Syllabus

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• Course Materials
• Course Objectives
• Grading & Attendance
  • Course Components & Points
  • Final Grades
  • Grades
  • Regrade Policy
  • Lecture Attendance
    • Pop “Quizzes”
  • Readings & Reflection Quizzes
  • Final Project
    • Proposal
    • Proposal Meeting
    • Final Deliverable
    • Submissions
    • Presentations (optional for extra credit)
  • Exams
    • Exams in the TTC-CBTF
• Other Good Stuff
  • Class/Web Conduct
  • Academic Integrity
    • Policy on using Artificial Intelligence programming assistance
  • Disability Access
  • Transfer Students
  • Difficult Life Situations
  • Anonymous Feedback

Course Materials

• Textbook: How Genes Influence Behavior (2e)
• Readings: Can all be accessed from this website
• PrairieLearn will be used for quizzes, exams, and project submissions

Course Objectives

• Explain the central dogma of genetics and how genetic variation and epigenetics plays a role throughout
• Describe and evaluate evidence for monogenecity, polygenicity, the environment, and gene x environment interactions across human behaviors
• Describe how the tenets of genetics, study designs, and available technologies have been and can be used to study behavior
• Discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and use cases for the use of non-human organisms (bacteria, worm, fly, mice, dogs, primates, etc.) in the study of behavior genetics
• Analyze and critique evidence in scientific publications of behavioral genetics

Grading & Attendance

Course Components & Points

Final Grades

Your letter grade will be determined using the following grading scale:

Given the amount of extra credit offered throughout the quarter, grades are not rounded up.

Grades

Grades are released on Canvas a week after the submission date and sometimes sooner. Ultimately it is your responsibility to check your final grade and get in touch if you believe there is a problem.

Regrade Policy

The regrade policy is here to protect students from serious issues in grading, not to provide students with a platform to argue about or plead for an extra point. When we regrade, we closely go through the entire assignment again and reevaluate it as a whole. This means your grade can either stay the same, go up, or go down. This is not to discourage students from requesting legitimate regrades, but to discourage students from just arguing for points (without merit).

If you think a grading error has occurred please follow these steps:

• You have 72 hours to request a regrade
• Initiate the regrade through our Q&A platform (if it is a group project, confer w/ your team first and submit one regrade after your team comes to a consensus)
• Provide evidence for why your answer is correct and merits a regrade (i.e. a specific reference to something said in a lecture, the readings, or office hours)
• We will get back to you within 48 hours after regrades close with our final decision.

Lecture Attendance

Our goal is to make lectures and office hours worthwhile to attend (e.g. lots of in-class discussion). However, lecture attendance is not required. All lectures will be podcast.

Pop “Quizzes”

That said, we have found that students who come to lecture and are engaged fully learn the most (which is our goal!) and hope that you’ll attend lecture. To incentivize attendance, we will occasionally do pop quizzes in lecture (using Kahoot!). While we encourage you to do your best on these, completion of any pop quiz will be used to replace a reading reflection quiz grade with full credit. (So, if you forget to do a reading reflection and get a zero or get a low score on one, if you then attend lecture on a day with a pop quiz, that zero/low score will be replaced with full credit…regardless of whether you get the questions on the quiz correct.) These will also give you practice for the in-class exams (without the pressure).

Readings & Reflection Quizzes

This course will be reading-heavy. There will be reading assigned from the textbook, primary academic research, review papers, and scientific magazines. To help keep you from falling behind, by class time before each class, you will take a short quiz on the day’s assigned readings and a few questions from material after the last lecture. Quizzes will typically have a few multiple choice or True/False questions, along with a couple short-answer questions. While reading will be time-consuming, completing your quiz will not be, so long as you’ve understood the core concepts from lecture and completed and thought critically about the assigned reading. Short-answer responses that indicate students completed the readings while thinking critically (even if they contain mistakes/misunderstandings/uncertainties) will receive full credit. Reflection quiz completion will be untimed. Particularly thoughtful/insightful responses on short-answer responses will have the possibility to earn extra credit.

Reading Reflection quizzes will be completed through PrairieLearn and can be submitted up to a week late for half credit.

Final Project

There are a few options for the final project: 1) 3-5 page paper completed individually, 2) 10 min podcast episode or YouTube-style video completed in a group of 2-4; 3) A series of ~4 TikTok-style videos completed in a group of 2-4 (total time of video series: ~10 min); 4) An 8-10 page group paper completed in a group of 3-4. Students will determine which option they want to pursue.

Proposal

Once you have decided on your project option, you (and possibly your group) will decide on a topic (a behavior not covered in class) and begin to search the academic literature for papers related to the topic and genetics. Your proposal will include: 1) your behavior 2) at least 3 primary references not assigned to be read in class that you’ll likely use in your final project, and 3) a one paragraph, brief summary of each reference.

Proposal Meeting

During week 8, each person/group will meet with an instructional staff member for a 10 minute meeting (virtual is an option) to discuss their project proposal and plans going forward. Students will receive feedback during this session and are encouraged to bring questions.

Final Deliverable

For each project, students will turn in either a report (double-spaced; 1 in margins) or video(s)/recording taking a deep dive into a behavior and its relationship to genetics. More details will be discussed in class.

Submissions

• You may resubmit as many times as you like before the deadline
• Late assignments have 5 points deducted within the first 24 hours, and an additional 5 points during the following 24 hours.
• No late assignments accepted after 48 hours.

Presentations (optional for extra credit)

Individuals and groups will have the option to present their final projects in class on the last day of class. More details will be discussed, but those who present will earn extra credit on their final project. If there is more interest than we have time for presentations, students/groups will be chosen at random to present.

Exams

The midterm and final exam are an opportunity for us to determine how all of you are learning the course material. The best way to study for the exam is to carefully review the readings and your lecture notes (think about the main topics in the lectures and then determine the details that support each of those topics), look over the study guide, and review past readings and quizzes.

No late exams are permitted, except for extenuating circumstances. Please reach out to staff as early as possible if you know something will prevent you from taking the exam on time.

Exams in the TTC-CBTF

Exams will be closed-book and taken through the Triton Testing Center’s Computer-Based Testing Facility (TTC-CBTF) in AP&M B349. For exams, students will have to sign up for an exam slot. For the midterm, students will be able to sign up for slots during week 6 (11/4 – 11/9). For the final, all students will have to sign up for a slot during finals week on 12/7. Please note that this final exam date differs from what you see in WebReg.

You must schedule your tests at least three days in advance, but it is recommended that you do so as soon as possible. To schedule, visit prairietest.com and login with your UC San Diego credentials. Reservations can be changed until 10 minutes before the test begins. More information about testing policies and procedures can be found on the TTC’s website. You may also email tritontesting@ucsd.edu for assistance.

Please note that if you plan to use OSD-approved accommodations for your test, you will take it at the TTC’s Pepper Canyon Hall location. You must schedule your test three days in advance through the RegisterBlast system.

You will be encouraged (via extra credit) to visit the TTC-CBTF during week 1 to test out the system and familiarize yourself with the exam location.

Other Good Stuff

Class/Web Conduct

In all interactions in this class, you are expected to be respectful. This includes following the UC San Diego principles of the community.

This class will be a welcoming, inclusive, and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), political beliefs/leanings, or technology choices.

At all times, you should be considerate and respectful. Always refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech. Last of all, take care of each other.

If you have a concern, please speak with Prof Ellis or your TAs. If you are uncomfortable doing so, that’s ok! The OPHD (Office for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination) and CARE (confidential advocacy and education office for sexual violence and gender-based violence) are wonderful resources on campus.

Academic Integrity

Don’t cheat.

You are encouraged to (and at times will have to) work together and help one another. However, you are personally responsible for the work you submit (readings/exams). For projects, it is your responsibility to ensure you understand everything your group has submitted and to make sure the correct file has been uploaded, that the upload is uncorrupted, and that it renders correctly. Projects may include ideas from other sources, but these other sources must be documented with clear attribution. Please review academic integrity policies here.

