Welcome to Biology 6B
Brian McCauley's Bio site
Winter 2021: Bio 6B (like all De Anza courses) will be taught online only. I'm using two separate websites for my 6B classes:
- Canvas: The standard for all online classes at De Anza. This site is visible only to enrolled students, and it contains the syllabus, calendar, quizzes, and other supporting materials.
- BrianMcCauley.net: The site you're on now. This site contains some content-rich pages about 6B lab and lecture topics. I created this site to support my Biology 6A and 6B courses at De Anza College. For the in-person version of the courses, this site functions as the lab manual, as well as providing basic information such as the syllabus, calendar, and study guides, etc. I made an independent, off-campus site because De Anza lacked the web infrastructure for building complex course websites. Now that I'm teaching online, I've moved the course structure materials to Canvas, leaving some content-rich pages here. Unlike the Canvas site, this one is public. If you are wondering what to read on this site, refer to the Modules on Canvas for assigned readings.
Legacy version: 6B on-campus (Winter 2020)
For anyone who's interested, here's how the course and website functioned in the normal on-campus version of 6B last year.
Bio 6B Home
- Calendar: Use the calendar page to tell you what's happening for each day of class, for both lecture and lab. The calendar contains links to the appropriate lab pages and to downloads for the lecture portion of the course.
- Syllabus: This will give you all the details about course structure and grading.
Lecture
This site will provide some essential downloads for lecture:
- Lecture notes. I will post pdf versions of my lecture PowerPoints on the calendar page. The note file will generally be available before I begin the lecture, but I may be editing it until shortly before I start, so I won't be able to post these files far in advance. These files don't contain all the information covered in lecture; they only present outlines of the topics. To learn the full detail needed for exams, you'll need to hear the lectures and do the appropriate reading in Campbell.
- Midterm & lecture final study guides. I will post a study guide before each exam. You can find them in the main menu or on the calendar page.
Lab
This website will serve as your lab manual for Bio 6B; there is no printed lab manual. For each day’s lab, you will need to read one or more pages on this site. To keep up, you need to start by looking at these two pages:
- Calendar: Use this page for an overview of the quarter’s schedule.
- Lab Guide: Use this page to tell you what to read for each lab. You’ll find links to the critical pages and some tips about how to organize your lab day.
You should read the lab pages before you go to lab. In lab, won’t always tell you exactly how to do each step because I expect you to read the instructions. If you show up to lab without doing the reading first, you’re likely to be slow, have difficulty completing the lab, and make mistakes. Also, the labs are much more fun if you have some idea what you’re doing. There will be quizzes in lab, and I may ask you questions based on the pre-lab reading.
You'll need to be able to read the website during lab. You can use your phone, tablet, or laptop, or you can print out the pages that contain step-by-step instructions. Since this website will be changing throughout the quarter, you'll need to be alert for any last-minute changes to the procedures. In some cases I change the instructions for one lab based on the results from the previous lab.
You can download your gel photos from the Bio 6B flickr site.