Labs for Animal Behavior

General Expectations

The topic and animals for the first 7 weeks are set, however students should come to lab prepared to think creatively as there will not be a step-by-step protocol for every lab. Primary reference papers will provide "inspiration".

The second half of the semester is dedicated to "independent projects" in which students will work in pairs. The background, methods, data and conclusions of this work will be presented in a poster format during lab the last week of class.

Every student is expected to keep their own lab notebook and not rely on the notebook of a labmate. Raw data need not be copied from one notebook to another. But each lab notebook should include a clear indication of where the Raw Data are (another lab notebook, or a computer file).
Lab notebooks will be evaluated!

General Expectations for Lab Notebooks

Assignments: (see each week for details)
week1 - Jwatcher files and data analysis due in lab.
week2 - 1 page "grant proposal" due in lab next week.
week2 - Short Powerpoint presentation to be presented week4.
week3 - Guppy lab is evaluated in the Notebook Only.
week4 - Statistics problems set done in lab. Websites started in lab.
week5 - Protocol adult mating behavior due in lab week6.
week6 - Data analysis of Rover/Sitter data (week5 and 6 data) to be handed in the following week.
week7 - Electric fish lab is evaluated by notebook only.

Independent Project Assignments: (see independent project page for details)
Oct 15&16 - Project Planning
Oct 29&30 - Project Organizing
Nov 25th - Project Review and Revise
Dec 9 - Title, Authors, Abstract (emailed by noon)
Dec ?? - Poster Presentation
Dec ?? - Evaluations of other Posters (immediately after poster session
end of semester - Assessment of your own project (by email)