[BIOL 0216]
Animal Behavior

Rate This Class

Professor: Root T

Value of Course / Overall Score

Not Much (0%
Average (27.8%)
Valuable (72.2%)

Material

Friendly (5.6%)
Average (33.3%)
Competitive (61.1%)

Class Atmosphere

Boring (66.7%)
Average (33.3%)
Fascinating (0%)

Prep Time Needed

1-2hr (5.6%)
3-5hr (33.3%)
6-8hr (50%)
9-11hr (11.1%)
12+ hr (0%)

Grade Weighting

Harder (27.8%)
Average (5.6%)
Easier (66.7%)

Adequate Assistance

Yes (100%)
No (0%)

Would Recommend Class

Yes (83.3%)
No (16.7%)

Evaluation Comments for Root T

  1. A really interesting class. Do not take thinking it is going to be a cake walk. there are a lot of readings and tests were challenging (once you get used to root's tests you'll be fine). Root is a great guy and the class was fun.
  2. Animal behavior is an interesting class. Full of neuroscience majors, as expected. It is worth taking and definitely with Prof. Root. He is undoubtedly an expert in the field and extremely qwerky. Tests were difficult - a lot of synthesis and nit-picky details. Class averages on exams were lower than expected in my opinion. Lab is fun.
  3. Root is an amazing professor who genuinely cares for his students. While taking the class I thought it should be called "random animal facts," I now have an immense appreciation for all that I learned and how it forced me to think in a new way. This class was amazing and labs were great.
  4. Lectures are incredibly boring. The readings are fascinating, two novels and one text book (which is a bit dry but pretty quick reading once you get used to it.) The tests are hard because the questions are poorly worded. Labs are low stress and fun. Movies are dumbed down to the point where they are painful. Overall, an easy but boring class, with many useful and interesting facts that will revolutionize how you think about animals.
  5. Prof Root is amazing. He's very understanding and available for help. The text is really interesting, so I actually enjoyed doing the reading. The labs were definitely the best part- you get to play with gerbils! Take it.
  6. if you're strong in biology, don't expect to be able to walk into this course and leave with an A. you have got to do all the work (including the reading - the extremely boring, long, tough readings). the movies are always fun to watch (and do watch them, because a couple of the test questions will be movie-based), and the homeworks are a nice weight to the grade (basically free points). tom is very good at explaining what you need to know from the book. the labs were pretty fun, also. i enjoyed handing the animals, and thinking up cool experiments. also, don't be scared off by the oral presentation - it's a very laid-back and fun way to present the final lab. the tests are kinda difficult and cover everything you do - so even if you're a slacker, study.
  7. This class was so much fun! Outdoor labs! Root is great!
  8. Not very interesting for someone interested in human bio, but it's a requirement for lots of majors. Tom's great and is really invested in teaching the material well and trying to make it interesting. The movies are helpful (if very retro) as are the articles. The text book is incredibly boring and gives way too many examples. The work load is pretty significant and the labs are boring, tedious, and not very valuable unless you like staring at animals and quantifying their behaviors for hours on end. We never got any real results and the animals are a pain to work with.
  9. this was an AMAZING class and tom was incredible as usual. this is the second class i've taken with him and he really knows his stuff. the labs are fun and not hard at all, and tom'll make sure that you understand things as you go along. he basically summarizes all of your reading in lecture--which helps a lot! he makes you WANT to read more about each of the topics. overall: a wonderful class that you MUST take.
  10. Tom Root is one of my favorite professors at Midd. He is really funny and really nice. The work assigned in this class is very doable and pretty interesting. The readings can be excessive but there is always time to catch up before the exams. The movies he assigns you to watch twice a week are hard to keep up with, but he is lenient about filling out the worksheets for them. One time I forgot to turn in a lab (and didn't realize until a week later) and Tom shrugged and said, "no worries, get it to me as soon as you can." He didn't deduct any credit for turning it in late. The tests are a little weird and take some getting used to, but overall they are fair. Definitely take this class.
  11. You lern Lots of little random facts and details about specific animals which is cool. The multiple choice portions of the tests are hard, but the short answer is not bad. Overall, the labs are so much fun and wonderful! This class is great because it allows you to pick your own schedule - you can watch the videos and do some of the labs whenever it works best for you. Root is an awesome guy too and is really passionate about the material
  12. Unfortunately I was really let down by the class and the material. It was just advanced BIOL 0140 with an emphasis on how animals organize. Everything during lecture is presented very broadly but then the tests are surprisingly detail oriented. Only study what you go over in class, and just study the s*** out of it. And despite his apparent friendliness, Root is surprisingly committed to his answers and reasons for things, which doesn't allow for much discussion, especially with exams.
  13. Tom Root is the nicest human at Middlebury College. Although Tom's lectures are very organized, the course itself seems sort of disorganized. Don't worry about it though. Just go with what he's telling you, DO the readings (but don't stress about memorizing detail finicky detail), watch the videos, and don't get frustrated by your grades on the exams....it all works out.
  14. This is a pretty reasonable class. Tom is really nice, which is great. There is a lot to do outside of class in the way of readings/videos to watch, but they are always doable (even the really long textbook chapters to read go faster than you might think), and it's critical to do all the outside work to do well on the exams. BE SURE to read the textbook, the other assigned books, and the videos - there will be questions about them on the exams that Tom may not have discussed in class! If you do the required reading/watching, though, you can pretty capably do pretty respectably on the exams. Also, I think there may have been some kind of curve? My final grade was definitely higher than any of the grades that I had gotten on the exams, so he seems to take into account how the class as a whole does on things. Another word about the exams - sometimes the questions may seem kind of broad, but if you think logically about them and what you've learned, and demonstrate that, you'll get a lot/full credit even if you're not 100% sure if you're actually saying the right thing. Lab was reasonable - although sometimes the lab things that we do seem tedious, you don't have to do too many lab reports, and if you've written a lot of reports for other science classes, you'll have no problems with these reports.
  15. This was one of the most fascinating classes I have taken at Middlebury. Basically, it's everything cool you would ever want to know about animals. Also, Tom is a really neat guy and is a pleasure to have as a professor. The labs are fun and interesting...you get to work very independently with various animals, but they require a ton of outside lab time, so plan on that. The only problem I had with the class was that my grade was a little lower than I was expecting, but it didn't outweigh the benefits of the course. Definitely, take it but make sure you really do the reading.
  16. Tom Root is absolutely AMAZING. He makes the class fun and light-hearted. Take a class with him.
  17. take the class, tom root is awesome
  18. You can't go wrong taking a class with Tom. He is by far the best professor I've had at Midd. He is always willing to take time out and explain things. There are a lot of movies to watch, but they make for good study breaks late at night and definitely make it easier to relate the material to concrete examples. As long as you keep up with the reading, which can be a lot at times, and attend lecture, studying for the exams is pretty easy. If you like playing with animals then labs are a lot of fun!! Sure, it may get a little repetitive, but not many other labs get to work with Siamese fighting fish and gerbils.

INSTRUCTIONS : Click class or professor names to see scores, Click to submit your own review.

All classes taught by Root T :

All professors who teach this class:

Evaluate this course

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

My Evaluation of Animal Behavior by Root T

1 Value of course and concepts to overall education:
2 Did you find the material presented ...
3 Overall class atmosphere:
4 Hours per week spent preparing for class:
5 Were your grades deserving of your efforts?
6 Professor or assistants were available to help, if needed:
7 Would you take another class with this professor?
8Would you recommend this class to a friend: