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Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will trace the evolutionary development of that very diverse group: the chordates; from those early non-vertebrate "fish" to the most modern apes (humans) through both the study of theory and the examination of biological material. Emphasis will be placed on the interrelated aspects of structure and function, but their ecology and diverse behaviours also will be studied, and all in the context of an evolving Earth.
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 |
Prerequisites: ZOOL11005 Foundation Animal Biology OR (BIOL11099 Living Systems AND BIOL11100 Functional Biology) 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 |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2020
Term 2 - 2021 Profile
Term 2 - 2022 Profile
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Term 2 - 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 | 25% |
| 2. Practical Assessment | 25% |
| 3. Take Home Exam | 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.
No previous feedback available
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: Self-reflection.
The residential school timetabling was disorganized, this resulted in poor on-site accommodation and teaching spaces.
Have fixed timetabling dates for residential schools that are conducted off-site in conjunction with third party providers.
Residential school dates are now fixed, with the residential school occurring in Week 10 of Term 2.
Source: Student Unit Evaluation 2024.
Learning how to use Anabat acoustic software to analyze and identify bat calls was enjoyable and very worthwhile.
Retain training sessions in acoustic software analysis and introduce a pre-residential school familiarization session.
Students received more training in the use of software for acoustic analysis. This noticeability increased student confidence and analysis capabilities during the residential school.
Source: Student Unit Evaluation 2024.
The unit is extremely enjoyable, the residential school linked to the theory beautifully.
The emphasis placed on linking theory to practical remains a important theme of the unit.
The residential school places considerable emphasis on linking theory to practice, demonstrating how knowledge is applied in real-world scenarios.
Source: 2025 SUTE teacher evaluations
The weekly face-to-face and live tutorial is very good.
Retain the weekly tutorial as dual face-to-face and live online delivery.
In Progress
Source: 2025 SUTE teacher evaluations
Assessment in Science, Agriculture, and Environment (SAE) units most often consist of quizzes and a report.
Explore alternative forms of assessment.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Comprehend the evolution of chordates
- Comprehend the basic phylogenetic relationships of the major groups of vertebrates
- Comprehend and analyse the adaptive changes that have occurred in aquatic vertebrates
- Comprehend and analyse the changes in homologous structures which accompanied the invasion of terrestrial habitats by vertebrates
- Recognise, describe, and point out the external and internal features that characterise the major groups of modern day vertebrates
- Recognise and describe the basic microscopic anatomy of chordates
- Relate and analyse a chordate's structural and functional features in relation to its habitat
- Demonstrate the results of additional reading around the subject
- Communicate knowledge and findings clearly both orally and in writing.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Take Home Exam | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | ||||||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Take Home Exam | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||