Bio 3 needs labs Unused laboratory leaves students stranded

The Biology 3 Laboratory located in the Center for the Sciences, needs to be open in it’s entirety in order for every student to be able to complete their required lab hours and pass the course.

Biology 3 is a four-unit general education course that all students must take in order for them to graduate from or transfer out of Pierce College.

According to the schedule of classes catalog for the Spring 2012 semester, the Biology 3 lab hours consist of three hours and 10 minutes of self-paced laboratory exercises to be completed by each student every week.

This means that all students have to spend at least three hours in the laboratory per week in order to pass the class.

There are eight sections of Biology 3 being offered during the day at Pierce, with approximately 60 students per section, according to the Chairperson of the Life Science department Lyn Koller. That comes out to about 480 students for the day sessions alone.

The laboratory in Center of Sciences contains two rooms with 40 computers, two demonstration tables each, and a waiting room located in between.

This means there are 39 hours of available lab time during the week, with a total of 80 computers available.

Divided among 480 students this allows each student almost seven hours of available lab time a week.

So basically, this means you just have to go, show up, complete the three-hour lab, and go home. Sounds like no big deal, an easy task to complete, right? Wrong.

Of the two lab rooms available, only one is open to students, the other one remains closed.

Not using both laboratories cuts the availability in half, from seven hours of lab time to just over three hours a week.

And as if that were not enough, three of the computers in the open lab have been out of order all semester.

So really, there are only 37 computers available for 35 hours a week, with an additional four hours on Fridays by appointment only, and that fills up fast.

This means a total of 1443 hours of lab time available during the week.

Ultimately, this equates to only three hours of valuable lab time available to each student during the week, making completing three hour and 10 minute labs impossible.

Considering that the majority of students work jobs and have other classes besides Biology, there is very little time at their disposal.

Accommodating the lab hours often means two hours in the waiting room, before students even get to start their three hour lab.

The Life Science department must open both rooms at least 45 hours per week so all students have time to complete their assignments.

When asked what will it take for the Pierce College administration to let the Life Science department open the second lab room, Koller simply responded that there has to be more Biology 3 sections offered for that to happen.

Adding more sections would not help the current situation in any way, it might actually make it worse. Something has to be done now before students fail. However, with different sections being cut every semester it seems likely the lab will stay closed, destroying the possibility of making Biology 3 student’s lives a just a little easier.

Biology 3 Laboratory Hours: Mondays: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m..

Tuesdays - Thursdays: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Fridays: 8 a.m. to noon (by appointment)