BSCI283 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Daniel Stein BSCI283 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2024	I honestly really enjoyed this class, definitely the best bio lab course I've taken at UMD so far! However, I wasn't extremely fond of how this course was laid out. The exams were difficult with pretty low averages (like 60-70 except for the final which was more like 75), I didn't understand why Dr. Stein formatted the exams to be so difficult. I mean I understood that this course is content dense + moves fast, but even my 222 course didn't have exam averages that low. Regardless, there's a pretty sweet curve built into the course, and you only need to get like 81% of the points to get an A which is doable with the amount of small lab/participation/hw points throughout the semester. This course overall was fine and I recommend it for micro/cell bio concentrations, but I personally wasn't the biggest fan of Dr. Stein's lecture style and making the exams so unreasonably difficult.
John Buchner BSCI283 Expecting an A florm 12/26/2022	Dr. Buchner made all of the labs for 283, while Drs. Stein and Winkler taught the lectures/made the exams. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a lab more than this one. Culturing bacteria, looking at them under the microscope, and doing all these different tests on them was so much fun. The procedures were all available online and very clear to follow, so as long as you read it, listened to the TA, and used some common sense, you wouldn't have any troubles. There were a couple of labs where we had these "Microbial Olympics" where our bacteria would compete in different ways, like which one could grow the farthest in the presence of E. coli. We also got to make drawings with different colored bacteria which was super cool. There were short 2-3 question quizzes (BLQs) due before every lab which every now and then had a notoriously difficult question, but you get multiple attempts and they're only worth 3 points so it's fine. Occasionally there were after-lab assignments (ALQs) which were longer and required a lot of explanations, but I think we only had 4 of those the entire semester. There is a lab final that takes place over two days and requires you to demonstrate your abilities with different techniques (streak plates, dilutions, Gram staining, microscopy, etc.) and explain why you're doing them. We were allowed to take notes on the protocol ahead of time, though, which really helped make it less stressful. Overall, the lab for 283 (which I imagine is almost identical to the lab for 223) was incredibly well put together and organized, and let us do some really cool things with microbes.
Daniel Stein BSCI283 Expecting an A florm 12/26/2022	Dr. Stein taught two of the three units this semester, with the other one being taught by Dr. Wade Winkler. For the lectures that Dr. Stein taught, he really seemed all over the place, having few clear transitions between slides and constantly bringing up new ideas. This was reflected in the exams he wrote, which were exceedingly long and often asked about stuff that was simply never covered in lecture. That being said, the exams were all online and open-note/internet so you could look up stuff you didn't know, but with so many weird questions and not a lot of time you have to pick your battles wisely. He was also not clear at all about what he was looking for in short answer questions. The final wasn't cumulative, but was just as annoying in terms of the lack of direction, extreme specificity in the material, and the addition of completely new topics. Stein tended to act kind of pretentious and patronizing when someone answered something wrong. This was especially true when he went through the answers to the first exam in class, saying that our average was far lower than what it had been previous semesters and that he was able to "finish the entire exam in 17 minutes so we should've had plenty of time." Well yeah, of course he could finish it quickly because he wrote the questions... The lectures were also structured very poorly. PAK assignments were due at the start of the week and Monday's class would be spent going through the answers instead of having an actual lecture, so we had to watch prerecorded lectures to make up for it. Wednesdays then had normal lectures, but he recorded those too so very few people showed up to class at all. The labs were super fun, but Stein didn't have anything to do with that.
Wade Winkler BSCI283 Expecting an A florm 12/26/2022	Dr. Winkler only taught 1 of the 3 units this semester (alongside Dr. Daniel Stein), but for the time he was around he did a great job. He's an engaging and passionate lecturer who seems to really enjoy teaching. He has a pretty mellow personality and was really easy to talk to. The one exam he made for our class was both shorter and more fair than the exams Dr. Stein made, and directly reflected what he spoke about in lecture. (Exams were all online and open-note/internet, too). The class was formatted pretty weirdly this semester. PAK assignments were due at the beginning of the week, then Monday's class was just a discussion of the PAK answers instead of a new lecture, so we also had to watch recorded lectures for those days. Wednesdays were then normal lectures. Winkler and Stein both talked about how they might change the class's structure going forward, though.
Wade Winkler BSCI283 Anonymous 12/22/2021	Great professor. Amazing lecture style and very clear guidelines for what is expected on exams and assignments. Extremely helpful during office hours and via email. Always open to questions and you can tell he takes teaching seriously and cares about the students. His lecture style is engaging and he shows passion in the delivery of information. Slides were clear and easy to understand with no "clutter", which makes it easier to study since the main points have already been boiled down for you. The textbook is important for PAK questions but the majority of information can be absorbed through lecture material and slides. As a professor, he is top-notch and easily a top 5 professor in the bio or chem department. Take this class with him if you can! My only complaint would be in the lab, where the TA seemed detached from the students and wouldn't offer help. She would often be sitting at the front of the class on her phone while my past lab classes involved the TA always walking around and offering help or advice to students as they performed lab. Pre and post-lab questions were also relatively easy but could take up some time especially since some of the directions would be unclear. However, since you can often work in groups in the lab it was manageable. Some labs would often run extremely long while others would finish with over half the lab remaining, which could be restructured to be more consistent. These critiques are for the lab manager and do not apply to Dr. Winkler.

