Syllabus - 2009

ANSC 255 – Introduction to Aquaculture

Instructor: Dr. Curry Woods

Contact Information:

Office: Room 2145 Animal Sciences Center

Office Phone: 301-405-7974

Lab Phone: 301-314-1486

Email: curry@umd.edu

A. General Course Description

This is an introductory course in aquaculture. It provides the student with an understanding of the basic principles of aquaculture while giving the student the opportunity to experience hands-on activities associated with the culture and husbandry of aquatic animals. Many disciplines are related to aquaculture and accordingly; sections covered in the course include chemistry, bio-engineering, history, marketing, nutrition, seafood safety as well as the primary area of emphasis, the biology of aquatic animals.

B. Conduct of Course

Instruction will consist of weekly lectures to introduce students to the basic principles of aquaculture. The laboratory for this course allows the student the opportunity to understand first-hand, the role and responsibility of the culturist in the production and propagation of aquatic animals in their aqueous environment.

C. Evaluation Procedures

Students in this course will be evaluated in a several ways including exams and a semester-long laboratory project.

EXAMS: Two semi-comprehensive lecture exams, a mid-term and a final exam, will be used to evaluate the depth of the student’s knowledge learned from the information covered in lectures, assigned reading and/or any materials distributed by the instructor or guest lecturers during the semester. The mid-term will cover lecture materials for the first half of the course and the final exam will cover the remaining information provided after the mid-term. These two lecture exams will each be worth 100 points. In addition, four pop-quiz exams will be administered throughout the semester, each worth 25 points. Total Points for the exam portion of the course grade equals 300 points or 60% of the course grade.

LABORATORY PROJECT: There will be a final, comprehensive laboratory practicum, worth 50 points. Each student is assigned a population of fish for the semester. A Laboratory Project Report, worth 50 points, will be written by each student that objectively summarizes their efforts and quantifies their population’s performance over the course of the semester. The laboratory project report will be comprised of two parts. The students will provide a detailed log that chronologically describes the student’s activities with their assigned population of animals each time they enter the lab. The log should at a minimum, provide the day:date:time actually spent in the Aquaculture Teaching Lab (ATL) – Room 0108 of the Animal Science Center. The log should also provide any specific aquaculture activities performed by the student on a given day:date (i.e. specific water quality analyses conducted and the values obtained; any animal handling, if required; growth measurements when scheduled with the instructors along with the data recorded; feeding of animals; tank cleaning if performed; etc.). Note that if feed was offered to the student’s population of fish, then the measured amount of feed offered in grams must be recorded. The students will also include in their laboratory project report, a summary and an interpretation of the laboratory growth study conducted by the student for this class, both in terms of their specifically assigned population of fish and its performance as well as an objective comparison of their population to their peer populations. The lab project report should be formatted as follows: a) it should be printed using Microsoft Word; b) 3 page maximum; c) the font should be Arial-12 point; and d) the line spacing should be “1.5 lines”. { Note: graphics, references that the student may wish to include, will not count toward the 3 page maximum. }

Finally, the Laboratory Project, specifically the actual performance of the student’s fish population, in terms of both growth and feed conversion ratio will account for 100 points. Total points for the laboratory portion of the course grade equals 200 points or 40% of the course grade.

There are 500 Total Points possible for the Course Grade. The Course Grade will be converted to a letter grade as follows: A+: 100-98%; A: 97-94%; A-: 93-90%; B+: 89-87%; B: 86-83%; B-: 82-80%; C+: 79-77%; C: 76-73%; C-: 72-70%; D+: 69-67%; D: 66-63%; D-: 62-60%; F: 59-0%.

D. Attendance and Exam Policy

The student’s course grade is in part dependent upon class participation. Missed classes, exams, or other assigned work can NOT be made up. Students, with one exception: a medically excused absence, documented in writing by the attending physician, and the original written excused absence provided to the course instructor; may NOT re-schedule an appointment with the instructor to take a missed exam.

The Student Honor Council’s Information on Academic Integrity:
The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council.  This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students.  As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course.  It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.shc.umd.edu. Students should exhibit their commitment to academic integrity by signing the Honor Pledge on all examinations and assignments: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination (or assignment)."

Your participation in the evaluation of courses through CourseEvalUM is an opportunity that you have as a student member of our academic community. Your feedback is confidential and important to the improvement of teaching and learning at the University as well as to the tenure and promotion process. CourseEvalUM will be open for you to complete your evaluations for fall semester courses between Tuesday, December 1 and Sunday, December 13.  You can go directly to the website (www.courseevalum.umd.edu) to complete your evaluations starting December 1.  By completing all of your evaluations each semester, you will have the privilege of accessing the summary reports for thousands of courses online at Testudo.

E. Resources

There are no books required for this course. The only required resources for this course are:

a) access to the web, Blackboard, etc.

b) access to Microsoft Office (to open Word, Excel, PowerPoint files) and

c) access to Adobe (to open PDF files)

F. Office Hours

If students need to contact Dr. Woods for any reason, his office is located in the Animal Science Center (Campus Bldg. #142), Room 2145. Office visits are by appointment only. Appointments should be scheduled by email (curry@umd.edu). Office hours with the TA will be established after the first day of class.

G. Lab Information

Generally, lab will immediately follow lecture. For special lab activities, the entire two-hour class period may be devoted to lab activities. Laboratory activities during the semester will cover: state-of-the-art recirculating aquaculture systems; water quality parameters of importance to aquatic animals; anesthetization and stages of anesthesia in fish; as well as general fish anatomy (virtual study). In addition, a semester-long study of the interactions of environmental conditions, feed conversion efficiency, and animal growth will be conducted by each student with their assigned population of fish, providing students with hands-on experience with husbandry and sustainable culture of fish.

H. Course Calendar

A course calendar will be made available electronically to the students after the first class.