A. Cheating. Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, notes, study aids or other devices in any academic exercise. This definition includes unauthorized communication of information during an academic exercise.

B. Fabrication and Falsification. Intentional and unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Falsification is a matter of altering information, while fabrication is a matter of inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise.

C. Multiple Submission. The submission of substantial portions of the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once without authorization.

D. Plagiarism. Intentionally or knowingly presenting the work of another as one's own (i.e., without proper acknowledgment of the source). The sole exception to the requirement of acknowledging sources is when the ideas, information, etc., are common knowledge.

E. Abuse of Academic Materials. Intentionally or knowingly destroying, stealing, or making inaccessible library or other academic resource material.

F. Complicity in Academic Dishonesty. Intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of academic dishonesty.

A full explanation of these definitions, and a description of procedures used in cases where student violations are alleged, is found in the complete text of The UNC Charlotte Code of Student Academic Integrity. This Code may be modified from time to time. Students are advised to contact the Office of the Dean of Students or go online to ensure they consult the most recent edition.

Please turn off all electronic devices (except computers) before the beginning of

each class period. Please DO NOT TEXT during lecture.

Instructor: Dr. Stan Schneider