Biology Major
| Offered By | ANU Joint Colleges of Science |
|---|---|
| Academic Contact | A/Professor Barbara van Leeuwen and A/Professor David Rowell |
| Areas of Interest | Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Immunology and Microbiology, Medical Science, Neuroscience, Physiology, Plant Science, Science, and Zoology |
Biology includes a wide range of related disciplines that encompass the study of life from the molecular level, through cells, tissues and organisms, to populations and ecosystems. Biology is not only of intrinsic interest but has applications in areas from health and medicine to the management of agriculture and biodiversity.
Biology is the fascinating study of life. It is a rapidly changing field with the discovery of exciting new technologies that change the way we think about the world and all life that exists within it. A biologist of the future will need to be able to apply the knowledge they learn to new technologies and issues they come across; this Major contains compulsory courses that will develop these skills. The first year courses establish fundamental knowledge about many of the areas of biology, including evolution, ecology, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry in bacteria, plants and animals. Later year courses extend this knowledge into specialised areas of biology of your choice and develop an understanding of how we do biology and how it impacts on society and the world.
Learning Goals:
Students completing the Biology major will be able to:
- Apply their conceptual knowledge of biological principles and processes including evolution and diversity of organisms, inheritance, storage and utilisation of information and the structure and function of molecules, cells and biological systems, to a range of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary contexts.
- Integrate and extend basic biological concepts in areas of biology such as ecology, evolution, genetics, microbiology and immunology, neuroscience and physiology and plant biology.
- Explain how biology is an evidence-based discipline involving observation, experimentation and hypothesis testing and how it relates to other scientific disciplines.
- Design experiments, and analyse and interpret experimental results using appropriate quantitative methods.
- Critically assess biological information and apply it to theoretical, experimental and professional contexts.
- Employ their collaborative and independent educational experiences of laboratory, field, project and course work in other contexts.
- Clearly communicate biological processes and principles to both science literate and non-science literate audiences.
- Recognise how biology contributes to resolving ethical, social and environmental issues and the expectations this places on their professional practice.
Requirements
This major requires the completion of 48 units, which must include:
A total of 24 units from the following compulsory courses:
BIOL1003 Biology 1: Evolution, Ecology and Genetics
BIOL1004 Biology 2: Molecular and Cell Biology
BIOL2201 Big Questions in Biology
BIOL2202 Experimental Design and Analysis in Biology
A total of 24 units of courses including:
- A further 6 units of 2000 level BIOL courses
- 18 units of 3000 level BIOL courses including:
- A minimum of 6 units of courses chosen from:
BIOL3106 Biosecurity
BIOL3191 Biology, Science and Ethics
BIOL3202 Research Skills in Biology
- A further 12 units of 3000 level BIOL courses
Advice to Students:
What 1st year courses should you enrol in? BIOL1003 and BIOL1004. Many 2000 and 3000 level biology courses also require CHEM1101 and CHEM1201. For a few later year courses BIOL1009 is a prerequisite (BIOL2122) or highly recommended.
Students should seek further course advice from the academic convener of this Biology major.
To see the pre-2012 rules for this major, students should navigate to the 2011 Study@ webpage.
The information published on the Study at ANU 2013 website applies to the 2013 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2012 website.
