SCIE40018 - Foundation Science

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will enable you to gain the necessary understanding of the basic principles of the major branches of science that will serve as a foundation for entry into relevant courses such as nursing/health, and related areas. You will develop your knowledge of the fundamentals of chemistry, biology and physics and related mathematical concepts. On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to identify how a fundamental knowledge of these sciences is essential for further developing an understanding of their applications in real-world health related contexts.

Details

Level Non-award
Unit Level Not Applicable
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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

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 Non-award 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 25%
3. Written Assessment 35%
4. Written Assessment 20%

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 1 - 2018 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 88.24% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 29.82% 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: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Mixed reviews on assessment feedback.
Recommendation
Provide more details on assessments and link to feedback sheets.
Action Taken
More assessment feedback was provided.
Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Positive feedback on assessment format.
Recommendation
Continue to provide interesting and relevant assessment tasks.
Action Taken
Assessments were developed with relevant tasks.
Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Mixed feedback on style of podcasts.
Recommendation
Trial new lecture recordings with a student audience to better gauge students understanding and engagement.
Action Taken
Live lecture recordings for chemistry were added.
Source: Staff feedback
Feedback
Content relevance.
Recommendation
Review content and schedule, and make adjustments as required, to ensure unit provides a good introduction to Science for the mixed cohort of students.
Action Taken
The biology content was expanded over a longer number of weeks to better reflect the requirements of students for undergraduate preparation. Redundant material (study skills) was removed.
Source: Self-evaluation, feedback from other lecturers, student feedback
Feedback
Feedback on content in biology Topic module
Recommendation
Revise biology Topic module to increase explanatory detail and expand on essential themes.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit evaluations
Feedback
Positive feedback for live lectures used for chemistry Topic module
Recommendation
Consider adding a live lecture component to the unit to improve student experience.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit evaluations, self-evaluation
Feedback
Feedback on poor quality of recorded tutorials
Recommendation
Record new tutorials and make sure that sound and vision quality is adequate.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit evaluations, self-evaluations
Feedback
Feedback on errors in the study guide
Recommendation
Proofread the study guide and correct typographical errors.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Use basic mathematical concepts to solve scientific calculations.
  2. Apply fundamental chemistry principles and recognise their applications in health contexts.
  3. Recall and explain fundamental principles of biology.
  4. Describe fundamental physics principles and their application in health contexts .


Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • • •
2 - Written Assessment •
3 - Written Assessment •
4 - Written Assessment •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Self Management • • •
2 - Communication • • •
3 - Information Literacy • • •
4 - Information Technology Competence • • •
5 - Problem Solving • • •
6 - Critical Thinking • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9