{"id":5,"date":"2019-01-22T17:47:25","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T17:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2019-01-24T20:07:36","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T20:07:36","slug":"syllabus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/syllabus\/","title":{"rendered":"Syllabus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
1. Course Description<\/h5>\n
This course is designed to enrich students\u2019 ability to read scientific articles critically and understand core ecological theories. Readings have been selected by pairing historical and current articles, with the intention of including diverse topics, authors, and perspectives. By the end of the course, students should meet the following objectives:<\/div>\n
\u2022 Students will understand the seminal theories of ecology<\/div>\n
\u2022 Students will understand the theory development and adaptation through<\/div>\n
historical and current literature<\/div>\n
\u2022 Students will analyze how successful papers are constructed<\/div>\n
\u2022 Students will demonstrate self-motivation by choosing supplemental read-<\/div>\n
ing exercises that engage and excite them<\/div>\n
\u2022 Students will evaluate how they benefit from reading<\/div>\n
2. Class Schedule<\/h5>\n
Class will meet weekly for 60 minutes on Thursdays at 10 am in the Library.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Introduction to Week\u2019s Theme (5 minutes, led by Facilitator)<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0When did this topic become important in ecology?<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0How were the papers chosen for this week?<\/em><\/div>\n
\u2022 Core Reading 1 (15 minutes, led by Paper Leader)<\/div>\n
\u2022 Core Reading 2 (15 minutes, led by Paper Leader)<\/div>\n
\u2022 Additional Activity (10+ minutes, led by everyone)<\/div>\n
\u2022 Wrap-up (5+ minutes, led by Facilitator)<\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0How do these papers relate to each other?<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0How do we see these theories in our research areas?<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Are there gaps for future research?<\/em><\/div>\n
3. Participation<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
You must sign up to be a paper leader or discussion facilitator every week<\/div>\n
on the google sheet. If there are more people than papers we can have joint<\/div>\n
leaders\/facilitators that need to meet beforehand, pull random names out of a<\/div>\n
hat, or break into subgroups (paper leaders still meet beforehand).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u2022 Rotating discussion facilitator<\/strong>: As discussion facilitator, you will be expected to have a mastery-level understanding of the day\u2019s reading topic. Rather than presenting your understanding, your task will be to facilitate discussion. You will be expected to prepare a number of points of discussion and\/or activities to promote class participation and discussion, potentially including open-ended questions without obvious answers, contentious statements for peers to consider and discuss their agreement or disagreement, and\/or whole-class activities that incorporate multiple readings. Your goal will be to encourage your peers to engage with the assigned readings via lively discussion. If it would be beneficial to have a particular faculty member lead a particular discussion, they could fill this role.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Paper leader<\/strong>: Paper leaders will provide a brief content-based summary of a paper to the group. They will seek to clarify any confusion and address any misconceptions about the selected paper. If there is more than one\u00a0person leading a paper, then the two people should meet beforehand so they can be on the same page. If the 2 core papers are covered or one of the optional papers is particularly appealing, you can sign up to be a paper leader for one of the supplementary\/additional papers as well and will be expected to provide a brief summary of the paper and the take home message.<\/div>\n
4.\u00a0 Build Your Own Syllabus<\/h5>\n
From the menu of potential assignments below, you will select a weekly assignment to complement the reading and required class participation.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Take home questions<\/strong> (min 1\/max 5\/semester):<\/div>\n
Write answers in paragraph form:<\/div>\n
1) What is the take home?<\/div>\n
2) What was insightful?<\/div>\n
3) What is a criticism of this paper?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u2022 Figure evaluation and rewrite<\/strong> (min 0\/semester):<\/div>\n
Before reading club, submit ideas\/drawings of a better, missing, or supplementary figure that deserves special attention<\/div>\n
\u2022 Find a contemporary article<\/strong> (min 1\/semester):<\/div>\n
Find a recent paper relevant to the reading. This could be an article that cites the article, takes an opposite point of view, builds on its theory, or is a correction. Summarize this article within the context of the week\u2019s reading and be prepared to present during class.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Research an author<\/strong> (min 1\/semester):<\/div>\n
Do some background review on one of the authors of either the core paper or an optional paper you chose to read. Prepare a three minute report that gives background<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\u2022 Discuss outside of class<\/strong> (min 2\/semester):<\/div>\n
Take time before the discussion to talk about the paper with a faculty member or a relevant entity and bring their feedback to the discussion.<\/div>\n
\u2022 Writing the wrap-up blog<\/strong> (min 2\/semester):<\/div>\n
This could take several forms. One way would be to summarize the papers we read and how they fit together. Then outline the discussions we had and activities people chose to do. What did we take away as a group?<\/div>\n
\u2022 Edit the Wikipedia page of this week\u2019s theme\u00a0<\/strong>(min 0\/semester):<\/div>\n
Review the Wikipedia page and the edit history of the week\u2019s theme. Wikipedia is increasingly used as a first stop for understanding scientific topics. For this assignment you can update the wikipedia page to be more accurate or better sourced. Alternatively, contribute to any ongoing controversy on the talk page. Be prepared report your findings and contributions during class. Be bold!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Course Description This course is designed to enrich students\u2019 ability to read scientific articles critically and understand core ecological theories. Readings have been selected by pairing historical and current articles, with the intention of including diverse topics, authors, and perspectives. By the end of the course, students should meet the following objectives: \u2022 Students … Continue reading “Syllabus”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ecology.uga.edu\/ecol8990-readinggroup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}