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to BIO 346 Home Page Discussion sections will be run by the teaching assistant. Primarily, the TA will discuss the journal articles that are assigned to the lecture topics and accessible through links in the syllabus. As time permits, the TA will also field questions from students on current lectures, recent quizzes and exams, etc. Those who come with their questions prepared will receive the greatest benefit.
Discussion sections are mandatory; the meeting times and places are listed under Technical Information for the ongoing semester. To keep all discussion sections at a manageable size, you can switch from one to another only with approval of the instructor. Your attendance and participation in discussion sections will be recorded, and will contribute significantly to your final grade (see Exams and Grading).
Each meeting of a discussion section will cover the two preceding lecture topics, including their assigned readings. Thus, topics [1] and [2], along with the paper by De Waal (1995) on "Bonobo Sex and Society", will be discussed in the discussion sections on Friday, 20 January, and Monday, 23 January. Topics [3] and [4] with their assigned readings will be discussed on 27 and 30 January, and so forth. The last assigned reading, Balmford et al. (2002) on "Economic Reasons for Conserving Wild Nature", will be discussed by the instructor during one of the last two lecture periods.
You will be expected to have read the assigned articles before they come up in discussion section, for two reasons. First, the assigned readings figure prominently in exams, and they are just too much for cramming. Second, you can get difficult parts of the assigned readings clarified in discussion section, but only if you know what to ask.
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Last modified: 1 December 2011