Course Information
Course title
 The Organisms that Changed the History (Ⅱ) 
Semester
 106-2 
Designated for
  
Instructor
 SHUN-CHERN TSAUR 
Curriculum Number
 LibEdu1070 
Curriculum Identity Number
 H01E07000 
Class
  
Credits
 2.0 
Full/Half
Yr.
 Half 
Required/
Elective
  
Time
 Monday 3,4(10:20~12:10) 
Remarks
 The upper limit of the number of students: 50. 
Ceiba Web Server
 http://ceiba.ntu.edu.tw/1062LibEdu1070_ 
Course introduction video
 
Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning
 Association has not been established
Course Syllabus
Please respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not copy any of the course information without permission
Course Description

The existence of many species depends on the survival of others. Humans are no exception. In the past 14,000 years, many organisms have left indelible marks and exercised on human history. The roles that individual species play in providing food, unique medical compounds, air, and water purification are critical to our health and survival. This course will provide sufficient background of 12 selected organisms and discuss their impacts on our daily life and culture. Field trips to Taipei Zoo or Botanical Garden may also be arranged.
 

Course Objective
 The goal of this lecture is to introduce you the origin of each organism and its impact on human history. Some of the organisms were domesticated by our ancestors, and thus improving the quality of our life. The aim of this course is to allow students to appreciate the importance of all organisms on earth and to learn how organisms have evolved.  
Course Requirement
 After each lecture, you will be asked to turn in a two-page, 12 font, single-spaced feedback to show what you have learned. It is due next lecture. Each student should pick one organism of interest outside the introduced ones, and present a summary of their term paper in the form of a Powerpoint presentation as an attachment to an email to the instructor. It will be worth 40% of your total grade. Absolutely no late work will be accepted regardless of the reason.
Attendance is expected. If you find that you must miss class, do file the leave of absence on ceiba before the lecture begins. You are allowed 1 free absence in this course. After that, each unauthorized absence will result in a reduction of your final grade by one full letter grade (i.e. A- to B-); this policy is cumulative. Extreme emergencies arise in life, so feel free to contact me if this happens to you, but do so within a week to be excused. One may not text, use a phone, or have your laptop open for the unrelated issue while I am speaking. Breach of regulations will lower your final grade by one increment (i.e. A to A-) the moment it happens. Homework will be assigned weekly. All writing will account for your total grade. The assignment you turn in should be neat, and legible. Make sure to show sufficient work for each time. Insufficient work or copy and paste from the web pages may result in zero score.  
Student Workload (expected study time outside of class per week)
  
Office Hours
  
Designated reading
 待補 
References
 No textbook required. However, you may find the following reading supplemental materials very useful.
Fifty Animals that Changed the Course of History by Eric Chaline (Firefly Books, 2011)
Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History by Bill Laws (Firefly Books, 2011)
Fifty Foods That Changed the Course of History by Bill Price (Firefly Books, 2014) 
Grading
    
Progress
Week
Date
Topic
Week 1
 9/10  Introduction/Organisms around us 
Week 2
 9/17  Dog 
Week 3
 9/24  Moon festival 
Week 4
 10/01  Mosquito 
Week 5
 10/08  Dung beetle 
Week 6
 10/15  Sanke 
Week 7
 10/22  Chicken 
Week 8
 10/29  Guest lecture: Rice by Dr. Yann-rong Lin 
Week 9
 11/05  Midterm 
Week 10
 11/12  Cow 
Week 11
 11/19  Pig 
Week 12
 11/26  Cat 
Week 13
 12/03  Guest lecture: Yeast by Dr. Jun-Yi Lee 
Week 14
 12/10  Tea 
Week 15
 12/17  Human  
Week 16
 12/24  Oral presentation 
Week 17
 12/31  Oral presentation 
Week 18
 1/07  Final break