(DNA & Evolution) Great lectures, very interesting exercises and homework. He talks about awesome things like giant beavers and weird evolutionary changes. No tests either! Excellent.

I love Jon Herron! He is such an awesome entertaining professor. I took classes just because he was teaching them!

REALLY great teacher and person. One of the few enthusiastic science teachers I've had so far and helped influence decision to continue majoring in the sciences.

Evolution and Human Behavior-this class was great. The material is extremely interesting, and Jon does a great job teaching it. He clearly cares about his students, and is always available and willing to help if you need it.

Gets you (even more) excited about science! Jon introduced us to the world of contemporary scientific research - what's going on right now, not what textbooks have been saying for decades. The class wasn't challenging at all, unfortunately, but a good amount of new knowledge managed to sneak up on me.

Jon is the best teacher I've had at the UW, his classes are incredibly interesting and he works really hard on his lesson plans.

Knows an incredible amount of fascinating animal examples. Fills up his 2-hr lecture with interesting applications and is not afraid to deviate from the lesson plan a bit to follow student interests. Very reasonable - he's concerned about student needs too. The best prof I've ever had.

The best professor I've had in my years at UW. He genuinely cares about his students and wants them to succeed. Class is engaging and he uses great examples to stimulate thoughtful conversation. If you go to class, contribute, and do your work you will succeed in his class.

Great class to start as an intro to higher-level biology! This guy knows his stuff and uses cool interesting animal examples! Ended up with 3.0 + with just finishing 95% of my assignments and bit of effort on exams. If you try hard, high grade is VERY possible! His exams are very fair but sometimes can be a little tricky so READ CAREFULLY!

Dr. Herron is awesome. His enthusiasm really helps with making the material better and he really knows what he's talking about. As long as you read and stay on top of things it is a pretty easy course. Tests are definitely manageable and he does a great job in preparing you for what you need to know.

Best professor at UW. Lectures are so interesting, it's easy to pay attention. Uses real-world examples that are relevant to science today. Has clicker points, but they're usually easy. Tests are straightforward.

He was AMAZING! I really enjoyed his enthusiasm in evolution and teaching. He was truly inspirational and I would definitely take another class from him again! :D If all of my teachers could be as interested in their subjects, all of my classes would be this fun! If you have the chance, take his class!!!!!

Professor Herron is an amazing lecturer. He shows incredible passion for the material and exhibits comprehensive knowledge of the subject. The textbook is a must, he has reading quizzes before each class online, but fortunately they don't have a time limit so you can use the book to verify answers. One midterm and the final, weekly online labs.

Dr. Herron is quite possibly the best educator at UW. I would highly recommend taking a class with him!

Dr. Herron is one of the most enthusiastic, lively, and helpful instructors in the Biology department. He provides a lot of assignments, weekly online quizzes, a class research project, clickers, practice exams so there a lot of opportunities to do well if you place the effort. Grading is not just weighted on the midterm and final exams.

Such an amazing person and professor. Though the material wasn't difficult, the class being graded on the weird biology department curve was rough. I would take ANY class from Jon, by far the best professor at UW.

Jon is an amazing professor! He cares so much about student success. He makes you think outside the box and use reasoning and logic to solve complex problems. The tests are tough and are all short answer, but this is one of those classes that you get a lot more out of other than just a grade.

Professor Herron is like a beacon of light in a dark, dark, dark world. If someone asked me to describe Professor Herron, then I would say "no thank you." But, if pressed I would have to say the following. Professor Herron is a passionate, caring, inspirational, man who's work in the teaching field genuinely enlightens individuals. Take his class.

Enthusiasm

The man the myth the legend. He is a man of many trades while he wrestled crocodiles in the amazon to teaching bio 180 he's the man. This class requires some effort and difficult to get a a really high gpa but equally as hard to do bad. Great professor and would take him again.

Professor Herron has been one of my favorite professors so far! Lots of poll questions and random calls so knowing the material and showing up to class everyday is important. Lectures are always interesting I would definitely take him again.

His lectures are incredible and he's a really funny and caring guy. I learned SO much in his class (although this wasn't always reflected on exams; they were all free response and very difficult to finish in the time allotted). I would def recommend him to anyone taking Bio 180, though. I really enjoyed his class.

