Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
John Alroy
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Credit points |
Credit points
10
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
(BIOL1110 and BIOL1310) or (BIOL1210 and BIOL1620)
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit offers a comprehensive exploration of the vast range of animal diversity. Students will examine the evolutionary history, evolutionary relationships, and ecological adaptations of animals across aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Topics covered include animal anatomy, physiology, and behaviour. Students will gain a deep understanding of how animals interact with their environment and the different roles animals play in ecosystems. Students will gain hands-on experience working with animals and undertake data analyses to develop critical thinking and observational skills while deepening their understanding in animal biology. |
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Requirements to Pass this Unit
To pass this unit you need to:
• Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50% across all assessments combined
There are no hurdle assessments. It is mathematically possible but unlikely to pass the unit without sitting the final exam because it has a weight of 40%.
Attendance and Participation
We strongly encourage all students to actively participate in all of the 13 workshops. Regular attendance is crucial for acquiring key knowledge and skills. Interaction with the academic staff during the workshops will be a major benefit of participating in the unit. Assessment of your activities in the workshops will constitute 40% of your overall mark.
Late Assessment Submission Penalty
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark of the task) will be applied for each day the Media Presentation assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. The submission time for all uploaded assessments is 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period will be provided to students who experience a technical concern. For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, please apply for Special Consideration.
Special Consideration
The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through https://connect.mq.edu.au.
Media Presentation Content
The Media Presentation will be submitted via a Turnitin link on the iLearn site. Presentations may be submitted in a variety of formats, including essays, short live or animated videos, musical recordings, poetry, or even children's book illustrations. Presentations must include a fixed minimum number of factual statements concerning certain animals. Statements must cover a wide range of attributes such as evolution, morphology, behaviour, physiology, development, ecology, conservation, and biogeography. In preparation for the assessment, the Week 2 workshop will explore online resources such as the Atlas of Living Australia. Exact guidelines for selecting topics will be offered at this time. This is not group work and all presentations must be prepared by individual students.
Media Presentation Assessment Criteria
A draft rubric for marking the Media Presentation will be placed on the iLearn site prior to the deadline for submission.
Submission of the Media Presentation
The Media Presentation will be submitted via a Turnitin link on the iLearn site. The deadline will be on the Friday of Week 4.
Practical Skills Demonstration
This task will involve demonstrating successful completion of the practical exercises undertaken during the workshops. Results will be recorded by tutors working with you in person during certain workshops, and submitted on the iLearn site during others. Submitting results to the site will only be possible during the workshop hours. In accordance with University policy, no separate marks will be released prior to the end of the semester. Instead, a single mark will summarise assessment of all practical skills learning.
Final Exam
The final exam will be on-campus and invigilated. The exam will include questions in a variety of formats. Questions will be based both on the iLearn recordings and on the workshop activities.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
---|---|---|---|
Practical skills demonstration | 40% | No | Completed during Week 12 |
Final Examination | 40% | No | Examination Period |
Media presentation | 20% | No | 21/03/25 |
Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: Completed during Week 12
Weighting: 40%
Demonstration in class of having met activity-based learning goals
Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: Examination Period
Weighting: 40%
Written examination
Assessment Type 1: Media presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: 21/03/25
Weighting: 20%
Media presentation demonstrating knowledge of animal biology
1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:
2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation
Week 1 Classes
Week 1 will focus on introducing the unit and general information about animals that will serve as context for the rest of the unit. You are strongly encouraged to attend. The Week 2 workshop will focus on the Media Presentation task, and it will be difficult for you to complete it without attending. Commencing with Week 3, the weekly workshops will focus on practical laboratory exercises.
Workshop Content
The workshops will begin with general discussions of the weekly iLearn recordings and other intellectual content. Following this, a substantial amount of time will be spent on practical exercises. Assessment of skills learning will progress during the workshops but no marks will be released until the end of the semester (see the above).
The workshops will emphasise evolution, anatomy, physiology, and development. Topics will include the diversity of invertebrates in general and arthropods in particular; microscopy and imaging; thermal relations; performance and climate; developmental biology; dissection of sharks or rays and of possums; and the morphology of skulls and teeth.
Workshop Logistics
Workshops will be held each Wednesday throughout the semester. Depending on enrolment, there will be between three and four offerings each day. If there are four, the first two will be offered concurrently on Wednesday mornbing starting at 9 AM, one in 14EaR 120 Science Lab and the other in the adjacent 14EaR 160 Science Lab. The second pair of concurrent workshops will commence at 1 PM the same day and will be held in the same two labs.
For infrequent attendees, workshops will be offered in two blocks. Two workshops will take place each day during these blocks. The first block will run on Saturday, 22 March and Sunday, 23 March from 9 AM until 4 PM with a lunch break. It will cover the workshop material offered to internal students during weeks 3 through 6. The second block will run from Tuesday, 15 April through Thursday, 17 April and will also start at 9 AM and end at 4 PM. It will cover the remaining workshops offered to internals during weeks 7 through 12.
iLearn Recordings
This unit strongly emphasises acquisition of specific scientific knowledge concerning animals, which will be tested during the Final Exam. To enhance your learning, a set of short videos will be released on the iLearn site each week that will introduce all aspects of both invertebrate and vertebrate biology. The videos will run to a total of approximately two hours each week.
Topics will include phylogenetics; Earth history and the fossil record; major patterns in animal evolution; biogeography; biodiversity; multicellularity and compartmentalisation; the invasion of land; the return to the sea; flight; terrestrial locomotion; endothermy and climate tolerance; pregnancy, reproduction, and mating; growth and development; body size and scaling; sensory systems; life at night; diet and morphology; and predation and defense.
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct
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 connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au
At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
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Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:
Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.
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This is a new unit for 2025 and there have been no previous offerings.
Unit information based on version 2025.04 of the Handbook