We anticipate you all doing well in this course; however, if you are feeling lost or overwhelmed, that’s ok! Should that occur, we recommend: (i.) asking questions in/after class, (ii.) attending office hours, and/or (iii.) reaching out to course staff.

Cheating and plagiarism have been and will be strongly penalized. If, for whatever reason, this website or PrairieLearn/PrairieTest is down, or something else prohibits you from being able to turn something in on time, immediately contact course staff via email (attach your assignment if possible) or else it will be graded as late.

Policy on using Artificial Intelligence programming assistance

I believe that using large language models (LLMs) or other kinds of AI can be a great tool for students when used to help support a student’s learning. I also believe that relying on AI assistance as your first or only step to understanding course material will likely limit your understanding of course concepts. Note that LLMs are most helpful in learning when you determine the questions to ask it and interpret the answer, NOT when you copy+paste questions from quizzes in directly and then copy+paste the answer it spits out.

My advice:

• If you’re asking questions about general course concepts to get definitions or brief explanations about words/terminology with which you’re unfamiliar, that’s great! Ask away! Of course, LLMs do sometimes get stuff wrong, but for this course, it’s typically right with these sorts of things.
• If you struggle to read the literature in this course, always try to read the assigned reading on your own first. Think about what’s not making sense. Then, go to ChatGPT (or other LLM) to ask for a summary. Read and think about the summary. Then, go back and read the primary literature again after reading the summary from ChatGPT to see if you understand the assigned reading better at that point (and to help determine if ChatGPT was right!).
• If you’re struggling to write, always try to draft yourself first. You can ask LLMs to reword something or simplify for you, but it shouldn’t write any text for you from scratch. This will help ensure your ideas are what end up in the submission…and honestly, your writing is probably better than what you’ll get from an LLM in this course.
• If you’re brainstorming, always think on your own first and then ask ChatGPT to expand upon your ideas. You don’t want to limit your thinking by going to an LLM first.

Generally: always consider whether you learned something more/better from your interaction with LLM (the goal!) or if all you did was get an answer you don’t understand (NOT the goal).

LLM use is permitted across the course, except on the midterm and final (which are and closed book).

Disability Access

Students requesting accommodations due to a disability must provide a current Authorization for Accommodation (AFA) letter. These letters are issued by the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), which is located in University Center 202 behind Center Hall. These will be sent to the instructor once submitted, and you will receive a response confirming receipt and discussing the accomodations as necessary. However, if you are struggling to get necessary accommodations or want to further discuss your accommodations, please feel free to reach out directly.

Contacting the OSD can help you further:
858.534.4382 (phone)
osd@ucsd.edu (email)
http://disabilities.ucsd.edu

Transfer Students

The Triton Transfer Hub is available to meet transfer students’ academic, social, and personal needs. Services include 1:1 involvement and academic success support with professional staff, peer coaching, professional and academic workshops, transfer meetups, and more. Within the Triton Transfer Hub you also have access to reservable group & individual study spaces as well snacks and supplies. Take time to meet with a peer coach and learn a little more about the UCSD culture. There are also specific research opportunities targeted at transfer students.

Difficult Life Situations

Sometimes life outside of academia can be difficult. Please email me or come to office hours if stuff outside the classroom prevents you from doing well inside it.

If you don’t have the most essential resources required to thrive as a student, please contact UCSD Basic Needs who can help you access nutritious food and stable housing, and help you seek the means to reach financial wellness.

If you need emergency food, finances, and/or academic and social support you can also contact UCSD Mutual Aid. They provide mentoring and aid that comes from volunteers among your peers. If you don’t need that kind of support, consider joining them in helping your fellow classmates who do.

If you need counseling or if you are in a mental crisis you can contact CAPS. They provide psychiatric services, workshops, and counseling; they also operate a 24/7 crisis hotline at 858.534.3755.

Anonymous Feedback

Feedback is great - if comfortable, please feel free to share with me in person or via email. However, if you would like to provide that feedback anonymously, please use this anonymous Google Form