Students

BIOL2210 – Life Processes

2020 – Session 2, Weekday attendance, North Ryde

Notice

As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group learning activities on campus for the second half-year, while keeping an online version available for those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.

To check the availability of face to face activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Brian Atwell
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
(40cp at 1000 level or above) including (BIOL1310 or BIOL114) or (BIOL1110 or BIOL115)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
With BIOL6210
Unit description Unit description
This unit will compare and contrast a range of physiological processes in microbes, plants and animals. It will highlight common features and their evolutionary origins, with particular reference to prokaryotic genes which have been conserved in multicellular organisms. Topics to be explored include metabolism (e.g. respiration, photosynthesis and transport), environmental responses (e.g. abiotic stress response, immune reactions, behaviour), morphogenesis (e.g. cell division, homeotic genes, embryogenesis and symmetry) and phenology (e.g. sexual maturation, fertilisation, life cycles). The unit will draw the common threads of evolution together in complex multicellular organisms, as well as contrasting those processes unique to each Kingdom, such as photosynthesis and locomotion.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

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

  • ULO1: Describe the co-ordination of physiological processes in organisms, including transport systems and responses to stimuli
  • ULO2: Apply detailed knowledge to explain the processes by which organisms gain energy, grow, and develop
  • ULO3: Compare and contrast physiological processes, and their evolution, in microbes, plants, and animals
  • ULO4: Demonstrate critical thinking and writing skills to appraise scientific literature on a major physiological theme
  • ULO5: Analyse and interpret complex experimental data and critically evaluate these data in the context of physiological phenomena
  • ULO6: Apply broad and coherent knowledge of physiology to applications in the fields of biotechnology and medicine

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Weekly quizzes 20% No Sunday midnight for lectures in the preceding week
Practical quizzes 20% No Held in your practical session
Written assessment 15% No (to be advised) After mid-semester break
Mid-semester test 10% No 1-2 pm on 11 September
Final Exam 35% Yes When advised by Examination Office

Weekly quizzes

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 12 hours
Due: Sunday midnight for lectures in the preceding week
Weighting: 20%

 

Students complete a set of lecture-specific questions embedded in each lecture with answers registered in iLearn

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe the co-ordination of physiological processes in organisms, including transport systems and responses to stimuli
  • Apply detailed knowledge to explain the processes by which organisms gain energy, grow, and develop
  • Compare and contrast physiological processes, and their evolution, in microbes, plants, and animals

Practical quizzes

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Held in your practical session
Weighting: 20%

 

Students complete a set of praac-specific questions embedded in each practical with answers registered in iLearn

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe the co-ordination of physiological processes in organisms, including transport systems and responses to stimuli
  • Apply detailed knowledge to explain the processes by which organisms gain energy, grow, and develop
  • Demonstrate critical thinking and writing skills to appraise scientific literature on a major physiological theme

Written assessment

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: (to be advised) After mid-semester break
Weighting: 15%

 

A critical analysis of two recent publications on one of a set of topics chosen by the student

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Analyse and interpret complex experimental data and critically evaluate these data in the context of physiological phenomena
  • Apply broad and coherent knowledge of physiology to applications in the fields of biotechnology and medicine

Mid-semester test

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 1 hours
Due: 1-2 pm on 11 September
Weighting: 10%

 

A test of material presented in the first half of semester, largely based around terminology and images

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe the co-ordination of physiological processes in organisms, including transport systems and responses to stimuli
  • Apply detailed knowledge to explain the processes by which organisms gain energy, grow, and develop

Final Exam

Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 3 hours
Due: When advised by Examination Office
Weighting: 35%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

 

An analytical set of short-answer assembled in graded order of difficulty designed to test understanding rather than factual recall

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe the co-ordination of physiological processes in organisms, including transport systems and responses to stimuli
  • Apply detailed knowledge to explain the processes by which organisms gain energy, grow, and develop
  • Compare and contrast physiological processes, and their evolution, in microbes, plants, and animals
  • Apply broad and coherent knowledge of physiology to applications in the fields of biotechnology and medicine

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

General Assessment Information

Assessment for this unit consists of a mixture of quizzes, a written assignment, a short test and a final exam. A team-based practical project will be organised late in the semester if circumstances permit (this will depend upon the rules that prevail in late October for prac teaching). Submission of all assessments and completion of all tests is essential for adequate progress, since all assessment tasks are required to master the content of this unit. Most importantly, it will be essential to keep pace with the quizzes, as marks accrue weekly throughout the semester.

