BIOD125 - Human Biology 1

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Incompatible

BIOL121 Human Biological Science 1 , BIOL122 Human Biological Science 2 , BIOL125 Human Biology 1

Unit rationale, description and aim

To conduct biomedical research or work in the health professions, it is essential that students understand how the human body functions. Knowledge of appropriate medical terminology is also necessary for biomedical scientists and health professionals to communicate with each other and with the communities in which they work. In addition, students may be enrolled into professional degree programs that require development of particular knowledge and attributes for accreditation purposes. In this foundation science unit, students will learn about the structure and function of the human body, including the different types of cells and tissues, the ways they combine to form organs, and how this integration allows the body to carry out its functions. In this unit, students will apply this knowledge to understand the structure and function of the musculoskeletal, nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems; including how the morphology and/or function of these systems change across the lifespan. Successful acquisition of knowledge in this unit is required to proceed to more specialised and/or discipline-specific units in their courses.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Content

Topics will include:

• The way the body is organised, from cells to systems
• How cells, tissues and organs work, and what their functions are in the body
• How homeostasis is maintained
• An introduction to inheritance 
• Selected organ systems: their components, interactions and control, function, role in maintaining homeostasis, and changes across the lifespan
• The nervous system 
• The musculoskeletal system 
• The cardiovascular system 
• The respiratory system 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit uses an active learning approach with interactive lectures chats, workshops and online learning activities. The online learning activities allow students to build the foundational knowledge necessary to successfully meet the learning outcomes and (by self-evaluating their understanding) to identify areas of uncertainty prior to the workshops. The workshops will build on the foundational knowledge acquired through these activities. This approach allows students to work at their own pace to gain familiarity with the concepts and applications and supports revision and integration of the various topics as the unit progresses. Online learning activities allow in-depth exploration of concepts and applications relevant to the students’ future professions whilst lecture chat and workshop classes make students explore the structure and functions of the human body in a supported environment. 

Further to this, to ensure students are ready to transition from the Diploma and articulate into the second year of undergraduate study, transition pedagogies will be incorporated into the unit as the key point of differentiation from the standard unit. This focuses on an active and engaging approach to learning and teaching practices, and a scaffolded approach to the delivery of curriculum to enhance student learning in a supportive environment. This will ensure that students develop foundation level discipline-based knowledge, skills and attributes, and simultaneously the academic competencies required of students to succeed in this unit.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy allows students to progressively develop their knowledge and skills of the structure and function of the human body, and support development of academic literacy. Students are provided with early feedback so they can seek assistance if required; no one assessment is so large as to preclude the possibility of passing if they fail it, and a variety of tasks are provided to suit different learning styles. The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.

Quizzes: The first assessment is an online quiz; this is of low weighting, open book, and assessing only the first few weeks of material. Feedback is provided quickly, allowing students to gauge their progress and to seek assistance if they wish. The second quiz builds on this and has higher weighting because it covers more content. Both quizzes provide in-semester feedback as to the progression of the student's understanding and application of key concepts.

Written assessment: this task requires students to produce a piece of academic writing. The assessment encourages students to integrate their knowledge of the anatomical and physiological workings of various body systems of a healthy human body.

Written Exam: Having been provided with feedback from the earlier assessments, students should now be able to demonstrate their understanding of the anatomy and physiology of all relevant body systems by addressing short answer questions in a written examination that assesses integration and application of key concepts of all topics covered.

Formative assessments are also provided throughout the semester. These are in the form of weekly knowledge checks and online learning activities. Opportunities to practice questions are incorporated into small group and lecture chat activities, so students can gain insights regarding the various question types and model answers.

In order to pass this unit, you are required to achieve a final grade of 50% or better as an aggregate score of all points from assessment tasks completed in this unit. The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for you to demonstrate your achievement of each learning outcome.

Strategies aligned with transition pedagogies will be utilised to facilitate successful completion of the unit assessment tasks. For each assessment, there will be the incorporation of developmentally staged tasks with a focus on a progressive approach to learning. This will be achieved through activities, including regular feedback, particularly early in the unit of study to support their learning; strategies to develop and understand discipline-specific concepts and terminology; in-class practice tasks with integrated feedback; and greater peer-to-peer collaboration. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Hall, J. E., & Guyton, A. C (2016). Guyton and Hall textbook of medical physiology (13th ed.); Sanders.

Marieb, E. Keller, S.M. (2018). Essentials of human anatomy and physiology (12th Global ed.) Pearson.

Martini, F., Nath, J.L., & Bartholomew, E.F. (2018). Fundamentals of anatomy and physiology (11th Global ed.) Pearson.

Ovalle, W.K., & Nahirney, P.C., (2020). Netter's essential histology (3rd ed.) Elsevier/Saunders.

Saladin, K., S., Gan, C.A. & Cushman, H.N.. (2021). Anatomy & physiology: The unity of form and function (9th ed.) McGraw Hill.

Sherwood, L. (2016). Human physiology from cells to systems (9th ed.) Cengage Learning.

Stanfield, C.L. (2018). Principles of Human Physiology (6th Revised Global ed.) Pearson.

Tortora, G.T., Derrickson, B.H., Burkett, B., Peoples, G., Dye, D., Cooke, J., Diversi, T., McKean, M., Summers, S., Di Pietro, F., Engel, A., Macartney, M., & Green, H. (2021). Principles of anatomy and physiology (3rd Asia-Pacific ed.) Wiley.