The class is over, the grades are in - and posted - and it seems like it must be time to say farewell. Have a productive and fun summer. Success in whatever you pursue.
-- Frankino
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Final exam results: UPDATE 2
Update 2:
We are finally finished with the grading; thank you for your patience. The updated final exam grade distribution is below. Your exam grades are all now available on casa.
We will finish compiling the course grades this weekend. We learned that we are not able to upload the letter grades to CASA, so you will have to wait until the Monday Peoplesoft release. Sorry.
Update 1:
Your scored tests can now be viewed online. I've posted a sample version of the test with correct answers for you to view here.
In answer to commenters, yes, there will the +/- grades. These will be determined based on the cumulative grades. There will not be strict z-score cutoffs for these, rather we will use them sparingly and at our discretion.
We are working frantically on grading the essays, but please be patient with us. We will post the scores for those as soon as we are finished.
In the meantime, here's the distribution for the multiple choice section:
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Final exam studying
For those of you that won't hear these things at the review session today:
1) The final exam will consist of 26 multiple choice questions, worth 5 points each, and 2 essay questions, worth 10 points each, for a total of 150 points. (Please see the post below for a reminder of how we will assign the essay questions.)
2) The material for the final will be drawn equally from across the semester, i.e. ~1/3 from each exam. However, we will emphasize, as always, connections across topics; thus, one question may ask you to draw on knowledge gained from material covered in two different exams.
3) Your classmates have some very good ideas on how you might go about studying for this exam (see the comments to this post). The only thing I will add to that is, don't forget about the essays.
This post will be updated if we think of more helpful things to tell you. Try to have some fun...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Darwin Extra Credit 3 is Up : Update II
I have uploaded all the grades for the Darwin Extra Credit for the final unit of the course. I believe you should be able to see your credit now.
If you have a missing value (no score), then I did not get your extra credit. Please forward the original email to me and I will update your score.
-- Frankino
If you have a missing value (no score), then I did not get your extra credit. Please forward the original email to me and I will update your score.
-- Frankino
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Exam 3 Results : Updated Again
Update II: Some versions of Q15 had no correct answer (the two which asked "Which of the following does not address this point?"); I have corrected the scores of people who got this question, adding 5 points to their grade but not including these five in the calculation of the test mean. This avoids penalizing them for getting a poorly worded question but does not affect the z-score of others. This is not an ideal solution, but it is the best we have.
Update I: The full grade distribution for Test 3 is below; this includes the multiple choice scores and the essays, but not the extra credit quizzes or Darwin papers. These are, however, included in your final CASA score for Test3. For a refresher on how to calculate your z-scores, see link below.
Despite how everyone felt about Test 3, average performance was very close to that in previous years. Moreover, a number of the students with the higher scores on Test1 and Test2 did not take Test3; this means that what were likely to be among the highest scoring students did not affect the mean of Test3 … hence, the class overall did better than I believe most of you suspected.
Many, many students falsely believe that there is a key mistake on Question 14. There is not; note the difference between antigenic DRIFT and SHIFT and see which question you had. A few students were confused by the word ‘novel’ in response B in two versions of Question 14; this affected just a few individuals and final Test3 scores have been adjusted accordingly.
Now, onward to grading the final …
-- Frankino
Your graded tests are now available to view online. A version with correct answers can be found here.
Update I: The full grade distribution for Test 3 is below; this includes the multiple choice scores and the essays, but not the extra credit quizzes or Darwin papers. These are, however, included in your final CASA score for Test3. For a refresher on how to calculate your z-scores, see link below.
Despite how everyone felt about Test 3, average performance was very close to that in previous years. Moreover, a number of the students with the higher scores on Test1 and Test2 did not take Test3; this means that what were likely to be among the highest scoring students did not affect the mean of Test3 … hence, the class overall did better than I believe most of you suspected.
Many, many students falsely believe that there is a key mistake on Question 14. There is not; note the difference between antigenic DRIFT and SHIFT and see which question you had. A few students were confused by the word ‘novel’ in response B in two versions of Question 14; this affected just a few individuals and final Test3 scores have been adjusted accordingly.
Now, onward to grading the final …
-- Frankino
Your graded tests are now available to view online. A version with correct answers can be found here.
The grade distribution is below. For a refresher on z-scores, see here.
Essays may or may not be graded before the final exam, but when we grade them, we will take into account that version 3 was missing a figure. When we have more info, we will update this post.
I recommend that you finish venting without resorting to name calling or obscenities, then you proceed quickly to studying for the final, which is coming up very quickly.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Essay questions and formulae for Final Exam
The formula sheet for the final is here.
Group A
1) How do population geneticists define evolution? List three different processes that can cause evolution in the population genetics sense and describe how they do so. Discuss how two of these processes can act in opposition to each other.
2) We discussed many different patterns of selection in class. List four (4) of these and describe the effect they are predicted to have on the mean and variance in the population. Which of these is likely the most common and why?
3) Phylogenetic trees are used in myriad ways in evolutionary biology. Define what a phylogentic tree is and describe three (3) different ways that phylogenetic trees are used to understand the pattern and/or process of evolution.
4) Describe three (3) evolutionary scenarios that are expected to give rise to the maintenance of two or more alleles at a locus. Give a real or hypothetical example of each of these. Explain what forces maintain the equilibrium and whether the equilibrium is stable or unstable.
5) Some organisms exhibit reproductive polyphenisms, switching between sexual or asexual reproduction depending on environmental conditions. What is the likely evolutionary advantage of such reproductive polyphenisms? When should an individual switch between modes? List three factors that would be needed to maintain such an adaptive polyphenism.
Group B
6) Fisher used a geometric model to make predictions about the probability that mutations of different effects would be beneficial. Describe Fisher's model and its predictions. These predictions did not take into account the probability of fixation of mutations. How would you incorporate the probability of fixation of different types of mutations into the predictions of this model?
7) Linkage disequilibrium can have important consequences for the evolution of linked loci. It can also have significant effects on the evolution of traits for which some phenotypic variance is determined by the linked loci. Briefly explain the effects of strong linkage disequilibrium on the evolution of linked loci themselves and the consequences linkage disequilibrium has for THE EVOLUTION OF phenotypic traits. In addressing the issue of phenotypic evolution, consider scenarios where the linked loci act additively and when they act non-additively.
8) In class, we discussed data regarding two hypotheses explaining the adaptive significance of elongated necks in giraffes. List these hypotheses and critically evaluate these data. Explain why you do or do not find these data convincing. What kind of data (e.g. phylogenetic data, additional experiments) might be used to more fully address these hypotheses?
9) As discussed in class, many species of horned beetle have dimorphic males. Large males have horns and typically guard females whereas smaller males are hornless and often ‘sneak’ matings because they are too tiny to win fights or guard successfully. Body size exhibits low heritability because it is determined largely by the amount of dung a female provisions for each of her offspring. Based on this information and content presented in several lectures in class, answer the following questions. (A) How does sexual selection act in this system? (B) When should males switch mating tactics? (C) How might frequency-dependent selection act on male body size and how might females adaptively respond to male size frequency in the population?
10) Intelligent design creationists often attempt to discredit evolutionary theory by claiming that such complexity seen in the natural world could not have arisen through "random processes." The obvious flaw in this argument is that evolutionary theory relies on both random and NON-random processes to explain evolutionary change. Describe one major process of evolutionary change that is inherently random and one that is inherently non-random. In what way does each of these processes result in evolution and what is the consequence for the population (e.g. in terms of fitness, adaptation, or changes in complexity)?
Essays for the final are listed below. The format for these essays will follow that which was described in class. The questions have been divided into two groups. You will be randomly assigned a pair of questions from each group and you will select one question from each pair to answer on your test. In other words, below are listed five questions in Group A and five in Group B. You will be assigned two from A and two from B and will respond to one from each group. Again, this is as was described in lecture, except that we have reduced the number of questions in the pool from sixteen to ten, which seems more reasonable given the demands of finals week. We know you have much to prepare for in the coming week and hope these will help you focus your studying. See you at the review on Thursday.