HURDLE: The final exam is a hurdle for this unit. Students must achieve a mark of at least 40% in the final exam to pass the unit. Students who fail to achieve this hurdle on the first attempt, but demonstrate a 'serious attempt' by achieving a mark of at least 30%, will be given a second attempt to cross the 40% hurdle in a supplementary final examStudents who achieve or surpass the hurdle on the second attempt will obtain a mark of 40%. The final mark will then be calculated from the in-semester grade (out of 65 marks) and the final exam (out of 35 marks).  An overall mark of 50% is the minimum required to pass the unit.

All assessments will be graded and we aim to have marks available within three weeks of the assessment due date. Marks will be available on Gradebook in iLearn. Feedback on the written assignment will be provided through Turnitin when the marks are released.

Weekly ‘lecture’ quizzes:

Questions will be inserted into the lecture slides each week, based on the lecture material. Quizzes will be open on iLearn each week from Tuesday (the day after each week's lectures are loaded) and close the following Sunday at midnight. Once you start the quiz you have up to 15 minutes to complete it and you are only allowed one attempt. These questions are designed to ensure that you have some familiarity with the lecture material and should be completed ideally before the practicals so you have the best opportunity to learn from the practical exercises. They do not require a deep understanding of the lecture material. There are a total of 12 weekly quizzes, starting in Week 2. The quizzes will be automatically marked and the marks and correct answers will be released once submissions have been completed.

Weekly ‘practical’ quizzes:

These quiz questions will be based on the material covered in the practicals. Questions will be available on iLearn at some time during the practical sessions; have your internet access ready. Answers must be submitted online during the practical session and you are only allowed one attempt. These questions are designed to test your understanding of the practical exercises but are very simple and do not require interpretation of the data. There are a total of 8 practical quizzes (each with multiple questions). Multiple-choice answers will be entered online and quizzes will be automatically marked and the marks will be available immediately.

Online preparatory skills: There will be various supplementary materials offered to help you gain confidence in areas of uncertainty. This applies especially to chemistry and statistics.

Written assignment:

Students will choose from a list of topics provided in Week 4. The topics are designed to cover a wide range and for each topic, two recent publications will be provided. These papers are the source for your assignment work but more references should be used to support your arguments. Write (up to) a 1000-word report which will be submitted through Turnitin. The write-up will be divided into three distinct questions to direct you: (a) what did the papers report? (b) are they a sound piece of research? (c) what would you do as a follow-up experiment? A rubric which outlines the assessment criteria will be made available on iLearn.

This report is due by 11:59 pm Monday 9 Oct 2020 (end of Week 9) and must be submitted through the Turnitin link in iLearn (no hardcopy is required). Students are reminded that Turnitin is plagiarism-checking software and all assignments must comply with the Academic Honesty Policy of the university, which you can read at: http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html.

Apart from plagiarising other external sources of material, be aware that your work will be electronically cross-checked against other students’ work. We encourage you to discuss ideas with your fellow students but you must write original work for submission. Assignments can only be submitted to Turnitin once, so make sure your assignment is finalised before you submit.

Mid-semester test:

The mid-semester test will be closed book, will take 50 minutes and will be held in the Friday lecture timeslot in Week 7 (1-2 pm Tuesday 11 September 2020) in a place to be nominated nearer the time. The test will consist of short-answer questions and cover all lecture and practical content up to and including Week 6 (i.e. lectures 1-12 and practicals 1-4).

Prac Project (in the final weeks of the pracs):

The project is an innovation which we hope to run in some form depending upon the health rules in late October. The aim is that you select an experimental topic, report on the background to the topic, formulate a hypothesis, test it and report on your findings. Further details will be released in Week 7.

Final examination:

The final exam will be closed book and three hours duration and held in the official university examination period at the end of the session. The exam will consist of short- and extended-answer questions. Some short-answer questions will be drawn from the sample short answer questions made available each week in lectures. Calculators without text retrieval capacity will be allowed into the exam room. For further information please see the university examination policy at: https://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/schedule_4.html

If you receive special consideration for the final exam, a supplementary exam will be scheduled in December 2020. By making a special consideration application for the final exam you are declaring yourself available for a resit during the supplementary examination period and will not be eligible for a second special consideration approval based on pre-existing commitments. Please ensure you are familiar with the policy prior to submitting an application. Approved applicants will receive an individual notification one week prior to the exam with the exact date and time of their supplementary examination.

If you are given a second opportunity to sit the final examination as a result of failing to meet the minimum mark required, you will be offered that chance during the same supplementary examination period and will be notified of the exact day and time after the publication of final results for the unit.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to help you improve your marks and take control of your study.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes since First Published

Date Description
25/08/2020 I removed a statement that 5% of the final mark was awarded for an assessment that has been deleted.