Fall 2026

Animal Biology Laboratory

ANIMAL BIOLOGY LABORATORY introduces general animal biology concepts, evolutionary relationships, body plans, and diversity through dissection and ecological study.

offering recorded2 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Gale Oakes3.6/5Brooke DrostDaniel Bloedow +3 more

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Sarah Edlund: Reviewers note that the biology content can be overwhelming, but the instructor makes learning the lab material enjoyable and encourages students to ask questions.

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students with credit forBOTANY/​BIOLOGY/​ZOOLOGY 151 or 152

BIOLOGY/ZOOLOGY 102 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

Professors

Fall 2026
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.38/5 from 8 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 2025: 3.11 GPA, 47.3% A/AB (n=273 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.11 GPA, 49.7% A/AB (n=300 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.06 GPA, 47.2% A/AB (n=233 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.16 GPA, 57.4% A/AB (n=61 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.21 GPA, 42.1% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.24 GPA, 52.2% A/AB (n=23 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.46 GPA, 69.6% A/AB (n=23 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical instructor Sarah Edlund was praised for being flexible, understanding, and caring, creating a welcoming environment. Reviewers noted she made lab material fun and enjoyable, encouraging students to ask questions despite the potentially overwhelming biology content.

GALE OAKES is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JEREMY ABELS is recorded teaching in Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL MENON is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH EDLUND is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020. 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

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LAB 001Classroom Instruction18 / 241
LAB 002Classroom Instruction19 / 240
LAB 003Classroom Instruction20 / 240
LAB 004Classroom Instruction15 / 240
LAB 006Classroom Instruction15 / 240
LAB 008Classroom Instruction16 / 240
LAB 009Classroom Instruction19 / 230
LAB 010Classroom Instruction18 / 240
LAB 011Classroom Instruction16 / 240
LAB 013Classroom Instruction14 / 241
LAB 014Classroom Instruction14 / 240
LAB 005Classroom Instruction18 / 240
LAB 007Classroom Instruction16 / 240
LAB 012Classroom Instruction17 / 240
LAB 001Classroom Instruction6 / 240
LAB 002Classroom Instruction5 / 240
LAB 003Classroom Instruction3 / 240
LAB 004Classroom Instruction8 / 240
LAB 006Classroom Instruction9 / 240
LAB 008Classroom Instruction8 / 240
LAB 009Classroom Instruction4 / 240
LAB 010Classroom Instruction5 / 240
LAB 011Classroom Instruction7 / 240
LAB 013Classroom Instruction10 / 240
LAB 014Classroom Instruction9 / 240
LAB 005Classroom Instruction6 / 240
LAB 007Classroom Instruction6 / 240
LAB 012Classroom Instruction4 / 240

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews for Sarah Edlund describe a flexible, caring instructor who makes lab material fun and creates a welcoming environment, though the biology content itself can be overwhelming.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.11 GPA, 47.3% A/AB (n=273 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.11 GPA, 49.7% A/AB (n=300 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.06 GPA, 47.2% A/AB (n=233 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Sarah Edlund: Reviewers note that the biology content can be overwhelming, but the instructor makes learning the lab material enjoyable and encourages students to ask questions.

Historical reviews of Sarah Edlund: Students report that Sarah Edlund is understanding and cares about learning, making the classroom welcoming and the experience positive enough that they would not regret taking her class.

Topics

  • Evolutionary relationships between animals
  • General body plans and survival strategies
  • Animal diversity
  • Animal lifestyle and ecology

Skills

  • Understanding general body plans and survival strategies in animals
  • Integrating body plans with animal lifestyle and ecology
  • Practical study through animal dissection

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · 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 · 0.09 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

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

1283 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.

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Selected offering source records
BIOLOGY/ZOOLOGY 102 · Fall 2026

Animal Biology Laboratory

Recorded 2026-09-07
BIOLOGY/ZOOLOGY 102 · Fall 2026

Animal Biology Laboratory

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
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  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:205:019258",
    "course_id": "BIOLOGY/ZOOLOGY 102",
    "course_uid": "course_7eacc7c47aaa88034087e337",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "019258",
    "source_subject_id": "205",
    "title": "Animal Biology Laboratory",
    "credits_min": 2,
    "credits_max": 2,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:970:019258",
    "course_id": "BIOLOGY/ZOOLOGY 102",
    "course_uid": "course_7eacc7c47aaa88034087e337",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "019258",
    "source_subject_id": "970",
    "title": "Animal Biology Laboratory",
    "credits_min": 2,
    "credits_max": 2,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "2f016454ed0969a30d073461a9e4753ba117ffe6a82f535312aa4aaf9bcfc99d",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}