Daniel Stein
BSCI283

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/18/2024

I honestly really enjoyed this class, definitely the best bio lab course I've taken at UMD so far! However, I wasn't extremely fond of how this course was laid out. The exams were difficult with pretty low averages (like 60-70 except for the final which was more like 75), I didn't understand why Dr. Stein formatted the exams to be so difficult. I mean I understood that this course is content dense + moves fast, but even my 222 course didn't have exam averages that low. Regardless, there's a pretty sweet curve built into the course, and you only need to get like 81% of the points to get an A which is doable with the amount of small lab/participation/hw points throughout the semester. This course overall was fine and I recommend it for micro/cell bio concentrations, but I personally wasn't the biggest fan of Dr. Stein's lecture style and making the exams so unreasonably difficult.

John Buchner
BSCI283

Expecting an A
florm
12/26/2022

Dr. Buchner made all of the labs for 283, while Drs. Stein and Winkler taught the lectures/made the exams. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a lab more than this one. Culturing bacteria, looking at them under the microscope, and doing all these different tests on them was so much fun. The procedures were all available online and very clear to follow, so as long as you read it, listened to the TA, and used some common sense, you wouldn't have any troubles. There were a couple of labs where we had these "Microbial Olympics" where our bacteria would compete in different ways, like which one could grow the farthest in the presence of E. coli. We also got to make drawings with different colored bacteria which was super cool. There were short 2-3 question quizzes (BLQs) due before every lab which every now and then had a notoriously difficult question, but you get multiple attempts and they're only worth 3 points so it's fine. Occasionally there were after-lab assignments (ALQs) which were longer and required a lot of explanations, but I think we only had 4 of those the entire semester. There is a lab final that takes place over two days and requires you to demonstrate your abilities with different techniques (streak plates, dilutions, Gram staining, microscopy, etc.) and explain why you're doing them. We were allowed to take notes on the protocol ahead of time, though, which really helped make it less stressful. Overall, the lab for 283 (which I imagine is almost identical to the lab for 223) was incredibly well put together and organized, and let us do some really cool things with microbes.

Daniel Stein
BSCI283

Expecting an A
florm
12/26/2022

Dr. Stein taught two of the three units this semester, with the other one being taught by Dr. Wade Winkler. For the lectures that Dr. Stein taught, he really seemed all over the place, having few clear transitions between slides and constantly bringing up new ideas. This was reflected in the exams he wrote, which were exceedingly long and often asked about stuff that was simply never covered in lecture. That being said, the exams were all online and open-note/internet so you could look up stuff you didn't know, but with so many weird questions and not a lot of time you have to pick your battles wisely. He was also not clear at all about what he was looking for in short answer questions. The final wasn't cumulative, but was just as annoying in terms of the lack of direction, extreme specificity in the material, and the addition of completely new topics. Stein tended to act kind of pretentious and patronizing when someone answered something wrong. This was especially true when he went through the answers to the first exam in class, saying that our average was far lower than what it had been previous semesters and that he was able to "finish the entire exam in 17 minutes so we should've had plenty of time." Well yeah, of course he could finish it quickly because he wrote the questions... The lectures were also structured very poorly. PAK assignments were due at the start of the week and Monday's class would be spent going through the answers instead of having an actual lecture, so we had to watch prerecorded lectures to make up for it. Wednesdays then had normal lectures, but he recorded those too so very few people showed up to class at all. The labs were super fun, but Stein didn't have anything to do with that.

Wade Winkler
BSCI283

Expecting an A
florm
12/26/2022

Dr. Winkler only taught 1 of the 3 units this semester (alongside Dr. Daniel Stein), but for the time he was around he did a great job. He's an engaging and passionate lecturer who seems to really enjoy teaching. He has a pretty mellow personality and was really easy to talk to. The one exam he made for our class was both shorter and more fair than the exams Dr. Stein made, and directly reflected what he spoke about in lecture. (Exams were all online and open-note/internet, too). The class was formatted pretty weirdly this semester. PAK assignments were due at the beginning of the week, then Monday's class was just a discussion of the PAK answers instead of a new lecture, so we also had to watch recorded lectures for those days. Wednesdays were then normal lectures. Winkler and Stein both talked about how they might change the class's structure going forward, though.

Wade Winkler
BSCI283

Anonymous
12/22/2021

Great professor. Amazing lecture style and very clear guidelines for what is expected on exams and assignments. Extremely helpful during office hours and via email. Always open to questions and you can tell he takes teaching seriously and cares about the students. His lecture style is engaging and he shows passion in the delivery of information. Slides were clear and easy to understand with no "clutter", which makes it easier to study since the main points have already been boiled down for you. The textbook is important for PAK questions but the majority of information can be absorbed through lecture material and slides. As a professor, he is top-notch and easily a top 5 professor in the bio or chem department. Take this class with him if you can! My only complaint would be in the lab, where the TA seemed detached from the students and wouldn't offer help. She would often be sitting at the front of the class on her phone while my past lab classes involved the TA always walking around and offering help or advice to students as they performed lab. Pre and post-lab questions were also relatively easy but could take up some time especially since some of the directions would be unclear. However, since you can often work in groups in the lab it was manageable. Some labs would often run extremely long while others would finish with over half the lab remaining, which could be restructured to be more consistent. These critiques are for the lab manager and do not apply to Dr. Winkler.

Reviews for BSCI283