BIOL456-17S2 (C) Semester Two 2017

Evolution and Dynamics of Biological Interactions

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 July 2017
End Date: Sunday, 19 November 2017
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 30 July 2017
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 15 October 2017

Description

Using a cross-disciplinary approach, this course explores various aspects of the evolution and dynamics of interactions between microbes and other organisms. Students will explore these interactions using molecular genetic approaches and will develop skills that are relevant to the fields of molecular phylogenetics and evolution, microbiology, and biochemistry.

This course covers aspects of biological interactions, spanning the scales of molecules to forests. Students are encouraged to develop interests in the philosophy of discovery, modern molecular tools to identify diversity, microbial genetics and biosafety.

You will need to come prepared by reading assigned material in advance. Students are expected to be able to answer questions when called upon in class during discussions of this material. As a rule of thumb, set aside about 4-5 hours of self-study for every class hour (not including remedial review if it is required) and at least half of your preparation is before the seminar.

Learning Outcomes

  • As a student in this course I will develop the ability to:
    Critically competent in the core academic discipline
  • Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding and evaluation of experimental design, methodology and data (task: seminar presentation(s) and essays).
  • A sense of how scientists contribute to discovery. (task: seminar presentation(s) and essays)
  • A sense of the importance and limitations of scientific and technical methodology. (assessment task: test)
  • The ability to access and critically assess the scientific literature and techniques in applied and molecular microbiology. (assessment task: test)
    Globally aware
  • Engage in science and technology issues with a broader understanding of their social context (assessment task: essays)

    Transferable skills register -
  • Ability to manage teamwork. Most tasks require interactions with others to accomplish a task to a particular standard and on time.
  • I can express myself as a scientist. This will be important for any career in research, journalism or business where you will need to communicate science to both experts and lay readers. We will have sessions in writing laboratory assignments to assist you in developing your abilities to demonstrate deep understanding of science. (Critically competent in the core academic discipline)

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Head of School. RP: BIOL313, BIOL333, BCHM301/BCHM331

Restrictions

BIOL493

Recommended Preparation

BIOL313, BIOL333, BCHM301/BCHM331

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Jack Heinemann

Lecturers

Ian Dickie and Matthew Stott

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Essay 50%
Final Test 50%

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $993.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see School of Biological Sciences .

All BIOL456 Occurrences

  • BIOL456-17S1 (C) Semester One 2017 - Not Offered
  • BIOL456-17S2 (C) Semester Two 2017
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