Spring 2027

Plants, Parasites, and People

This course explores the interaction between society and plant-associated microbes, covering the Irish potato famine, pesticides in agriculture, crop disease economics, and genetically engineered organisms.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Nisa Karimi3.3/5Adam Bigott

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Caitilyn Allen

Under Professor Allen, labs were easy but reports took time. There were very few readings or work outside of the lab, which comprised about 33% of the final grade.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Critically examine scientific issues that affect your life.

  • Articulate the fundamental concepts from biological sciences that explain the essential roles of food, water, and air in sustaining life.

  • Provide examples of how interactions between plants, microbes and human society impact our food, agriculture, environment, and the plant’s ability to sustain our lives.

  • Apply knowledge of the scientific process to conduct scientific investigations and discern how scientific knowledge differs from other types of knowledge.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
BOTANY/PLPATH 123 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.80/5 from 15 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.77 GPA, 83.8% A/AB (n=117 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ANN MACGUIDWIN is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

AURELIE RAKOTONDRAFARA is recorded teaching in Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2018, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CAITILYN ALLEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DOUGLAS I ROUSE is recorded teaching in Spring 2007. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NISA KARIMI is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1450
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 308Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1450
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LAB 308Classroom Instruction0 / 180

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Caitilyn Allen

Students described the course as engaging for nonscience majors, with lectures relating concepts to non-science subjects. Professor Allen was noted for her passion and ability to convey biological processes clearly.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.82 GPA, 93.2% A/AB (n=117 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.40 GPA, 67.0% A/AB (n=109 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.77 GPA, 83.8% A/AB (n=117 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Caitilyn Allen

Under Professor Allen, labs were easy but reports took time. There were very few readings or work outside of the lab, which comprised about 33% of the final grade.

Past student reviews · Aurelie Rakotondrafara

One student found labs to be quite self-guided and fun, noting that the class was not difficult and that the professor and TAs did a great job explaining the material.

Topics

  • Irish potato famine
  • Pesticides in current agriculture
  • Economics and consumer preference in crop disease management
  • Release of genetically engineered organisms

Skills

  • Critical examination of scientific issues affecting daily life
  • Articulating fundamental biological concepts regarding food, water, and air
  • Providing examples of plant-microbe-society interactions impacting food and agriculture
  • Applying the scientific process to conduct investigations

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.21 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
BOTANY/PLPATH 123 · Spring 2027

Plants, Parasites, and People

Recorded 2026-10-14
BOTANY/PLPATH 123 · Spring 2027

Plants, Parasites, and People

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:208:015771",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/PLPATH 123",
    "course_uid": "course_5f5ed7de88af3629fa7ac938",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015771",
    "source_subject_id": "208",
    "title": "Plants, Parasites, and People",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:766:015771",
    "course_id": "BOTANY/PLPATH 123",
    "course_uid": "course_5f5ed7de88af3629fa7ac938",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015771",
    "source_subject_id": "766",
    "title": "Plants, Parasites, and People",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1Download part 2
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "302fb6536d32b82f3ce0249cfbf8b46a9dce8b4c656e2cd8b0af13a408e73f88",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}