Parker, Lee  

Biological Sciences

3.37/4.00

28 evaluations


BIO 114


Sophomore
B
General Ed
Mar 2002
If you have to chance to get Dr. Parker I would jump on the chance. Dr. Parker is very knowledgeble...he knows what he is talking about...and he loves what he is talking about...His class was a challenge for me...me being a liberal studies student I was not very educated in the sciences. I have never enjoyed studying before this class...the material was interrested...and I looked forward to our little field trips in the surrounding areas. He took us to hiking trails I had never been to, and now I visit alot. Dr. parker is a wonderful teacher and I hope to get him again in my college career. You must work hard in his class but you almost don't realize that you are. I definitly recommend him for you biological teacher.


Freshman
B
General Ed
Mar 2002
Dr. Parker is great. He would do the funniest stuff. I really recommend you take this class with him. You will have fun.


5th Year Senior
N/A
Required (Major)
May 2002
First of all this class is so time consuming! It has so many mandatory boring field trips, one on a Saturday. I am over 1/2 done with the quarter and I feel like I am going to have trouble just passing and I am a B student. Lab sucks especially if you do not have Parker because you get different info from lab instructors and then fail the exams. It sucks, if u can help it pass on this class.


Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2003
Dr. Parker is a guy that reminded me of a funny dad. He's very approachable and easy to talk to about your class or joking with him. I had him for lecture and lab, which is definantly a plus. In lecture, we just went over plant structure and communities. In lab we did labs related to our lectures. We did go on a lot of field trips, but they weren't too bad when I look back on it. Two or three of them were on campus as well. If you get a chance to take him I would recommend it.


Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Jul 2003
ok,DR parker is sooo nice. but DAMN. it was 9 am lecture. and i am used to early mornings, but wanted to sleep EVERYTIME. hes sooo boring, but so nice, so i feel bad. His tests are soooo easy, but hten again i was a bio major so its easier for me than some. anyways, take him, hes better than a lot of prof - and hes way personable and nice - so enjoy, but hope for a midday class so you dont fall back to sleep:-)


Freshman
N/A
General Ed
Feb 2004
Dr. Parker is an awesome teacher! He loves his students (learns most of their names) and is very smart. The labs are 3 hours but you get out early for the most part except for the weekly field trips which you might need to get in shape for. He's hard to keep up wtih! I strongly suggest taking his lab and not another teachers so you don't miss out on any information. if you pay attention in class...do work in the labs and read the book...you'll know the material so well you'll barely have to study for his tests. I never liked science but dr. parker made class fun and interesting! take it.

BOT 121


Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Aug 2001
Dr. Parker is one the best Professors I have had at Poly. He was always there to help his students and wanted every student in his class to do well in the class. He understands that most of his students are not Botany majors and may not understand the material very well. I would highly recconmend him to any student needing to take a Botany course.


Freshman
C
General Ed
Feb 2003
This guy has the ability to make the most boring subject, somewhat interesting. He is a good guy and will help you if you need it. I would definitely recommend him, if you unfortunately have to take Botany.


Senior
B
Required (Support)
Nov 2003
Lee Parker is the best science teacher I've ever had. His labs are quick and to the point, no useless garbage in between lessons, his lectures are a relaxed learning environment, he thinks that botany should be fun, and he makes it so. I really think that he ranks on my top ten scale of teachers at 10. This guy is so funny.


Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2004
Parker is an interesting guy. His lectures are basically a supplement to the book. You cannot just go to lecture and pass this class. You have to READ EVERYTHING in the book because the final and midterm are all on it. It is also hard because it is graded on only 2 tests, which are not curved, so if you get a bad grade your screwed unless you ace the lab which is unlikely. The lab is twice a week and will bore you to death....random tangents for 3 hours may kill you.


Sophomore
B
Required (Support)
Dec 2004
This was a rather challenging course for a simple introductory botany class. You definitely need to read or thoroughly skim through the chapters because that is what the test is comprised of. The lectures basically just reiterate some of the main points from the reading, but they definitely do not go into as much detail as the could. Parker is a nice guy, with a quirky sense of humor, but I wouldn't say he's the best lecturer. He is, however, very nice to talk to one on one when you go to his office hours and he will clear up any confusion you may have. There is a midterm and a final - that's it - both consisting of 40 questions (2 pts each) and a blank page with one big question (20 pts) to make a grand total of 200 points (100 pts on each exam) in the class.


Freshman
B
Required (Support)
Jan 2005
First off I would just like to say, Parker is hilarious. I recommend Parker for every class he teaches. If I could take a political science class with Parker I would in an instant. He's the man. Take Botany with Parker and you will not regret it.


Freshman
B
General Ed
Dec 2005
Parker explains the material clearly, but you still need to read the book really closely because that's what his tests (midterm and final) are all on, and the tests are the only thing the class is graded on. He likes to go off on random tangents during lecture, but he usually doesn't get too far from the subject. He's pretty funny and says and does a lot of random stuff during lecture. He actually makes it pretty interesting, for kind of a dry subject.


Junior
C
Required (Major)
Dec 2005
dr. parker was one of the nicest teachers i've had at cal poly. he keeps you awake during lab and explains the material well. the best thing about dr. parker is that he has so much passion for what he teaches and that makes it a great class. botany is a tough class, there is 1 midterm each in lab and lecture and 1 final in each...you don't have that much to bring your grade up so you just have to study well and do good on the midterms. the lecture tests are pretty straight forward as long as you did the reading and went to class..the lab tests are a little more challenging...i would definately recommend dr. parker to anyone taking botany.


Sophomore
C
Elective
Jan 2006
Take Parker for both lab and lecture, he's awesome!


Freshman
N/A
General Ed
Feb 2006
Parker is a really good professor, even if it doesn't come off that way during the actual lecture. His lectures are, however, interesting and he is a hilarious guy. If you do the reading before the lectures they will make a lot more sense. Also, go to his office hours for help on both lecture and lab material. He is great at explaining things in a smaller setting. Overall good professor. Take him.


Senior
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2006
I loved this class i thought it was going to be hell in class form but it was great! i learn so much that i never new that i wanted to know. I really liked parker for this class! I had him for lecture and lab. Lecture was kinda boring there were two tests and in lab there were two tests and then quizes from time to time. We had a great feild trip and everything was great. The only way to have him for a teacher is to go on Cal Poly at sea because he will be retireing at the end of this year!!!!Take him if you can!


Sophomore
A
Required (Support)
Jul 2006
I really enjoyed this class. The professor is funny sometimes. It is pretty simple and you don

BIO 122


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Apr 2003
Dr. Parker's class was one of the best classes that I ever took. By know means was it easy in any way. I worked my butt off. The class was just great though. He was always there to lend a hand anytime that one was needed. Great guy and great class!

BIO 152


Freshman
N/A
Required (Support)
Mar 2000
Dr. Parker is an excellent professor. Although sometimes his lectures are a bit boring (who wants to learn about the life cycle of Psilotum?), he tries his best to make the class interesting. If you don't like to study, do NOT take his BIO 152 (Bio of Plants/Fungi) class. There's about 20 different life cycles that you have to memorize and draw on the exams (2 midterms, 1 comprehensive final). If you don't understand what's presented he's excellent during his office hours; he will make time to talk with you if you have questions (and they don't have to deal with his class!). He does a very good job; one of the best of the Bio Dept.


Freshman
N/A
Required (Support)
Mar 2001
If you have to take Bio 152, Biology of Plants and Fungi, I STRONGLY suggest that you take this class with Dr. Parker for both lecture and lab. He's an extremely cool and efficient person who can lecture on plants that will open your heart and eyes to respect plants in another perspective,(or at least I did). In addition, Dr. Parker is patient when you go and ask him to clarify the discussed material during his office hours. I also suggest that you use these office hours to get addition help because plants are more complicated than you think! If you want to know the difficulty of this class, MEMORIZE the book. This means that you have to "talk, walk, eat,drink,sleep, and dream" about plants in order to have a good understanding of the massive material. But don't panic, hard work pays in the end. In my humble opinion, Dr. Parker is one of the best in his department, and we are so lucky to have him!


Sophomore
B
Required (Support)
Mar 2001
I really enjoyed this teacher's lectures. He has a kind of twisted botanist's sense of humor, but that's okay...One thing I will say, you do really have to memorize the book in order to do well in this class. I'm used to teachers whose tests are more lecture-based. Read those picture captions, know details!


Graduate Student
N/A
Required (Major)
Jul 2003
Dr. Parker was the best professor I had during my four years as an undergraduate. He's awesome!


Sophomore
B
Required (Major)
Mar 2005
Overall, he's pretty good. He definitely knows his stuff, and it's obvious that he cares about the students (he often brings interesting things to class, or lets students know of any interesting botany related events). That being said, I didn't enjoy the class way too much, and the test questions can be very random at times. The general topic of the written question for the test is given beforehand, and that constitutes about 25% of the test. When I went to some of the lectures, it felt like barely anything important was being discussed - but other days you will come out with a few pages of notes (very random). My biggest piece of advice for this course is to thouroughly go through all of the assigned readings before class, otherwise many of the things discussed will fly right by you. I got a B from basically cramming a few days before the tests and making outlines, take it seriously and you'll probably end up with an A. Oh yeah, attendance was taken a few times throughout the course, I'm not sure what the significance of that was - just a heads up.


Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Jun 2005
Dr. Parker is great!! Even though the lectures weren't that helpful, it clarifies all of the things that you should expect on the exam. He gives you a question on all the exams (20-25 points) and the rest is multiple choice from the reading. It's a lot of memorizing, but i enjoyed it. Also, if you can, take his lab course also...he gets to know you better...and you'll also understand a lot more about the structures and what he meant in lecture....he's a really funny guy...

BIO 335


Senior
B
Required (Support)
Mar 2006
Dr. Parker is the best teacher I've had here at poly!!!1 I loved this class and I hate plants! I had to take some botany for my mrjor and I'm sooo glad I had him! He lectures very clearly about the material so you always know what your getting into for the exams. He talks about intersting facts that have to due with the topic, yes plants can be intersting. I had him for lab class too...He was a great lab instructor! He's funny and always willing to help student with whatever questions they might have about anything. It's going to be a sad sad day when this man retires. I wish I could have taken him for all my bot classes, and the one time he taught 414!

BIO 414


Sophomore
A
Required (Major)
Aug 2004
Dr. Parker was great. Although he had a tendency to lecture on material that wasn't always from the book, it made the class more interesting. He is very good at preparing his students for the test. There is no reason you can't do well in his class, because he practically lays it out for you. He's also a quirky, funny guy.

POLS 945


5th Year Senior
C
Required (Major)
Nov 2016
This is the first C I have recieved in my entire life. I hope that says something to all of you out there watching their GPA. Do not take him--this class was a nightmare!