Group A
1) How do population geneticists define evolution? List three different processes that can cause evolution in the population genetics sense and describe how they do so. Discuss how two of these processes can act in opposition to each other.
2) We discussed many different patterns of selection in class. List four (4) of these and describe the effect they are predicted to have on the mean and variance in the population. Which of these is likely the most common and why?
3) Phylogenetic trees are used in myriad ways in evolutionary biology. Define what a phylogentic tree is and describe three (3) different ways that phylogenetic trees are used to understand the pattern and/or process of evolution.
4) Describe three (3) evolutionary scenarios that are expected to give rise to the maintenance of two or more alleles at a locus. Give a real or hypothetical example of each of these. Explain what forces maintain the equilibrium and whether the equilibrium is stable or unstable.
5) Some organisms exhibit reproductive polyphenisms, switching between sexual or asexual reproduction depending on environmental conditions. What is the likely evolutionary advantage of such reproductive polyphenisms? When should an individual switch between modes? List three factors that would be needed to maintain such an adaptive polyphenism.
Group B
6) Fisher used a geometric model to make predictions about the probability that mutations of different effects would be beneficial. Describe Fisher's model and its predictions. These predictions did not take into account the probability of fixation of mutations. How would you incorporate the probability of fixation of different types of mutations into the predictions of this model?
7) Linkage disequilibrium can have important consequences for the evolution of linked loci. It can also have significant effects on the evolution of traits for which some phenotypic variance is determined by the linked loci. Briefly explain the effects of strong linkage disequilibrium on the evolution of linked loci themselves and the consequences linkage disequilibrium has for THE EVOLUTION OF phenotypic traits. In addressing the issue of phenotypic evolution, consider scenarios where the linked loci act additively and when they act non-additively.
8) In class, we discussed data regarding two hypotheses explaining the adaptive significance of elongated necks in giraffes. List these hypotheses and critically evaluate these data. Explain why you do or do not find these data convincing. What kind of data (e.g. phylogenetic data, additional experiments) might be used to more fully address these hypotheses?
9) As discussed in class, many species of horned beetle have dimorphic males. Large males have horns and typically guard females whereas smaller males are hornless and often ‘sneak’ matings because they are too tiny to win fights or guard successfully. Body size exhibits low heritability because it is determined largely by the amount of dung a female provisions for each of her offspring. Based on this information and content presented in several lectures in class, answer the following questions. (A) How does sexual selection act in this system? (B) When should males switch mating tactics? (C) How might frequency-dependent selection act on male body size and how might females adaptively respond to male size frequency in the population?
10) Intelligent design creationists often attempt to discredit evolutionary theory by claiming that such complexity seen in the natural world could not have arisen through "random processes." The obvious flaw in this argument is that evolutionary theory relies on both random and NON-random processes to explain evolutionary change. Describe one major process of evolutionary change that is inherently random and one that is inherently non-random. In what way does each of these processes result in evolution and what is the consequence for the population (e.g. in terms of fitness, adaptation, or changes in complexity)?
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Study Tips for Test3 & Darwin EC3 - minor update
First, as I mentioned in class, there is no formula sheet for Test3; any equations you need will be provided in the test question.
Second, I suggest that you look at the questions for the most recent Quiz; some of the multiple choice questions on Test3 have more responses than the typical A-E listing. Best to see an example of this before the test. I assumed that everyone would have looked at the Quiz by now, but that is apparently not the case.
The best way to tackle these longer-form questions is to make a list of the letters that you think answer the question as you read through the options. That way you do not have to keep a running list in your head of the possible correct response(s).
I will go through the extra credit that has been submitted on Wednesday and will post those grades at that time.
-- Frankino
Second, I suggest that you look at the questions for the most recent Quiz; some of the multiple choice questions on Test3 have more responses than the typical A-E listing. Best to see an example of this before the test. I assumed that everyone would have looked at the Quiz by now, but that is apparently not the case.
The best way to tackle these longer-form questions is to make a list of the letters that you think answer the question as you read through the options. That way you do not have to keep a running list in your head of the possible correct response(s).
I will go through the extra credit that has been submitted on Wednesday and will post those grades at that time.
-- Frankino
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