The course materials include this Course Guide, five study units, an Assignment File and other useful materials mentioned below.
Materials
In addition to this Course Guide, the course has the following important components. Please ensure that you have all of these materials.
Study units
Unit 1 Body forms and functions introduces the concept that despite being classified as eukaryotic and believed to originate from a common ancestry, plants and animals are undeniably different in terms of their body forms and functions. In the case of plants, they are said to be architecturally designed to exhibit radial symmetry with all their body parts arranged around a central axis. The obvious rationale behind such structural organization is related to their serenity. Radial symmetry enables plants to utilize all parts of their environment maximally. In contrast, animals are said to be mechanistically designed in the form of bilateral symmetry, which enables them to maximize movements through their environments. In this unit, differential body forms between plants and animals as well as the relationship between body forms and physiological functions will be introduced.
Unit 2 Signal transduction describes that in the subject of physiology, homeostasis is a fundamental process in maintaining the internal environments of all living systems constant via adjustments of physiological functions. In order to achieve internal stability, sensory systems must be available to offer a continuous surveillance of internal body conditions that may be altered by either internal or external stimuli. Despite the existence of enormous diversity between plants and animals, both types of organisms have adopted similar signal transduction pathways to provide a linkage between signal reception and response induction. In both plants and animals, both the nervous as well as the endocrine (hormonal) systems are indispensible in terms of their roles in homeostasis. In this study unit, the anatomies of the nervous and endocrine systems will be explored to reveal their relative importance in stabilizing the internal conditions of both plants and animals.
Unit 3 Circulatory and transport systems emphasizes that circulatory and transports systems are essential. No living organisms, regardless whether they are plants or animals, are totally self-sufficient. Instead, all are required to obtain substances such as water, nutrients and other vital minerals from their external environments to survive. Acquisition of essential nutrients in plants and animals requires efficient coupling systems of transportation for rapid distribution throughout the body of the organism. Although plants and animals have developed similarities in selected areas of physiology such as cellular signaling, these are likely to be the exception rather than the norm. Many physiological processes between plants and animals are distinctively different. In this unit, transportation of substances between plants and animals will be discussed and contrasted.
Unit 4 Osmoregulation and excretion describes the importance of osmoregulation and excretion. Osmoregulation is an important process in regulating the internal chemical composition of body fluids by maintaining the balance between loss and gain of water and solutes. It is a homeostatic mechanism in maintaining an optimal and constant osmotic pressure within living organisms, enabling normal physiological functions to be performed at the levels of cells, tissues as well as organs. Evolution of a range of osmoregulatory strategies in animals has reflected the severity of osmoregulatory challenges. In addition, animals also need to safeguard their internal fluids via excretion of toxic metabolites. Plants share with animals the problems of obtaining water, but unlike in animals, loss of water in plants is crucial to create a driving force to move nutrients from the soil to tissues. Whilst there are no specific osmoregulatory organs in higher plants, stomata are important in regulating water balance. On the cellular level the plant vacuole is crucial in regulating the concentration of solutes in the cytoplasm.
Unit 5 Immunology and self-defence systems focuses on the fact that plants and animals are continuously under pathogenic attacks. In response to this, specialized defence systems have evolved to resist such microscopic assaults. In animals, a series of efficient defence mechanisms is persistently on standby to fight against potential pathogenic infections. As primary producers and being positioned at the base of food webs, plants are not only subjected to pathogenic invasions but are also frequently threatened by herbivorous predation. For self- protection, a series of defense systems that are distinctively different from those of animals has evolved to deter herbivory as well as to combat pathogens.
Please be aware that to achieve the desired learning outcomes for each of these units, you are encouraged to do the following:
- read the materials
- interact with the materials
- work through the assigned readings, including the supplementary Web-based activities
- attempt the self-tests and connect these attempts to the suggested answers given at the end of each unit
- produce and present assignments to the tutor / Course Coordinator within the allocated times.
Set textbook
You are required to purchase the following set textbook:
Campbell, N A, Urry, L A, Cain, M L, Wasserman, S A, Minorsky, P V, Reece, J B and Orr, R A (2020) Biology: A Global Approach, Global Edition, 12th edn, Pearson.
[Print book + Pearson Modified MasteringBiology with Pearson eText. ISBN: 9781292345864]
Or you may choose to purchase the electronic version of the set textbook:
Pearson Modified MasteringBiology with Pearson eText Student Access Code – for Biology: A Global Approach, Global Edition, 12th edn.
[No print book included. ISBN: 9781292341750]
Web resources
When you buy the set textbook you will obtain an access code to an accompanying website: MasteringBiology. You will be referred to this website regularly throughout the course to complete interactive activities and watch animations which will support your understanding of course concepts. To register for and log in to the textbook website go to:
https://login.pearson.com/v1/piapi/piui/signin?client_id=6Q7lNcg9CxMhKqXBPUidpp7BVrBjMFzI&okurl=https:%2F%2Fwww.masteringbiology.com%2Flogin%3FCCNG%3D1&siteid=6689
After you register, enter your username and password, and then click Sign in.
