Review:
This goes down as one of the three worst classes I've taken at Tufts. Look elsewhere to fulfill a science requirement. Lectures were incredibly boring, and Professor DiStefano doesn't answer questions particularly clearly. She's not at all accessible outside of class (she works at Harvard). It's a huge lecture class and there's not really an opportunity for questions or discussion. She doesn't emphasize the need to read the text, which definitely helps on exams. I remember nearly nothing that I learned in the class, and I would never take another class with her.

Workload:
There are 3 tests, weekly reading, and a group project. The first test was frustrating because she'd been teaching us at a very elementary level and the test had questions that were extremely difficult. Most of the class did very poorly. You can drop one test. The tests are all more difficult than the lectures would indicate. Weekly meetings with the TAs are required at the end of the semester for your group project (which is incredibly easy - we made a children's book and did it in an evening), and every member of the group must attend - difficult to schedule. Our TA could barely speak English. Every time we asked a question she told us to ask the professor, who was not accessible (doesn?t answer email) and I couldn?t help but wonder what the purpose of the meetings was. There are opportunities for extra credit. The grading is skewed. I got an A even though I did poorly on some exams and didn't do extra credit, and friends who had done the extra credit and had done better on the exams got lower grades. When they complained, she replied that she "could only give out so many As."

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