BIOL11100 - Functional Biology

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Successful completion of this unit will provide students with an understanding of the operation of living systems at different levels of organisation, together with an appreciation of a number of major themes in current biology, e.g. in relation to culture of living organisms, inheritance and gene technology, physiological functioning of organisms and their interactions with their environment. In the practical component, students will gain hands-on experience of relevant laboratory and practical procedures.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

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Residential School Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 20%
2. Written Assessment 20%
3. In-class Test(s) 10%
4. Examination 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2018 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 91.18% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 54.84% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Students
Feedback
FLEX students feel they would benefit from being able to participate actively in lectures.
Recommendation
Next year I'll attempt to use the Engaged Collaborative Learning scheme to better engage both on campus and FLEX students.
Action Taken
All lectures were linked to Zoom and several students attended lectures in this mode.
Source: Students/Unit Coordinator
Feedback
Students continue to feel there is too much material, especially around photosynthesis and respiration.
Recommendation
Students would benefit from a flipped classroom during the periods this material is presented.
Action Taken
I flipped the classroom for photosynthesis and respiration, providing the previous years lectures for viewing before engaging students in discussion and answering questions during lecture time.
Source: Students
Feedback
Students want more detailed criteria and rubriks for the Mythical Creature assessment.
Recommendation
A more developed and detailed criteria/rubrik sheet will be developed for students. A marked exemplar will be provided as well.
Action Taken
More detailed rubriks and criteria were provided for students. A marked exemplar was also provided for students.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Some students didn't like the creative aspect of the mythical creature assessment.
Recommendation
In the future, I will try to better describe the utility of creativity in science and biology. I am reluctant to remove the creative aspect of this assessment, as it does serve a purpose. I will provide links to articles on this facet of science (e.g. www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/how-creativity-powers-science)
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Students think the unit is too content heavy and found the switch between plants and animals difficult.
Recommendation
This is a first-year unit with a lot of ground to cover. A variety of sources provide students with what they need to know to succeed in biology. Students have been equally unhappy in the past when plants and animals were presented seperately – it's better to continue to cover the material thematically.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Put links to the weekly lectures in the respectively weekly Moodle tab.
Recommendation
This will be done in 2019.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Describe the relationships between structure and function of biological systems at various levels of organization, from sub-cellular, through cell, organ, organism to ecosystem, using relevant examples and appropriate terminology.
  2. Explain the basic principles involved in the culture of different types of living organisms, including microbes, plants and animals.
  3. Describe the molecular basis of inheritance and recombinant DNA technology and demonstrate its application across the biological and biomedical sciences.
  4. Explain the adaptation of living organisms to different environments, especially in terms of the relationships between form and function at the physiological level.
  5. Carry out a range of laboratory and practical procedures relating to the functions of living organisms.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Online Quiz(zes) •
2 - Written Assessment •
3 - In-class Test(s) • • •
4 - Examination •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • •
5 - Team Work •
6 - Information Technology Competence • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10