He looks like John Oliver and deserves the hotness pepper for that.

The UW intro bio series is just terrible. However, Dr Herron makes it tolerable. He is a very enthusiastic lecturer. One of the best in the bio department.

Best lecturer in the business.

Great lectures. Going to review sessions before exams really help.

Cool guy who is enthusiastic about the material he teaches. I respect his attitude and his energy. Personally, I think that he tries too hard during lecture to be funny and crack jokes, but it's not the worst thing in the world. On the downside, he has in-class questions which take up way too much of the lecture, and I feel like my time was wasted.

This class is extremely structured with nightly reading assignments (answers are only a nice quizlet search away). Dr. Herron does not really teach facts or make you memorize, he teaches you how to think about facts and I think that is a very useful skill for any class that you will take in the future. Office hours are great help for any questions.

Amazing teacher. Tests are similar to bio 180 but graded less harsh and with more information on them. Even though the course says "systematics" there is no memorizing of anything, he wrote the textbook and it is amazing. Beware you may need to buy a $30 online lab thing. He is also involved in bio educational research.

Dr Herron is probably my favorite STEM teacher at UW. He is passionate about what he is teaching and is a really down to earth guy. He challenges the students but also understands the struggles; very reasonable with the work load he assigns. Funny guy, loves sharing little side stories about his past. He once took a semester off to study crocodiles

Yeah he may be cool and all but his exams are crazy nit picky. I would not recommend him for intro bio unless you want to get below a 3.0

Pretty good teacher and manageable grading policies, especially for a weed-out class. I'd go as far as to say that BIOL 180 with Herron is a must-take, especially if you need it for the GE. Only problem is that he goes a bit overboard with examples late in the quarter, but the beginning is really interesting.

Herron is really big on keeping students engaged in class, so there's a lot of discussion and polling. Personally, I don't love his lecture style and I found I learned more from the textbook readings, however, he's fair and wants you to do well. He's a likeable guy and does have a lot of cool info. in his lectures.

Really great lecturer! Lectures are very engaged and you learn a lot, although as other reviews suggest, the lectures tend to focus less on content more on logic and reasoning. But the class was one of my favorite classes so far and Dr. Herron is also one of my favs! He's very knowledgeable and open about different opinions!

Dr. Herron is really passionate about Ecology, which makes his lectures very interesting. He's a funny guy, and really nice as well (get to know him at office hours!). The tests look for extremely specific wording, so make sure to do plenty of practice questions beforehand to get to know his question style!

Dr. Herron is probably the best professor to take for a tough weeder class like bio180 . The class is challenging but if you show up to lectures, take good notes, and do all of the assigned readings, then you will be able to get a pretty good grade.

Hes an outstanding lecturer and an even better person. He listens and truly wants you to succeed and is always open to answer questions. The bio series would have been really dull without him.

Jon is so funny and this class was awesome. I never took notes or studied, got a 4.0. I enjoyed just coming to class and listening to what he had to say. Would reccomend

One of my favorite classes I have taken at UW. Professor Herron cares more than any other professor I have had while remaining extremely reasonable on assigned work. Super interesting examples used in class and he is always willing to chat after class about anything. Helped connect me to another lab that I was interested in.

Dr. Herron was so awesome! He made the material very accessible and had very engaging lectures. There was a lot of work, but he was very generous with the amount of time and independence given to complete assignments.

The material wasn't my fav, but Jon did a lot to make lectures interesting. Was very approachable and answered many questions during lecture. The only gripe is their exam grading. They are nitpicky and look for specific words/phrases to get full points. Gave me a cough drop during an exam once. He's very caring and does want students to learn.

COVID online Herron is honestly one of the best lecturers you can get, especially for a basic level class. Pre-recorded lectures are short & he has tons of office hours/exam review sessions, only challenging part is learning what tests are graded for. Herron really wants his students to do well & it shows. CANNOT recommend his class enough!!

Jon is one of the few professors that actively shows he cares about you and the world around us. Hes very conscientious and obsessed with science. This is the perfect job for him!

exams are free answer and really long but you get a long time window. Hard to figure out the wording but you get the hang of it by your second exam. I got a D on my first one but ended with a 3.5 in the class, just make sure to read and pay attention to lectures. Ask TAs for tips. Those who complain need to proofread because the criteria are clear.

