School: Medical and Health Sciences

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Evolutionary Perspectives on Health and Disease
  • Unit Code

    MMS3101
  • Year

    2024
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr David COALL

Description

In this unit, students will examine why the human body is so susceptible to disease and why has natural selection not removed these diseases in our evolutionary past. New intersections between evolutionary perspectives and medicine will be explored as they relate to our continuous battle against infectious diseases, the delicate balance necessary to maintain maternal and child health, the increasing prevalence of mental health conditions, and why humans are one of the few species to live beyond their reproductive years.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Analyse the contribution human longevity has made to human health and disease.
  2. Critically evaluate how maternal and child health is a delicate balance between opposing evolutionary pressures.
  3. Explain the evolution of infectious diseases, how they are maintained across different human populations and challenges ahead.
  4. Illustrate different evolutionary perspectives on mental health.
  5. Justify how the human immune system can respond to hygienic environments by producing disease.

Unit Content

  1. Human longevity and senescence.
  2. Infectious diseases.
  3. Maternal and child health.
  4. Mental health.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 2 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

The unit will consist of lectures, guest lecturers and interactive tutorials supported by audiovisual material and computer software, totaling 4 hours per week. The lectures and tutorials use peer reviewed research examples examining evolutionary medicine from different populations around the world. In tutorials students work in small teams to present, analyse and discuss tutorial and lecture questions. The sustainable use of resources via Blackboard will be promoted throughout this unit.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
TestMultiple choice question and written short answer question take home tests40%
PresentationResearch topic/journal article summary and oral presentation30%
ExaminationEnd of semester examination30%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

MMS3101|1|1

School: Medical and Health Sciences

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Evolutionary Perspectives on Health and Disease
  • Unit Code

    MMS3101
  • Year

    2024
  • Enrolment Period

    2
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr David COALL

Description

In this unit, students will examine why the human body is so susceptible to disease and why has natural selection not removed these diseases in our evolutionary past. New intersections between evolutionary perspectives and medicine will be explored as they relate to our continuous battle against infectious diseases, the delicate balance necessary to maintain maternal and child health, the increasing prevalence of mental health conditions, and why humans are one of the few species to live beyond their reproductive years.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Analyse the contribution human longevity has made to human health and disease.
  2. Critically evaluate how maternal and child health is a delicate balance between opposing evolutionary pressures.
  3. Explain the evolution of infectious diseases, how they are maintained across different human populations and challenges ahead.
  4. Illustrate different evolutionary perspectives on mental health.
  5. Justify how the human immune system can respond to hygienic environments by producing disease.

Unit Content

  1. Human longevity and senescence.
  2. Infectious diseases.
  3. Maternal and child health.
  4. Mental health.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 2 hour lectureNot OfferedNot Offered
Semester 113 x 2 hour tutorialNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

The unit will consist of lectures, guest lecturers and interactive tutorials supported by audiovisual material and computer software, totaling 4 hours per week. The lectures and tutorials use peer reviewed research examples examining evolutionary medicine from different populations around the world. In tutorials students work in small teams to present, analyse and discuss tutorial and lecture questions. The sustainable use of resources via Blackboard will be promoted throughout this unit.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
TestMultiple choice question and written short answer question take home tests40%
PresentationResearch topic/journal article summary and oral presentation30%
ExaminationEnd of semester examination30%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

MMS3101|1|2