BIOL12107 - Genomes, Genetics & Evolution

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, your study will focus on the role of the genome in adaptive change in living organisms, particularly animals. This will help you bring together recent advances in our understanding of the genome and the impact of these on the traditional areas of zoology, particularly those involving evolutionary processes. This unit will provide you with a link between molecular biology and other areas of biology including genetics, evolution, taxonomy, embryology and behaviour. In the latter part of the unit, you will focus on various aspects of human evolution.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisites

Any one of the following:

  • BIOH11005 Introductory Anatomy and Physiology
  • BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory
  • BMSC11002 Human Body Systems 2
  • BMSC11008 Medical Anatomy and Physiology 2
  • BMSC11011 Human Anatomy and Physiology 2

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2025

Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Online

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. Written Assessment 30%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 20%
3. Online Quiz(zes) 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 3 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 78.57% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 35% 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: SUTE Unit Comment Report
Feedback
Future pathway information was useful for student's career planning.
Recommendation
Make a video about the career pathways related to genetics/genomics.
Action Taken
The video on career pathways related to genetics was made available to students.
Source: SUTE Unit Comment Report
Feedback
The Practical Bioinformatics presentation was a well received addition to this unit.
Recommendation
Create a video covering the laboratory side of genomics.
Action Taken
The laboratory side is now covered in several relevant lectures.
Source: SUTE Unit Comment Report
Feedback
More content/examples are required to explain how this unit relates to students studying agriculture.
Recommendation
Prepare material covering genomics applications in the veterinarian and agricultural sciences.
Action Taken
The use of genetics in Agriculture is now incorporated in several lectures.
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
The students commented that the material was broken down into succinct topics and that the unit was very well organised and interesting.
Recommendation
Excellent feedback was received on the unit's reorganisation. Improvement and communication practices will continue in the following years.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
The students recommended adding more learning material activities to better prepare students for the final quiz.
Recommendation
The suggested activities are incorporated into lectures, but will be expanded and upgraded in the future.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
Students commented that they appreciated updated lectures, which help to keep the content current and applicable to current advances in genetics.
Recommendation
The unit will continue to present new and exciting developments in the area of genetics and review the most interesting and controversial manuscripts published in recent years, such as the side effects of probiotics and the genomic effects of artificial sweeteners, which were presented last year.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
Students asked for an explanation of the final quiz structure.
Recommendation
The video on the final quiz was available last year in the Assessment block. The video was additionally posted on the forum a few days before the exam to remind the students of this information. The video footage presented an overview of the quiz structure and strategy for achieving the best marks. In the video, the lecturer opened one quiz attempt and took the students through random sample questions, then continued to "mock-mark" previous years' quiz attempts, with student names removed, to demonstrate where marks could be lost and how to use the time available strategically. The overall cohort mark in this quiz was 87.2%, indicating that the students were more than well-prepared. However, efforts will be made to emphasise the availability of these resources on the Moodle page and further expand this information.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
Students emphasised that they enjoyed open communication with the unit coordinator and feedback provided on the essay writing.
Recommendation
The feedback and communication will continue in future unit offerings.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Use correct terminology to describe genetics, genomes and evolution
  2. Discuss the concepts of heritability, mutation, development, Mendelian genetics, extranuclear and multi-allelic inheritance, the Hardy-Weinberg Law and related topics in quantitative genetics
  3. Explain the mechanisms of change in the genome including the concepts of genetic disorders adaptation and speciation
  4. Discuss behavioral and population genetics, socio-biology and ethics.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • • • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) •
3 - Online Quiz(zes) • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice •
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