His lectures were more organized than the prof he co-taught with. Such a passionate guy and always has the best bio pictures to show. Quiz sections were graded but also helpful to prep for test. Get ready to read learned more from textbook than lecture. FIND A STUDY GROUP i would not have made it through without mine! U get used to wording on tests

I took a 2 credit class with him and had a great time! Hes really fun in lectures and keeps you engaged in the material. He also used a textbook hed been a writer on, which I thought was cool.

Great prof! Im deaf and he was very accommodating of that. Lectures were fun and engaging, with lots of discussion and chances to share and learn. A lot of tests, but fair. Reading and labs were reasonable. Great guy.

Dr. Herron definitely cares about who and what he's teaching! He's very passionate and helpful. Many grades so if you fail one essay, not a big deal. He has office hours and encourages students to ask for help any time! My favorite professor this quarter. If you can take his class, do it!

Prof. Herron is fantastic. He is really thoughtful about what he teaches and all of it felt like it tied together and made sense. Workload was totally manageable, and was willing to work with you if needed. Class was really interesting. Would take him again

Dr. Herron was great! His lectures were engaging, and he was very easy to talk to. I could tell he really wanted us to succeed and wanted to make sure we were getting all the content we needed. The assignments were easy, but also informative.

I enjoyed the content that was taught in class. He was clear about what to study for the tests and he gave many opportunities in class to practice what he teaches. I have never had such a passionate teacher on this campus. Many of the complaints are about the bio exams which are short answer formats that he does not control.

Herron is an exeptional professor and has a passion for teaching his students. The biggest drawback from my experience was the enormous class size which made it difficult for me to engage with the lectures. Biology labs were also a joke and didn't follow the planned materials from day one. Not too difficult but does make you work some.

BAE AF!! He is so smart and nice. He is passionate and an amazing lecture!! Class is relatively easy and low work.

This class was outside of my major and generally not a class I would take but Dr. Herron was a great lecturer and incredibly passionate about the subject. There were 3 required essays, a group project (report and presentation), and an optional 4th essay you could write for credit. This class was discussion based and also welcoming to nonmajors.

Dr. Herron constantly brings an enthusiasm to class which promotes a fun and light learning environment. He creates engaging activities during class, adding enriching games to apply the learning in a practical sense. The readings are light and interesting, and the books required for class are provided on the course website or available online.

I would honestly take this class for fun because it's that good. I don't like science or really anything STEM but man, it's impossible NOT to like this class. He is so passionate about what he does, his lectures are NEVER boring and are always fascinating. It's great both for people who are dumb as rocks or seasoned biology majors. Incredible 10/10

I didn't even end up being a STEM major but I would take any class taught by Jon. Such a caring man, incredibly passionate about biology and attentive to student lives.

Dr. Herron is one of the most engaging lecturers I have ever had the pleasure of being taught by. He clearly cares about making sure that every student is looked after and has a chance to succeed in the course. The class is a fair difficulty for a 3 credit class and I would totally take a class from him again despite not being a STEM major.

Honestly, I really liked Professor Herron but only take the class if you are interested in evolution. There are several papers and the more interested you are in the topic the better you will do. Graded pretty fairly. Professor Herron was really kind and overall very accessible. Big group project at the end that takes a lot of work.

Super engaging, fun activities, and really caring professor.

Prof. Herron is an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable professor, he was truly the highlight of this class for me. His primary focus is always to make sure that students understand and feel included. Exams are not too difficult and he provides a plethora of resources to ensure success.

Herron was a very nice and passionate professor. Sometimes the lectures were unhelpful as there was 5 minutes of valuable material in 50 minutes of class. Loves to tell stories that relate distantly but don't exactly help show the point. At the end of the day though, good teacher.

Great professor and really passionate about his work and teaching. Sometimes the lectures are a bit long, due to the information being a little repetitive, but great story-telling throughout that makes it a little interesting. Drops your lowest midterm and they aren't worth a crazy amount. Overall, really great class.

Biol 180 was a lot of work but they help you learn and brings your grade up, and there are some drops so the class was good overall. Dr. Herron gives amazing lectures based on real life examples. Although his slides can be slightly unorganized.

