Pl P 150 (3 credits)
MWF 9:10-10:00 am-- Johnson Hall Room 343
Instructors: Lori M. Carris (carris@wsu.edu) 335-3733, Johnson 329
Jack D. Rogers (rogers@wsu.edu) 335-3732, Johnson 327
Required Text: Hudler, G. W. 1998. Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds. Princeton University Press, New Jersey.
Note: Pl P 150 class site is now maintained through WSU's eLearning webCT
Students enrolled in Pl P 150 for Spring 2009 should refer to webCT for course assignments and information.
Course objectives:
COURSE OUTLINE
Reading assignment from “Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds” indicated for each section.
Jan. 12 Introduction to "Molds, Mildews & Mushrooms" (Carris)
Jan. 14 Lifestyles of the Fifth Kingdom (Carris)
Jan. 16 Mushrooms, molds and mildews—common groups of fungi (Carris)
Jan. 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Day--All University Holiday
Jan. 21 How are organisms named and classified, why should you care? (Rogers)
Jan. 23 Did dinosaurs eat mushrooms? Fungi in the fossil record (Carris)
Jan. 26 The Irish Potato Famine: Why we have so many Irish-Americans (Rogers)
Jan. 28 Rusts and smuts, tea and gingerbread (Carris)
Jared Diamond's "Evolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication"
Jan. 30 Ergot and the Salem witch trials (Carris)
Linda Caporeal's "Ergotism: The Satan Loosed in Salem"
Assignment I--Scientific Literature and the Popular Press (Part 1)
Feb. 2 White pine blister rust: The loss of an industry (Rogers)
Feb. 4 Chestnut blight: The economic loss of a species (Rogers)
Questions for Assignment I, part 1 due
Feb. 6 Dutch elm disease: An urban disaster (Rogers)
Feb. 9 Sudden Oak Death: A potential catastrophe (Rogers)
Assignment I--Scientific Literature and the Popular Press (Part 2)
Feb. 11 The Frog Killer
Feb. 13 I’ve got you under my skin: Ringworm, toenail fungus, athlete’s foot (Rogers)
Feb. 16 President’s Day Class Holiday
Feb. 18 Systemic mycoses: These can cripple, disfigure, or kill (Rogers)
Feb. 20 Antibiotics and pharmaceuticals: Fungal products in the service of mankind (Rogers)
Writing component of Assignment I, part 2 due
Feb. 23 Medicinal mushrooms, Kombucha (Carris) Link to Fungi Perfecti and MycoMedicinals
Feb. 25 Mycotoxins, dead turkeys and foamy beer (Carris)
Feb. 27 Yeasty beasties, brewing and baking (Carris)
March 2 Blue cheese, soy sauce and Quorn: Rotten cheese, liquified beans, and fungus burgers (Rogers)
March 4 The Banana--Op-Ed in New York Times
March 6 MIDTERM EXAMINATION
March 9 Magic ‘shrooms (Carris) Stonehenge--Axes or Mushrooms?
Reference: Letcher, A. 2007. "Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom".
HarperCollins, NY.
March 11 Morels, Matsutakes, truffles and other tasty fungi (Carris) Writing Assignment 2
March 13 Toads, toadstools, poisonous mushrooms (Carris)
March 16-20 Spring Break
March 23 Mushroom fruiting and climate change (Carris)
March 25 Fungi in tropical forests: Those we do not know well (Rogers)
March 27 Molds and mildews (Carris)
March 30 Wood rotting fungi: Nature’s trash incinerators (Rogers)
April 1 Fairy ring fungi (Carris)
April 3 An ode to dung fungi: Some words about nerds who study fungi on turds (Rogers)
April 6 Sick building syndrome (Carris)
April 8 Building decay: Collapsing woodwork and stinky rooms (Rogers)
April 10 Bathroom mold/demonstration of airborne spores (Carris & Rogers)
April 13 Lichens (alga + fungus): Two are sometimes better than one (Rogers)
April 15 Mycorrhizae (plants + fungus) (Carris)
April 17 Fungus farmers: ants, termites & snails (Carris) Ancient Farmers of the Amazon video clip
Writing Assignment 2 due today!