Assignment File
The Assignment File, available on the Online Learning Environment (OLE) provides you with guidelines for working on your assignments. You can refer to the Course Guide section 'Assessment' that follows, and to the Assignment File itself for more information.
Presentation Schedule
The Presentation Schedule (available on the OLE) is included in the course materials, and gives the dates for completing assignments, attending tutorials and day schools, and so on.
Reference books
The following are recommended reference books for the course:
Raven, Johnson, Losos and Singer (2008) Biology, 8th edn, McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Sadava, Heller, Orians, Purves and Heller (2008) Life: The Science of Biology, 8th edn, Sinauer Associates and W.H. Freeman & Co.
Equipment needed for supplementary media
You need to have at least the following equipment for the course:
Hardware
Minimum configuration:
- PC with Intel Pentium III 800 MHz processor (recommended 2.6GHz Pentium IV)
- 512MB RAM (recommended 1GB RAM)
- I G of free disk space.
Software
- You will need access to a computer with Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7.
- Web Browser: Firefox 2, Internet Explorer 6, or above.
Assessment
There is informal and formal assessment in this course. The informal assessment includes self-assessed Web-based activities and self-tests stipulated in each unit. The formal assessment includes assignments and a final examination. Assignments must be submitted to your tutor for formal assessment according to the stated deadlines. The non-assessed activities are not part of your formal assessment, but it is very important that you complete all these activities as you work through the units.
The course uses assignments and a final examination as the means of formal assessment. Assignments serve as the overall continuous assessment (OCAS) component during the study period and account for 50% of the total course assessment. A final examination to be conducted at the end of the course accounts for the other 50% of the total course assessment. To pass the course, students are required to obtain at least 40% or above for OCAS and 40% or above in the final examination.
Other than the study units, you are required to attend two compulsory day schools planned for the course to enable face-to-face teaching in selected topics of physiology. The purpose of the day schools is to enable you to achieve hands-on experience in performing practical work, collecting and analysing experimental data and presenting your findings in the form of laboratory reports. The practical work you perform in the day schools will help to make the theoretical concepts you encounter in the study units more concrete. Outlines and rationales behind these day schools are given below.
Day school 1: Laboratory 1
The objective of this laboratory session is to enable you to gain experience in designing and carrying out your own experiments as well as to revise the important biological concept of transpiration.
Day school 2: Laboratory 2
In day school 2 you will investigate the effects of ions and neurotransmitters on the heart rate and contractility (force of contraction) of cardiac muscles using frogs as an experimental model.
Assignments
There are three assignments for the course, all of which are compulsory. Assignments 1 and 3 are based on the materials you cover in your study units, the textbook and the MasteringBiology website. Assignment 2 requires you to write a lab report on one of the compulsory day schools you will attend. There are two sections in this assignment and you are required to prepare an answer to one of these sections depending on which laboratory session you choose to report on. Upon receiving your assignments, your assigned tutor will mark and return them with his or her comments and feedback.
Assignment submission extension policy
The assignment policy of the university as stated in the Student Handbook should be observed. You are required to submit assignments for this course in accordance with the dates communicated by your Course Coordinator. You may apply for a submission extension on the grounds of illness, accident, disability, bereavement or other compassionate circumstances.
Applications for extensions of up to seven days should be submitted to the tutor. The tutor shall consider valid and unexpected emergencies on an individual basis. Normally, documented proof of the extenuating circumstances is not required for extensions of up to seven days. The tutor shall decide and advise you of the revised date for submission.
For extensions of over seven days, you should note the following:
- If you require an extension of more than seven days on the grounds of illness, accident, disability, bereavement or other compassionate circumstances, you are required to complete an 'Application Form for Assignment Extension over seven days' and submit it to the Course Coordinator.
- Supporting documents must be submitted along with the application for extension of over seven days to justify the claim.
- Applications for extension should normally be lodged before or on the due date.
- Applications are considered by:
- the Course Coordinator for extensions of eight to 21 days; and
- the Dean for extensions of over 21 days.
If the assignment is posted to the tutor, it is your responsibility to check that the assignment has successfully arrived (see the Assignment File). Extension applications without supporting documents on the grounds of postal loss will not be accepted. The university cannot accept any responsibility for assignments that are not received by your tutor due to problems with the post. As a precaution, you are advised to keep a copy of each assignment you submit and obtain a certificate of posting from the post office when you post your assignment.
According to the University's policy, there is no extension of the due date for the final assignment.
Final examination
At the end of the course, you are required to attend a final examination. The examination aims to test your thorough understanding of the topics covered in the course. The examination will be of 3 hours' duration. It will consist of a mixture of essay questions and data interpretation. The total score of the examination paper contributes 50% of the total course mark.
Course marking scheme
Assessment | Assessment area | Marks |
Assignment 1 | Units 1–2 | 15% |
Assignment 2 (Lab report) | Day school 1 or day school 2 | 20% |
Assignment 3 | Units 3–5 | 15% |
Final examination | | 50% |
Total | | 100% |