I dropped this class so couldn't finish but he is so amazing. Lectures are soo engaging and he loves interacting with the students, even with over 600 ppl in class. Graded attendance by participation, 3 midterms ( lowest dropped), one final, daily pre-class question assignments, etc... Heavy class but he's an amazing professor and is passionate.

Professor Herron is super caring and a wonderful teacher. He cares about all of his students and wants you to succeed in his course. Office hours are very interesting, even if you don't have questions he's willing to discuss relevant theory and even just talk about whatever. Cannot recommend enough

I loved Dr Herron this quarter. He made biology a lot more interesting than I thought it'd be. He packs tons of info in each class, but in a digestible way so it doesn't feel too overwhelming. You can ask him questions after class. They can be kind of silly but he'll still talk with you about it no judgment. Participation points are from in lecture

I love Dr. Herron. So funny and obviously cares about his students. Exam averages are pretty high, and as long as you use precise wording, you'll be just fine. PollEV is used, but he does not go off right answers, just participation. Daily pre-lecture quizzes, but they're so easy. Show up to class, and you'll do great.

One of my favorite classes I have taken at UW because of Jon. Although it may be a little challenging, there is so much support given because he wants his students to succeed. The lectures are always entertaining and Jon keeps all of his students engaged - highly recommend taking a class with him. Just put in the work and you will do great!

Professor Heron is very passionate about biology and knows what he's talking about. Often spends too much time going on tangents so we either fall behind or he rushes at the end of the lecture to fit all the material. The exams are FRQ and doing the practice questions helps a lot. Labs are long and easy, sometimes helpful for exam review.

Despite the class size being around 500, Jon Herron clearly showed that he cared about the learning of each and every student. The wording of thetest questions can be vague and the grading can be specific, so it can be a bit of a toss up. But, as long as you do the readings and go to class, the tests shouldn't be too difficult.

I really enjoyed Dr. Herron! Though attendance wasn't necessarily mandatory, there was Poll Everywhere questions every day for two attendance points. This ended up being a good thing though, as attending class regularly definitely contributed to my 4.0. If you show up to class and pay attention to what he says in lecture, you'll do just fine.

Ooh I loved bio with Jon like he really came thru, esp for a UW weed out. I mean the big thing for me was staying organized bc there's a lot going on, but with effort and time management it was super do able. Midterms weren't anything too crazy, and the final wasn't cumulative. Def recommend!!

He was always really excited about what he was teaching, which made the class fun for sure. BUT, because of the PollEv, I would frequently only tune in for clicker questions. For tests, I found that trying to remember how he answered his practice questions was very helpful as a study tool.

Prof Herron is passionate, but not the best at staying on track during lectures. Awards points for participation during lectures. His assignments are from the assigned readings, but his exams are from lecture content - which doesn't always align with the textbook. There's a lot to do - be ready to read the textbook and study in your own time.

Go to class! and I highly recommend the extra one-credit course that they offer, as it is basically free tutoring once a week

Very kind and positive. A structured but doable class. I would definitively recommend taking BIOL 180 with him.

Professor Herron is very passionate about evolution and genuinely cares for student success. His lectures were extremely helpful; he did a great job highlighting the important concepts. There is a lot of reading to do, but if you stay on pace with assignments, attend lectures, and pay attention you'll do fine.

Dr Herron! I miss you! You are truly a great professor, please teach BIOL 200 as well next school year! (a random student from BIOL 200)

Great course and Professor Herron is a great guy

I liked how Dr. Herron relates the textbook concepts to real-world applications, which made it easier for me to understand. There are a lot of partner discussions as well. I'd definitely take a class with him again, because for difficult topics he breaks it down into easier chunks, and explains well. Big emphasis on broader concepts for tests.

A very passionate lecturer. He also has a great supply of practice problems.

Professor Herron is a sweet guy, and he clearly cares about his students' learning. His lectures do become kind of repetitive, but they're easy to follow. He is often late posting assignments to canvas, but he never blames the class and gives ample time to complete them. Many essays, 1 group project. Cares lots about active participation.

Such a kind and caring man. Very passionate about what he does! I wish the class was more about human behavior in a sociological or psychological perspective instead of pretty much the same thing for 10 weeks straight. But pretty easy class, fun if you get into it.

