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Graduate Seminar in BioSciences (BIOL90040)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
| Availability | Semester 1 |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
This subject provides advanced critical appraisal of contemporary and controversial issues in the biosciences and, for some, how they may inform solutions to anthropogenic challenges. Topics are drawn from physiology, plant and microbial sciences, cellular and developmental genetics, ecology and evolutionary biology. Each week, students (in groups of 2-3) will provide a seminar of a particular issue (reflecting a fundamental idea or a controversy of competing ideas or empirical evidence), which will form the basis of subsequent critical discussion by the class. Students will attend 12 seminars, at least two will be common to all students, who will then choose from two concurrent series according to their research interests. The choice of specific issues within each series will be determined at the start of the subject according to the availability of individual academic staff that act as a ‘champion’ of the issue.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- Clearly articulate a summary and critique, in both an oral and written format, for selected contemporary issues in biosciences;
- Actively engage, through both written and oral formats, in the critical evaluation of complex theoretical concepts in biosciences and their empirical tests;
- Discuss how complex issues may be applied to anthropogenic challenges; and
- Critically evaluate oral and written presentations of peers.
Generic skills
On completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- define the breadth of knowledge gained in a particular discipline;
- apply critical judgement and rigorous and independent thinking;
- employ professional level oral and written communication and presentation skills;
- propose group discussions of complex issues, and construct persuasive intellectual arguments;
- conduct critical appraisals of draft documents; and
- demonstrate time management and self-management skills.
Last updated: 12 December 2024