Overview

There will be 3 laboratory practical sessions (on a variety of topics) and one field trip. These are designed to introduce students to a range of organisms, laboratory techniques, and statistical analyses. There will also be 8 lectures/workshops and optional help sessions. Students will develop a range of practical skills, and they will be introduced to statistical tests, including t tests and ANOVA, for analysing their results.

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -A threshold student (D- to D+) would have a basic knowledge of how to find, use and present scientific information. They would be able to carry out practical work safely, and demonstrate a moderate level of competence in practical and transferrable skills relevant to the biosciences.

-good -A good student (B- to B+) would have a good command of how to find, use and present scientific information. They would be able to carry out practical work safely and accurately, and demonstrate a high level of competence in practical and transferrable skills relevant to the biosciences.

-excellent -An excellent student (A- to A*) would have an excellent grasp of how to find, use, critically evaluate and present scientific information. They would be able to carry out practical work safely and accurately, and demonstrate a high levels of both practical and transferrable skills relevant to the biosciences.

-another level-A C-grade student (scoring C- to C+) would have a reasonable knowledge of how to find, use and present scientific information. They would be able to carry out practical work safely and reliably, and demonstrate competence in practical and transferrable skills relevant to the biosciences.

Learning Outcomes

• Competently use basic laboratory equipment (such as spectrophometers, water baths, vortex mixer and centrifuge )and follow safe laboratory practice.

• Design and execute experiments with rigorous scientific controls.

• Keep accurate records, and write well-structured, coherent, scientific reports, with appropriately-cited literature and reference lists.

• Perform simple scientific mathematical calculations relating to molarity, SI units, concentrations and dilutions, and solve numerical problems related to biological processes. Draw a clibration curve.

• Understand a range of statistical methods for analysing different types of scientific data, and select and apply an appropriate statistical analysis to a dataset.

• Understand concepts and acquire knowledge in the biosciences, relating to examples covered in classes.