Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Fleur Ponton fleur.ponton@mq.edu.au Caitlin Kordis caitlin.kordis@mq.edu.au
Credit points	Credit points 10
Prerequisites	Prerequisites
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description This unit provides foundation skills required for working in medical and life sciences laboratories. Skills will be learnt in the context of current global health issues including antimicrobial resistance and malaria, health reporters such as immunity and haematology and approaches to disease diagnosis. Students will acquire hands-on laboratory skills, including aseptic technique for microbiology, use of microscopes and spectrophotometers, extraction of bioactive molecules, and data collection and analyses. Students will hear from medical and life science researchers who will provide context for the weekly skills topics and information on the diverse employment areas in medical science. Students also begin to acquire skills in interpreting and citing scientific literature and developing a foundation in communication skills and scientific writing.

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: Articulate and practice appropriate health, safety and ethical standards relevant to medical science
ULO2: Describe global health issues of significance to society today using appropriate scientific terminology
ULO3: Develop and demonstrate competencies in standard laboratory techniques (e.g. dilutions, aseptic technique, imagery and measurement, labelling, diagnostic sample preparation)
ULO4: Describe and practice scientific methods from generating hypotheses and predictions to designing experimental procedures, and undertaking data collection
ULO5: Develop competency in working individually or as a team in the laboratory and tutorials

General Assessment Information

Competence with skills, data analyses and interpretation, and preparation of scientific reports are the main forms of assessment in BIOL1620.
Attendance at practical sessions is a required to pass this unit.
Detailed information for each assessment and marking criteria are outlined under the assessment tabs in iLearn.
All assessments are submitted via Turnitin which evaluates your assessment against that of other students in this years course and previous years, literature, websites etc. Turtitn then provides a similarity score that is used a a measure of plagiarism (see Academic Integrity policy in tab below).
Assessments (including quizzes) are your own work.
Online quizzes, in-class activities, or scheduled tests and exam must be undertaken at the time indicated in the unit guide. Should these activities be missed due to illness or misadventure, students may apply for Special Consideration. All other assessments must be submitted on their due time and date. Should these assessments be missed due to illness or misadventure, students should apply for Special Consideration. Assessements for this unit will be done in class, hence late submissions will not be accepted.

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Hurdle	Due
Participation in pracs	0%	No	Week 1-12
Mid-term quiz test	15%	No	Week 7
Mid-term practice-based exam	30%	No	Week 7
Lab Prep Activities	10%	No	Week 1-12
Final quiz test	15%	No	Week 13
Final practice-based exam	30%	No	Week 13

Participation in pracs

Assessment Type ¹: Participatory task
Indicative Time on Task ²: 0 hours
Due: Week 1-12
Weighting: 0%

Attendance at, and participation in weekly practicals is compulsory. Participation will be demonstrated by actively undertaking the experiments, and will be recorded. Students may be able to attend a make-up class, or else a Special Consideration request must be submitted.