April 20 Fungi in biological control: It takes one to know one (Rogers)
April 22 Fungi that exploit microscopic animals (Carris)
Fungus, plant or animal?
April 24 Water molds (Carris)
April 27 Slime Molds (Carris)
April 29 Film: “The Rotten World About Us” (50 minutes)
April 31 Fungi, folklore, art and religion (Carris & Rogers)
FINAL EXAMINATION Wednesday May 6, 8:00-10:00 AM
Two writing assignments will be given during the semester. Each assignment will account for 20% of the final grade. The first will be on scientific literature as interpreted by the popular press, and the second assignment will involve the use problem-solving, inquiry and information retrieval to formulate and evaluate alternative solutions to a case study involving fungi.
Writing assignments turned in after the due date without prior permission from the instructors will not be accepted. The missed assignment will be included as zero (0) when averaging your grade. For example, if you miss an assignment worth 20% of your final grade you can do no better than 80 (B-) in the course.
Writing Assignment I--Scientific Literature and the Popular Press
Scientific studies deemed newsworthy and interesting to the public are often featured in newspaper and magazine articles soon after the studies are published in scientific journals. In the first part of the assignment, we will consider what makes a scientific study of interest to the general public. The subject of the assignment is an on-going controversy over the cause of the widespread disappearance of frogs. Something is killing frogs; some species have gone extinct, and scientists are in disagreement as to the cause of their disappearance.
Part 1: An article published in the New York Times Science section (March 25, 2008) by Andrew C. Revkin, “Link to Global Warming in Frogs’ Disappearance Is Challenged” incorporated some of the key points of a study published in PLoS Biology, a scientific journal. For the first part of this assignment, carefully read Mr. Revkin’s New York Times article and answer the following set of questions. Your answers should each be at least 2-3 sentences long. On February 6, we will discuss the evidence for various causes of amphibian decline, and you will be given a writing assignment. The answers to the following four questions will assist you in the writing assignment. Answers are due on February 4 and will be graded as part of Assignment 1.
Part 2: “Beware the lone killer”, a commentary in Nature Reports Climate Change (May 2008: vol. 2, pages 57-59) by J. Alan Pounds and Luis A. Coloma is the basis for the second part of this assignment. Pounds and Coloma are scientists who published in 2006 the results of a study showing the impact of global warming on frog populations. This study was widely cited, including by Andrew Revkin’s in his March 25, 2008 New York Times article that you read as the first part of this assignment.
The writing component of this assignment is to construct a rebuttal to Mr. Revkin’s New York Times article using the evidence presented by Pounds and Coloma. The rebuttal should be in a format similar to that used for the Revkin article, and appropriate for the popular press, for example, the Evergreen. Consider your answers to the questions on the Revkin article—the type of information he presented, how he used key words in the title and quotes in the text to engage his audience.
Your article should be 500-700 words in length (similar to the Revkin article). Make your article concise yet compelling. Use the rubric given out in class as a guide in your writing. The elements in the rubric will be used in grading the assignment. Assignment is due February 20. Late assignments will not be accepted.
Writing Assignment 2--Case Studies
The objective of this assignment is use problem-solving, inquiry and information retrieval to formulate and evaluate alternative solutions to a case study involving fungi. Key pieces of information will be missing from the case study as originally presented. The assignment will involve the following steps:
1. March 9: Eight case studies will be handed out in class. Read over each case study and decide which case is of most interest to you. Case studies include a question, or set of questions that are to be addressed in the final report. You can work alone, or with one other member of the class. The same grade will be given to each member of a group.
2. March 13: Return the form handed out on March 6, indicating the case study selected, and members of the group working on that case study. Only one form needs to be turned in for each group.
