BY 421 PARASITOLOGY

LABORATORY

The laboratory portion of this course will provide an opportunity to observe the parasites discussed in lecture. Emphasis will be given to parasites of humans. A laboratory notebook, as described below, is required.  Quizzes will be given.

You may work in the lab any day of the week from 7:00 A.M. until 10:00 P.M., except when the lab is being used by another class or during the set-up of exams. Consult your instructor for after-hours and week-end use.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR LABORATORY NOTEBOOK

The purpose of keeping a laboratory notebook is to encourage you to examine the specimens, not just look at them.   You should spend enough time with a specimen to be able to form such a mental picture of the subject as to allow you could produce a reasonable replica on paper in the absence of the subject. By organizing your thoughts and observations combined with information from the texts and recording them in words and drawings you will have a meaningful record of the material presented. The lab notebook will be the instrument that will facilitate your assimilation of a rather complex body of information. The purpose of the lab notebook, then, is to help you LEARN. YOU WILL GET FROM THE LAB WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT.

You will use a standard sized three-ringed, loose-leaf binder (one inch should be sufficient) the color of your choice. The first and second pages will be provided and will serve as the title page and table of contents. At the start of each lab you will be given a list of organisms to observe. This list is to be placed in your notebook and will serve to mark the beginning of a set of observations. Following that page you are to record your observations on all materials/ specimens, including demonstrations, presented in the lab. All pages are to be number consecutively starting with the first page after the table of contents. These numbers are to be added to the table of contents to reference location of the various labs.

Necessary upper level taxa will be indicated on the lab handouts. Each new phylum, subphylum, superclass, class, subclass or order will start a new page. Under each upper level taxa you will list the diagnostic characteristics for the group, as given in your text. Do not put more than one of these categories on a page. Each page of observations is to be headed by the lowest level taxa above the species. Observations should not simply be a listing of characteristics copied out of the textbook, but they should be important and distinctive observable features of the organisms, written in your own words. Give attention to those features that will help you distinguish the specimen from others. Often, it will be necessary for you to observe several specimens in order to see all the diagnostic characteristics. Always give the life cycle stage for each specimen observed. You may supplement your observations with relevant information from the text. You will be asked to make formal drawings of selected specimens. However, you may include as many sketches of a specimen or portion of a specimen as you wish.

Drawing should be made in pencil (avoid colored pencils), preferably 3H and on unlined drawing paper. These drawings are not expected to be artistic masterpieces. The most important aspect of these drawings is proportion and form. Draw the specimen Ain-hand@ not diagrams from a text. On many of the drawing it may be helpful to represent depth or contour. Stippling can easily do this. Always consider the light source as at the upper left corner. Thus, if representing a ridge the lower right side is in shadow and should be shaded. Salient features of the specimen should always be labeled and the organism properly identified.

The lab notebook is worth a total of 50 points. It will be graded twice. The first section is due on the day of exam II and the second section due the day of the final exam. There will be a 5% per day penalty for late notebooks. Evaluation will be based on form and neatness (25%), utility and accuracy (40%) and drawings (35%).

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