Unit Synopsis
The invertebrates are the largest and most diverse group of animals on Earth, being found in all environments and habitats. This unit provides an overview of the biology, ecology, and taxonomy of the various invertebrate phyla, linking adaptation and evolutionary history to understand the origins and proliferation of this great diversity of life.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisite BIOL11099 Living Systems or BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 20% |
| 2. Practical Assessment | 30% |
| 3. Online Quiz(zes) | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 75.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 28.57% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: email & in-person feedback
Students noted that some lectures ran over time and that this was frustrating for their review of the lecture material.
Lecture content to be reviewed and updated (last done in 2021), with a focus on ensuring content runs on time.
Lecture content was reviewed, updated and streamlined, which ensured all lectures ran on time.
Source: in-person feedback
Some students expressed their appreciation for the unit being offered in mixed-mode format, as it offer them opportunity for on-campus meetings when opportunities arise (e.g. residential school weeks).
Maintain the unit structure in the mixed-mode format.
Mixed-mode format was maintained.
Source: Email & in-person
One student became somewhat frustrated at the self-directed nature of choosing a research project topic, rather than being prescribed a topic.
The issue was resolved with additional one-on-one communication. For the next offering, the recommendation is to offer additional and earlier options for communication with all students who may have a similar issue.
In Progress
Source: SUTE feedback
Commentary praised the 'at home' research task instead of an on-campus residential school.
Maintain the 'at-home' structure of the practical work, with appropriate levels of communication and support.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Define terminology associated with the study of invertebrate zoology
- Describe the structural and functional organisation of animals from the various invertebrate phyla
- Explain the evolutionary history of the invertebrates, including their adaptations to particular environments and their ecology
- Identify the major invertebrate taxa and explain the evolutionary and physiological basis for the taxonomic classification of these animals
- Acquire practical skills in the study of invertebrates by conducting basic scientific research on invertebrate abundance, distribution, behaviour, and ecology in both field and laboratory settings.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • | |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |