IB 109: Insects and People
Lab Syllabus
TAs: Liz Graham (eegraham@life.uiuc.edu) and Cindy McDonnell (cmcdonne@uiuc.edu)
 
Contact Information

Liz:	Office: 420 Morrill Hall	Phone: 333-7783
Cindy:	Office: 216 Morrill Hall	Phone 244-7294
Office Hours: by appointment

Grading
Since you are enrolled in the lab section, your grade will be calculated differently from students who are enrolled only in the lecture.  The lecture will be worth only 75% of your total grade; the remaining 25% will be the laboratory grade.  The lab grade is split 50/50 between worksheets and the final lab practical.
 
Coursework
Students will be expected to complete a lab worksheet for each lab, which will double as a measure of attendance.  Worksheets will be handed in to the TAs at the end of lab, and graded and returned to you by your next lab section.
 
Lab Practical
The lab practical will be given on April 30th, the last day of lab.  The material on the lab practical will be compiled from all labs through the semester.  We will address this test more thoroughly as the date approaches. 
 
Extra Credit
You can earn up to ten points extra credit to add to your semester point total. These ten extra credit points can be earned by collecting insects. Just hand in your extra credit to Liz anytime during the semester.  We will keep track of your points if you want to check your total during the semester.  All extra credit is due by the last day of the course.
 
Collecting Insects:
Insects that are easily collected in the home or school environment are worth one point extra credit.  Please try to collect different types/species of insects - a bag of German cockroaches will be counted only as one species and given only one point.  The best way to kill most insects humanely is to place them in a container in the freezer and freeze them overnight.  Virtually any container will do - past students have used zip-loc bags, soda bottles, prescription vials, film canisters, and tennis ball cans.  Keep them frozen until you turn them in (otherwise, thawed insects will rot).  Small insects and soft-bodied insects can be killed and preserved by placing them in 70% ethanol.  If ethanol is not available, you may substitute isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) for short-term preservation.  Before you hand in your insects, you need to include information for the label - your name, the date of collection, ecological data (collected off an oak tree, windowsill, girlfriend's bathroom, etc.), and the location of the collection. Just write it legibly on a piece of paper or on the container.  With this information, we can properly label and include your insect in our teaching collection.  We will complete the rest of the curation process (pinning, labels, etc.) for you.  By the way, we will accept live insects if you are averse to killing them.  If, however, you plan to turn in live, agitated stinging hymenopterans, please be extra-careful handling them and please also let us know what's in the container before we open it!


IB109 2008 Tentative Lab Schedule
 
This schedule is subject to change; field trip dates in particular may be moved.  We will notify you a week in advance of any changes.

January 16th:	Introduction (What’s an Insect?)
January 23rd:	Overview of Insect Orders
January 30th:	Tour of Collections at the Natural History Survey (field trip, be on time)
February 6th:	Silks, Inks and Dyes (Bring something to tie-dye! messy lab)
February 13th:	Honey and Wax (messy lab, dress appropriately)
February 20th:	Tour of Bee Lab (field trip, be on time)
February 27th:	Insect Senses: Sounds, Sights, and Smells
March 5th:	Edible Insects (Bring your appetite!)
March 12th:	Insect Parasites (Bring some house dust!)
March 15th-23rd:	Spring Break! (Collect insects!)
March 26th:	Genetics
April 2nd:	Insect Predators
April 9th:	Aquatic Insects
April 16th:	Forensic Entomology
April 23rd:	Lab Review before practical
April 30th:	Lab Practical (Don’t skip lab!)
Return to the main page