2010-11 Academic Year
Integrated Biomedicine II (20342)
Qualification/course: Bachelor's Degree in Human Biology
Year: 2
Term: 1
Number of ECTS credits: 4
Number of study hours: 100
Course Language(s): Catalan / Spanish
Teaching staff: Mar Carrió (coordinator), Elisabeth Moyano, Lluís Cardona, Manuel Pastor, Núria Centeno, Fernando Berrendero, David Comas.
1. Presentation of the course
This course is designed to present prototypical problems and situations arising in biomedicine, and will adopt both a horizontal and a vertical approach to its subject matter. It will deal with problems concerning the biological basis of the human organism and of human health. Students will be required to work towards educational objectives associated with both basic and research-related subject matter simultaneously.
In the syllabus, approved by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (Appendix 1), the Integrated Biomedicine subjects are conceived as a specific framework in which to apply the Problem-Based Learning (ABP) method. This method analyses situations that are prototypical of biomedicine by using the material taught in each year's subjects (horizontal integration) and the material from the entire course (vertical integration). Students will therefore be required to work towards educational objectives associated with both basic and applied subject matter simultaneously.
These subjects (Integrated Biomedicine I, Integrated Biomedicine II and Integrated Biomedicine III) will be taught during the first three years of the Human Biology Degree course. The problems of biomedicine will be approached progressively from three levels of complexity: the cellular and molecular basis of organisms and systems (first year), the basis of human health and illness (second year), and population-related and social consequences (third year).
These subjects will have the same general objectives and will follow the same methodology as the Integrated Medicine subjects forming part of the Bachelor's Degree in Medicine, which are also taught at the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences. The Catalan Government has currently awarded an MQD (Improvement of Teaching Quality) subsidy for the development of these subjects and for the creation of an ICT teaching support system. This project is directed by Dr. Josep-Eladi Baños, and involves lecturers from the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences (Mar Carrió) and from the UPF's Department of Information and Communications Technology (Josep Blat and Davinia Hernández).
2. Competences to be achieved
The teaching activity developed through these subjects has the following aims:
- To integrate and establish a correlation between the molecular basis of life, human biology, health, illness and its treatment.
- To solve complex contextualised problems, from a monodisciplinary and a multidisciplinary viewpoint.
- To integrate basic and applied knowledge.
- To acquire general skills related to scientific thought:
o To construct arguments based on evidence
o To collect, analyse and interpret data
o To construct models
o To encourage critical thinking
- To develop basic transversal skills:
o Teamwork
o Oral expression
o Written expression
o Searching and critical reading of information.
The specific skills which will be developed will contribute to the eight main areas of expertise for the study of Biology as defined by the Skills Committee of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences. These areas are: basic sciences, applied sciences, molecular and cellular basis, the biology of the human organism, human health, the biology of organisms and systems, the humanities and professional attitudes.
The specific objectives of the various programmed subjects will be attained through the solving of problems devised as per the analysis table presented in Appendix 2. Thus, the problems devised for each subject will be designed in accordance with the following structure:
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|
Main topics |
|
|
|
|
Integrated Biomedicine II |
What is health and illness? - Biology of the human organism |
|
Integrated Biomedicine III |
What is the interaction between illness and society? - Population consequences of illness |
In addition to the acquisition of the specific skills referred to, the Integrated Biomedicine subjects will emphasise the development of a number of transversal skills that are essential for the professional activity and scientific thought of human biologists: construction of arguments based on evidence; ability to formulate the best questions for the research, analysis and interpretation of data; experiments design or models. Emphasis will also be placed on generic self-learning skills such as teamwork, group leadership, oral and written communication, critical reading and searching for information; and the use of new information technologies.
3. Contents
Specific skills will be developed in the following areas of expertise:
- Biology of the human organism
o Structure and functioning of the human organism: organs and bodily systems
- Physiopathology of falling ill
o Changes in the structure and functioning of the human organism
- Bases of human health
4. Assessment
The assessment of the course will include:
- The assessment of the Problem Based Learning (APB) activities, especially the solution for each of the problems.
- The assessment of the specific learning objectives (specific biology content) arising from the problems in a final examination.
ABP projects (60%):
- 2 written group projects
- 1 oral group presentation
- 1 oral group examination
"Triple jump" test (30%)
Participation (10%)
5. Bibliography and teaching resources
6. Methodology
As indicated above, these subjects will be studied according to the Problem Based Learning (APB) method, in view of the experience in the use of this method already acquired by the Faculty.
During each subject, five short problems are programmed, each one over a period of two weeks.
At the beginning of the Human Biology course the students will be divided into six groups, with a lecturer acting as supervising tutor.
The schedule for each problem to be followed over a two-week period, is follows:
- First face-to-face session with tutor: presentation of the problem, defining the learning objectives.
- Individual work by students on all the planned objectives for the problem.
- Second face-to-face session with tutor (one week after the first one): - Pooling of knowledge acquired by the group members.
- Submission of solution (completion of the problem) and feedback provided to the students by the tutor.
To assist in these subjects, a learning support telematics system has been conceived and is being prepared by lecturers of the UPF's Department of Information and Communications Technology, with the assistance of an MQD (Improvement of Teaching Quality) grant from the Government of Catalonia (Appendix 3).
7. Activities schedule