[albalks]

Life Science 3A03:

- 5 different modules, each focusing on a type of disease/ health issue.
- We learned about schistosomiasis, xenoestrogens, epilepsy, genetically modified food, and polio
- For each module you have a test and a paper. The test was worth 12% and the paper is worth 6%. There was also a 10% in class essay.
- You get 5% added to your highest paper and test (I think 3 % to test and 2% to paper)
- The papers were less than 500 words long and Dr. Dej took our top 4 papers or you can just submit 4 instead of 5.
- You could write your papers on various topics within the module, so maybe you wanted to focus on vaccines for schistosomiasis, or if it's possible to eliminate the parasite. You can look at one issue from many different perspectives.
-During lecture we usually had to watch one documentary per module which was nice because it summed up the various issues surrounding the topic.
-The course was very interesting and i would highly recommend it.
-You can definitely do very very well in this class.

Problems:
-First year it's run so there were a ot of administrative issues
-Not enough TAs
- Disorganized
-Never got any marks on time
- I don't think any of these should be a problem coming Fall/Winter

I would give this course a 10/10 in terms of interest and testing
I would give it a 5/10 in terms of organization, just because of the caveats that poor Dr. Dej had to deal with.

I would recommend it to this class. Interesting material, amazing professor.

Do you think the book is necessary?

There was no book for this course when it was taught last year.

thanks. I was wondering why she didn't mention books~ ^^

Format for this year was different than last year. we had 4 modules and a final symposium presentation. each module had a midterm (12%) and an essay (6%) and there were 4 of them so total of 72%. There was in class essay at the end of the term worth 10% and a symposium presentation worth 18%.

what was the final symposium about?

Originally Posted by lilstarangel

what was the final symposium about?

She will give you a lot topic at the beginning of the term and you and your partner pick one. then you have to come up with intro to the disease and how to eradicate this disease.
most people finished within 4 days.
this is not something you should worry about, cause this the same format and same question you have answered over the term of study. So it is really fun and interesting.

I just finished this course term 1 during 2011. My prof was Dr. Kimberley Dej.
She is really nice prof, but busy. sometimes you do not get the essay marks on time especially toward the end of term.
one more thing I like about the prof is that she is really reasonable. She said that: I do not care if the essay is 1h late, it doesn't matter, what you write matters more. She tries to give you the longest time to finish your essay.
She actually care about if we understand the materials or not.

midterms are not focus on small details, if you understand the material and spend little to memorize, you will be doing very well in this class.

I found the first two modules are bit harder, but the other two are just a breeze. So stay in this class, do not drop if you are not doing so well at the beginning.

awesome class, really helps you develop variety of skills through different types of evaluations (tests-essays-presentation-group work-individual work), also content is interesting and the fact that each topic is taught by a different professor who is very knowledgeable and passionate about the material makes this course unlike any other.

my advice if you take this - check your tests after they're marked. check with the prof if you feel you deserved full marks and were not awarded them. with all due respect the ta's did an atrocious job; standing in line for a combination of hours to see the prof was more than worth it.

other than that; great class. possibly my favorite at mac thus far. interesting, fairly easy, and definitely worth taking.

can anyone provide the most recent course outline for this course, and does the research symposium presentation require alot of work

Originally Posted by a.a27

can anyone provide the most recent course outline for this course, and does the research symposium presentation require alot of work

http://www.science.mcmaster. ca/lif...e/courses.html

And for links to other department course outlines:
http://www.macinsiders.com/forumdisp...lines-152.html

Originally Posted by a.a27

can anyone provide the most recent course outline for this course, and does the research symposium presentation require alot of work

it's not bad. they marked fairly easily, but the requirements are pretty vague, so it's a little difficult to know what exactly to do. The best thing is if you can get a hold of someone else's from a past semester to use as a guideline. The topics will likely be different though!

the presentation does require alot of work but the marking is very fair.

there are four topics with different professors. each topic consists of a test and an essay. so basically, you have a test every two weeks or so. but its just based on that one specific topic.

Anyone know how likely it is that Dr. Dej would waive the LS 2A03 pre-req requirement? Or anyone else I can contact?