My philosophy with regard to college education is the main objective is to foster life-time learners. What I mean by that is I endeavor to encourage students to develop the skills necessary to learn about new subjects without the aid of an instructor/professor. You will discover as you progress through college that you will be expected to learn more and more from textbooks and primary literature articles and that your professors will expect you to think and discuss what you learn from that activity. This prepares you for post-college life, where hopefully you will continue to learn new things throughout your life, by independent reading. That is, ideally, your learning process will never stop, even if you no longer are taking former classes. That is a characteristic of a truly educated person, and it is especially important given the fact that new discoveries and advances are being made at a phenomenal rate in our present society.

This is why I recommend that you follow this RAFT sequence in BMZ116B:

1. Read the topic Chapter

2. Attend the topic Lecture(s)

3. Fill in the topic Study Guide

4. Take the topic Chapter Homework Quiz on Blackboard

Please come see me to discuss questions you have about the topic.

Repeat # 1, 3, and 4 until you have complete comprehension of the topic

Even when I have time to give a lecture on a topic, I never have time to cover all the material of importance that is covered in the textbook chapter, study guide, and homework quiz associated with that topic. Knowing this is why I have developed the study guides and homework quizzes, and repeatedly urge you all to read the appropriate textbook chapters. Hopefully, by encouraging you to do this, you will become a life-time learner.

In retrospect, the reason I didn't have time to deliver a lecture on Ch 39, was the clicker experiment that we are trying this year. To effectively utilize the clickers, requires about 10 minutes each lecture period, so in the course of 5 lecture periods, a total of 50 minutes were used exploring the clickers, which equals one full lecture period. Next year, if we decide to continue using clickers, I intend to argue for an additional lecture period, but for this year, since the syllabus and exams are necessarily planned ahead of time, that wasn't an option.

The content of Ch 39 is important for your understanding of plant life, so what I have done is the best I can do this year. I should remind you that I have posted my powerpoint presentation of Ch 39, which you can study. Also, hopefully you have read the chapter, filled in the study guide, and completed the homework quiz. I am always willing to help you understand the material, either by answering questions posed via email, or you can come visit me during office hours.