Dr. Herron was so kind and really seemed to care about his students. He allowed extensions as long as you emailed him and would extend deadlines if he took longer than expected to grade previous papers. His rubric was easy to follow and he made his office hours clear and encouraged students to attend.

Such a sweet professor! Although I registered for the class late, he gave me ample time to catch up and was very clear with his expectations, making completing the assignment less stressful. He was also super engaging in class. Although I'm not very interested in bio-related subjects, he made me think of them differently!

Prof. Herron is passionate and explains concepts clearly. The class is structured well, with helpful partner discussions and practice problems. Using Unstuck ai alongside the textbook made studying more efficient.

An extremely kind and enthusiastic professor, and the class was written in a fun way. The class was repetitive at times, but I appreciate the effort put into the material.

Professor Herron has been teaching this class for so long that he wrote the textbook for it. His enthusiasm and excitement are unmatched for a man his age, and the format of the class made me look forward to it every time. Plus, who can resist a class title called 'Sex, Death and Evolution'?

So earnestly excited by what he's teaching, it's hard not to get excited about the material with him. The class is super easy and fun.

My favorite class I have ever taken at UW. Professor Herron cares about his students and the topic he teaches. I love the daily fun fact at the start of class. The class wasn't easy but also there are clear expectations and the exams are like his practice. Would take him again in a heart beat. Herron slays the house boots down

He was so enthusiastic and funny every lecture and so passionate about his field, reminded me a bit of a squirrel lol.

Dr. Herron is a sweet guy! He's so enthusiastic about the content and his exams are fair. There are lots of practice questions that he provides and also a practice exam. He's also pretty funny and he makes lectures fun.

Prof Herron is so passionate about what he teaches, it makes class way more interesting! He's super kind, funny, and has a ton of interesting stories to add to lecture. The readings can get tedious, but they give a broad overview of the topics for lecture, and the exams are based on lectures. Exams can be a little tricky. Overall, great class.

A very passionate and enthusiastic professor.

I liked this professor overall. He is very enthusiastic and cares about students. I think the grading of tests is very particular and annoying.

Great experience in this class, Professor Herron was very passionate about the content and held good lectures. Overall a great class.

Humorous and enthusiastic. His explanations were easy to understand and that was really helpful when it came to understanding challenging concepts. If it is your first time taking a biology class (my case this quarter), I recommend Dr. Herron.

He's an enthusiastic lecturer and talks about topics like a well-oiled machine. It's hard to get any real info from his slides, so go to lecture and take thorough notes. Provides great practice questions that are almost exactly like the exams. One drop, so the pressure's off. Grading is pretty lax in my opinion. Overall, he's great for this class!

Dr. Herron is a passionate and enthusiastic professor who genuinely loves teaching. Attending lectures is a must since the info and knowledge you gain from the class is conversation and participation-heavy. No matter the teacher, BIO 180 is picky about wording in answers so study up on the specific wording using the website and his worked examples.

Enthusiastic and entertaining. Test content is based entirely on what is taught in lectures and labs. Daily pre-lecture reading quizzes can be annoying but you don't actually have to read the textbook at all. Just listen carefully to Dr Herron in class, go to your labs and you can thrive in BIOL180. Exams are not as bad as people make it out to be.

He is a very good professor, but there are a lot of readings. While exams are slightly difficult because wording matters, everything taught in lectures / assigned in the readings is useful for the exams. He provides many practice exams and extra resources for students to use to study. Labs cover topics that will be on the exam which is very helpful

Dr. Herron is great the class is designed in a way where its basically impossible or really hard to get a failing grade or a bad grade because he drops one exam so out of four exams only three of them actually count and if you do bad on the exams no worries theres so many free points given out (including the easy labs) that its hard not to do well

As an aspiring high school science teacher, I learned a great deal from Dr. Herron. His lectures are engaging, and the extra practice and online exams really help. Labs weren't my favorite, but his teaching style made the class worthwhile. Studying outside class and rewatching lectures before exams paid off—he's genuinely one of my favorites.

Amazing professor. Lectures are super interesting and not super content-heavy. Exams are relatively easy and he gives you a lot of practice questions. Attendance is required but he drops a lot of the polls as well as reading quizzes. Overall super nice guy and inspirational in the biology community would definitely take his class again.