3. Determine the types of information that are needed to solve the case, and identify the appropriate sources for this information. Information from websites may be used if the website is cited correctly in your final report. However, reports should not rely solely on web-based information, and other references must be cited as well.
4. April 17: Final report due.
Requirements: Each group will prepare a 3-4 page (double-spaced) report according to above schedule. The reports are to be prepared using the criteria outlined in rubric to be handed out in class. A minimum of two references should be cited for each report. These references may include books, journal articles, or websites, but do not rely on only websites. Refer to the information provided below for proper citation of references. A group report should reflect the work of both members of the group. The reports will be evaluated based on the criteria in the attached rubric. This assignment accounts for 20% of the final course grade.
References: When citing a reference within the report, used the author’s name(s) and date of publication in parentheses at the end of the sentence, eg., (Carris, 1999). If the author is not known (common for a website), then use “Anonymous” and the date, eg., (Anonymous, 1999). References are to be cited at the end of the report using the format indicated below.
For reference that is a book:
Hudler, G. W. 1998. Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds. Princeton University Press.
For a reference that is an article in a magazine or journal:
Steindrau, D. C., and Whitfield, J. B. 1994. Chinese caterpillar fungus and world class runners. American Entomologist 40:234-239.
For a reference that is an article in a newspaper:
Angier, N. 1992. Twin Crowns for 30-acre Fungus: World’s Biggest, Oldest Organism. New York Times, Thursday April 2.
For a reference from a website:
q Author’s name (if known, otherwise “Anonymous”)
q Date of publication or last revision (in parenthesis)
q Title of document from website
q Title of complete work (if applicable)
q URL
q Date of access (in parenthesis)
Here is an example of how to cite a website:
Anonymous (updated 2/10/2006). Dangers of taking magic mushrooms. Magic Mushroom Net. http://www.magic-mushrooms.net/index.html (accessed 2/27/06).
Websites that may be helpful for assignment:
Paul Stamet's Mushrooms and Man
EXAMINATIONS, QUIZZES AND OTHER ASSIGNMENTS
Two closed book examinations will be given during the semester, one at midterm and one during final exam week (see course outline). The midterm examination will be fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice questions and will be worth 20% of the final grade. The final examination will be short answer or short essay questions based upon analysis of a real or fictitious popularized account of a fungal phenomenon, and will be worth 20% of the final grade. Additionally, 10-12 quizzes, assignments based on readings, and in-class writing will be given during the course of the semester. The quizzes and in-class writings will be based on information from lectures presented the day of the quiz or writing, and will not be announced in advance. There are no make-up quizzes, assignments, or in-class writing; these will account for 20% of the final grade.
Assignment 1 (Scientific Literature and the Popular Press): 20%
Assignment 2 (Case Study): 20%
Quizzes (10 during course of semester) 20%
Midterm Examination: 20%
Final Examination: 20%
GRADE ASSIGNMENT
90- 100 % A
80- 89% B
70-79% C
60-69% D
below 60% F
Students with Disabilities: We are committed to providing assistance to help you be successful in this course. Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. Please go to the Disability Resource Center (DRC) during the first two weeks of every semester to seek information or to qualify for accommodations. All accommodations MUST be approved through the DRC, located in the Administration Annex Bldg, Room 205. To make an appointment with a disability counselor, please call 335-3417.
Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is the act of stealing or passing off another’s ideas or work as your own. The most common forms of plagiarism include copying (e.g., cutting and pasting), paraphrasing by changing around a few words or phrases, and failing to cite a source for ideas or facts that are stated. Copying verbatim from a reference, even if you have cited the copied reference, is considered plagiarism. Plagiarism is unacceptable, and papers handed in for this class containing examples of plagiarism will not be given credit. Please refer to (http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/plagiarism/) for advice on how to avoid plagiarizing the work of others in your paper. If you have any questions, talk to one of your instructors.
Suggestions and comments: carris@wsu.edu
Updated January 16, 2009
