MEDSCI 201 : Human Structure and Function
Medical and Health Sciences
2025 Semester One (1253) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
- Alimentary system
- Axial skeleton & the musculoskeletal system
- Cardiovascular system
- Endocrine system
- Histology
- Nervous system
- Renal system
- Reproductive systems
- Respiratory system
- Tissues under load
- Introduction to histology (microscopy, virtual slide deck and overview of course expectations)
- Reproduction (dissection of bovine ovaries, histology, models and plastinated human tissue)
- Joint (dissection of a bovine knee)
- Musculoskeletal system (plastinated human tissue with a focus on the upper limb)
- Renal & Alimentary (demonstration models; plastinated specimens; latexed kidneys; x-rays; histology)
- Cardio-respiratory (dissection of a sheep lung; histology of airways and blood supply; histology of blood vessels)
- “I, and a number of my colleagues, thoroughly enjoyed the course (due to a combination of great content and clear and interesting lectures) and thought that the organization and administration of the course was exceptional (which is universally appreciated by us students).”
- “I thought all the lecturers were brilliant and I really enjoyed the labs with the stations.”
- “Overall we had great lectures and labs. Our lecture notes were always clear and easy to understand. The topics were interesting. I found the practice lab tests very helpful. I enjoyed the course, thank you.”
- “The labs strongly correlated to the lecture material to help reinforce the material covered in the lectures. Having practical and theory tests throughout the semester meant that revision had to be done throughout and made it easier to keep up with the course and study for the exam. Receiving information on which questions were answered correctly or incorrectly by you, and the rest of the class, also helped by highlighting problem areas where more study needed to be done or areas that were done well.”
- “Anatomy was presented in a very clear way with many diagrams that made it easier to study the particular section at hand. As well as this, the lecturers made the presentation of the material interesting as well.”
- “MEDSCI 201 should be a core course for stage II studies as it underpins many stage III studies (and also helps with MEDSCI 205 and 203 and 206).”
Course Contacts
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | People and Place |
| Capability 3: | Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 4: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 5: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 6: | Communication |
| Capability 7: | Collaboration |
| Capability 8: | Ethics and Professionalism |
Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate a holistic understanding of the complex interdependence of separate organ systems that together ensure reliable functioning of the human body. (Capability 3, 4 and 5)
- Explain how any imbalance can affect health and lead to disease. (Capability 3, 4 and 5)
- Describe in-depth the importance of a particular organ system. (Capability 3, 4 and 5)
- Integrate their practical skills to enhance their learning/understanding of particular organ systems. (Capability 3, 4 and 5)
- Use and develop their intellectual and cognitive skills to complete any associated 'on-task' activities. (Capability 3, 4, 5 and 8)
- Communicate their knowledge and understanding with fellow students and the academic faculty, in writing and verbally. (Capability 4, 6 and 7)
- Plan and evaluate their own progress toward achieving their academic, personal and professional goals. (Capability 1, 7 and 8)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Laboratories | 30% | Group & Individual Coursework |
| Test | 40% | Individual Test |
| Final Exam | 30% | Individual Examination |
| Class discussions (formative) | Group & Individual Coursework | |
| 4 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ||||
| Laboratories | ||||||||||
| Test | ||||||||||
| Final Exam | ||||||||||
| Class discussions (formative) | ||||||||||
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 15-point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15-point course that they are enrolled in. Please note that this 150-hour guideline does not consider:
- diverse student ability/differences in processing and learning speeds;
- the extent of prior disciplinary knowledge/solidity of foundation pre-knowledge;
- differences between cognitively passive or active learning approaches;
- the level of attainment likely to be achieved with this level of time investment (C- pass vs A-range grades)
For this course, you can expect 35 hours of lecture and ~15 hours of laboratory contact time, with the remaining 100 hours (minimum) invested in reading and thinking actively about the content, working on assignments and/or test and exam preparations.
Delivery Mode
Campus Experience
(in-person, face-to-face)
- The lecture and practical activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable. Attendance is expected at scheduled activities. Students need to engage fully in labs in order to complete/do well in the laboratory assessment tasks.
- Technology permitting, lecture recordings will be available. Other learning activities, including labs, will not be available as recordings.
- The course will not include live online events (e.g. live group discussions/tutorials).
- Assessments: Attendance on campus is required for all tests and the final exam.
Learning Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Self-directed learning is an important aspect of this course. Students are expected to prepare for classes by reading specified sections from the recommended textbook or other sources, and self-manage time so that activities are completed in a timely fashion.
The recommended text is Human Anatomy, by Martini, Tallitsch, and Nath, 9th ed. Earlier versions, or other anatomy textbooks, are also suitable.
ISBN: 9780134424873
Publisher: Pearson Higher Ed USA
The e-Text is available online at https://www.vitalsource.com/products/human-anatomy-frederic-h-martini-robert-b-v9780134424873
You can borrow earlier editions of this textbook from the Philson Library (Grafton Campus) or the General Library (City Campus).
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
- Where possible, we will avoid holding assessments on Friday evenings.
- In case of university timetabling changes (e.g. 5 weeks + 7 weeks instead of 6 weeks + 6 weeks), we will investigate whether the lecture and lab sequence may be modified to ensure the topics flow well.
- We will look at ways of improving students' access to materials during the musculoskeletal lab.
- Timetabling is beyond the control of the course. Sometimes, inter-campus commute cannot be avoided. In this case, lecturers for both courses will be notified and coordinate start/end times to allow maximal travel time.
- Peer Tutoring (as offered in MEDSCI 205): Anatomy and Physiology are different disciplines and require different ways of thinking. Peer Tutoring is appropriate for a conceptual subject such as Physiology, but less so for Anatomy. Peer Tutoring sessions for MEDSCI 201 are currently not possible owing to resourcing, timetabling, and space constraints. We remind future students to maximise their interactions with Lab Demonstrators and lecturers during labs, and that students can set up their own study groups.
- Request for more revision resources: students already have a lot of resources available to them. ‘More’ does not mean ‘better’.
Learn to value and use meaningfully and maximally what you do have access to, instead of wishing you had ‘more’.
e.g. realise that every MCQ can be turned into multiple true/false statements. Practise articulating and justifying each statement.
e.g. challenge yourself to create your own revision resources and have these critiqued by peers / Piazza Tutors.
e.g. make use of all the past exams available - early. - Some students prefer more online assignments/activities and fewer tests: These are open-book and open to collaboration and thus are not necessarily a true reflection of individual students’ knowledge/ability.
Other Information
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.
Class Representatives
Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
Learning Continuity
In the event of an unexpected disruption we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the University Website for information about how to proceed.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.