Dr. Herron's class is a solid class. He's always willing to answer questions and makes sure the whole class participates. The Thursday reflections were a little unnecessary, but the key to success in BIOL 180 is to read the textbook and DO NOT FORGET TO DO THE PRACTICE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY AND STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS. That is golden.

This man is the nicest human. I truly believe that he cares about everyone's wellbeing in the class even with 500 people in the lecture. He helps his students think critically and provides plenty of resources to help you study. Lectures are sometimes a little bit hard to follow, but he's great nonetheless. I love Dr. Jon Herron!

Great orator Interesting lectures Tests are graded a bit strictly Overall 9/10 tbh

Dr. Herron is clearly very passionate about the subject and makes lectures interesting and engaging. The labs are very easy, the tests can be challenging because the grading is super picky. He says there are no buzzwords, there are definitely certain words you need to say to get credit. Overall good class

Dr. Herron is passionate about what he teaches, and he makes sure to keep the class engaged. Sometimes hard to follow his examples, but they are a great way to connect course content to the real world. I recommend doing sample exams and study group questions, which can be found on his website. 4.0 is achievable.

Herron is a phenomenal lecturer, and got me to really enjoy and engage with the content. A few notes about the course as a whole under Herron: many daily poll questions. The grading is incredibly strict, and for each test you can only request one question be regraded. (bad policy)... sample exams keys are helpful for figuring out expected wording.

Such a good lecturer! He is a very kind person, and is really knowledgable on the topic. There is quite a bit of reading, but the class is very structured and you can get things done for the whole week in one day (I recommend doing this). Only problem I had was that he was unapproachable, chances are you will not have a connection with him.

Dr. Herron is a very nice professor, lectures are engaging. However, the class format itself is very annoying. Exams test very basic level knowledge, but require extremely specific answers. Exam grading often feels quite arbitrary, but there is significant fluff to increase your grade, such as in-class polls.

Dr. Herron is a great professor overall. It feels like he does really care about his students and want us to succeed. There is no curve in the class, what you get as a grade is what you get, which i think is pretty fair. He does tend to give a lot of unnecessary examples in lecture (every day and mandatory).

He has a lot of enthusiasm, and he's very encouraging towards his students. The class is less about learning rote content and more about teaching you to apply knowledge in various ways, which he really helps us with in lectures. We also get access to tons of exam practice material. My one complaint is that there's a lot of unnecessary readings.

I really liked Dr. Herron's enthusiasm. He makes you want to come to lecture everyday. About half of the grade was really easy marks that you just needed to complete to get full marks on. The exams are worth 55% of the grade(2025) but they are very specific about the wording of the answers which tanked a lot of my friends' scores.

Everything u need for exams will be in lecture and in learning objectives. A reading(some long some short)and quiz due before lecture, info is more than you need to know for exam. Easy but engaging labs. 4 exams, lowest gets dropped besides exam 4 (not cumulative). Easy 100 on everything but exams which are about 300/550 points of your grade.

He is truly so passionate and cool, but wow some of these exams were hard. They are all free response with specific requirements for wording, which made it hard to score high grades. Every other assignment is simple, just study hard! I found lab to be helpful + the TA's explanations. Utilize his website!! It helped me get lots of practice.

Super super nice guy and was always willing to chat / clarify anything! I love him so much he's super sweet. The class itself is super easy (very concept based and no memorization!), but there's a lot of participation / reading quizzes to do that may be tedious

He was a very nice professor overall, and way very clearly passionate about what he was teaching. However, he was very had to access outside of class. The tests are all free-response and are very dependent on the material learned in lecture and lab, so it's important to keep up attendance and pay attention in class!

Herron is an amazing and kind professor. You have to show up to do the poll or else you'll lose point, but lot's of assignments are dropped at the end in case your sick. There are 4 exams of equal weight and your lowest of the first 3 is dropped. Overall, pay attention in class, do all the practice questions and exams to prepare for each test.

pretty good professor, just didn't stand out too much for me. you CANNOT miss lectures/labs as they are the main substance of exams and quizzes, not textbook content. honestly felt like a high school course