![[A logo]](im/logo.gif){kind=logo}
This document is intended as a general overview for those (?few) students who have never had occasion to use the Web as well as the rest of the students who are Web-competent but might not be aware of the Web resources provided by, or linked to, the Biology 261 Web pages.
Don't let the computer intimidate
you. The secret of the following self-guided exercise is to click on any underlined
links that look interesting to you. An example of such
a link is Send Me Back to Bio 261 Home Page.
The Observation
CSUF now has multiple computer labs featuring fast connections to the Web
that are available for use by enrolled students. This improving access
coincides with the amazing growth of the WWW in the
last few years. It is now possible for Zoology
students to use excellent zoological information available
on WWW sites from all over the world as supplemental study
aids.
Web Exercises
The following three short self-guided exercises range from a general introduction
to Web addresses to the exploration of Web resources more specific to zoology. Experienced users can
skip ahead to Exercise 2.
Objective 1: Learning How to Get on the Web
Biology's computer lab in MH 319 is available to Bio 261 students
during posted hours (approx. 50 hours per week) for the remainder of
the semester. We want you to be able to return to this or another
computer lab on campus and pick up where Lab 1 leaves off. I expect
to refer to pages on the Web frequently during lectures, and you
should learn how to get to them. The first goal is to learn how to
connect to the Biology 261 Home Page using the program,
Netscape. Once you are there, you should be able to
continue to explore any provided links and any supplementary
material made available to you later in the course.
Exercise 1
On a full piece of paper, construct a flow chart diagram of
your own design that contains the essential steps for getting
to our class "Home Page" starting with sitting down in front
of the computer. In addition, you must describe how to get
to a Web address for which a link is not provided. For example,
how do you get to: http://ils.unc.edu/garg/garghp4.html
if I haven't provided a link for you to get there? Use this
Web address as an example and describe in a sentence what
you found when you got there. Make your instructions clear
enough that one of your fellow students could follow it if
they had to. Save your Web addresses for
future reference.
Objective 2: Understanding Hierarchies
Understand how and why animals (and other organisms)
are grouped as hierarchies.
Exercise 2
This exercise requires
that you understand how nature produces hierarchical patterns.
This will involve understanding how to construct an
indented classification hypothesis that is based on a cladogram.
Click on go to hierarchies tutorial
when you are ready to begin.
Objective 3: Surfing the Web To Learn about Animals
Gain an increased appreciation for the tremendous diversity
of animal life, and to be aware of the wealth of zoological
resources available on the Web.
Exercise 3
There are two parts to Exercise 3. You will use the "Animal WWW Links" page for our course to complete both.
The first part makes use of the considerable effort I have devoted to organizing Web links to zoological sites according to a hierarchical indented classification (as in Exercise 2). Unfortunately, the Web is a moving target, so please email me with external Web addresses that are now broken, for one reason or another, and I will try to update them. On a separate piece of paper, record the Web address for six sites that you can get to from the "Animal WWW Links" along with a sentence or two describing what you found there. No two of the six sites can be listed under the same heading. For example, because the mammal and bird links are both under the heading "Deuterostomes" you can only count one of them.
The second part involves free-form searching of the Web. Select any animal name. Be creative. For searches to be effective, it will help if you choose a fairly specific animal name. "Racoon" or "mosquito" will work better than "dog" or "fly" because the latter two names will be found on many Web pages in different contexts that have nothing to do with the animals. Click on one of the provided links to a Web search engine, for example Lycos, Webcrawler, or Yahoo. Enter your search text and then click on the returned links until you find pages that provide information about your animal. If you cannot find any information, start over with a different animal. Write down the name of your animal and between one and three Web addresses you found that provided information or images of your animal. Learn to use the "Back" and "Forward" buttons effectively in order to get back to the Web page you started from. Don't be afraid of being wrong about an animal. Biology 261 Slogan #1: The animal is always right.
Feedback
Email me by clicking here or on one of the provided links. Give me your name and tell me what you did or did not like about these exercises. I would like to hear from you.
* When you are ready to start exploring then Go To Animal WWW Links.