November 17th

Just 11 days to go before the final test - sorry to remind you!

You should by now be well into the last unit, The Urinary System. You should have worked your way through the workbook and have done the quiz so that you have time to look at the other units, especially the Immune and Respiratory Systems, that have not yet been tested in a test.

Last week we had a very sucessful 2 hour tutorial on the cell, respiration and the urinary system. This week's tutorial will be on the nervous and endocrine systems. Please come along if you can.

I gave the details of the format of the test and the mark allocation in the previous blog.

Good studying,

Ruth

Bioscience 2. November 11th

Hi, This week you should be finishing off Unit 7 on the respiratory system (after doing the online quiz which closes next Monday) and moving on to Unit 8 on the excretory system. THE LAST UNIT!

In the practical last week we dissected (New World) kidneys and I talked about the function of the kidneys. I intend to do more on the kidneys at the tutorial if that is what people want. I shall also talk about the respiratory system and --since we have 2 hours - I could go back to the beginning and revise Cells and Tissues.

The format of the exam will be similar to the final exam in Bioscience 1, although there is more material to test so there will be fewer marks for each unit. There will be 2 longer questions out of a choice of 8 worth 5 marks each at the end of the paper and the rest of the 90 marks will be distributed between the 8 units studied. However, I will only allocate 6 marks to the first unit as that was covered in quite a lot of detail in Bioscience 1. This leaves 12 marks for each of the other 7 units.

Please remember if there is something you dont understand about the course material as you study for the exam or about the format of the exam dont hesitate to drop me an email and I will endeavour to clarify for you.

Have a good week,

Ruth

November 3rd

Hi there, You should have all moved on to studying the Respiratory System by now and have another week until you move on to the final unit- the Urinary System.

The Blackboard quiz for the immune system closes tonight, so if you haven't done it yet you will need to get your skates on!

We had a good tutorial last week which focussed mainly on the immune system. We developed our own concept map on the whiteboard and whizzed through the immune system Powerpoint I have put on Blackboard. Have a look at it as I think it simplifies this rather complex topic and emphasises the points that are important. At the end of the presentation there is also a simplified version of the concept map we developed.

For those that want to get ahead of things before the Test on November 28th I have put up the interactive and printable notes for the final unit: the Urinary System. I am working on the quiz and should get that up before Wednesday and the workbook will follow.

In the practical class on Friday we will be looking at and cutting into kidneys and then I will spend the rest of the session talking about the kidney and kidney tubule structure and how urine is formed using the polytechs great models.

Finally the test will be a longer version of tests you have already done and will cover all the 8 units studied this semester. (Not the same questions though! Sorry!) Make sure you use the workbooks in your revision as they will be very useful, but also look back over the BB quizzes and of course the interactive notes and the questions that pop up there.

If you find there is something you dont understand as you go back over the material, dont hestitate to send me an email or even phone me on 4748497 as I will be at my desk most afternoons and am always happy to help.

Have a great week,
cheers Ruth

October 27th

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful sunny Labour Day --not stuck on your computer studying Bioscience --well not all day anyway!

This post is just to remind you that today you should be thinking of finishing working on Unit 6. on the immune system and moving on to Unit 7 on the respiratory system, although you have another week to finish off the Blackboard quiz.

I hope you enjoyed that last unit. I have always found immunology hard so I took extra trouble with the workbook making sure it took you through all the relevant topics in as clear, simple and enjoyable way as possible. I hope I succeeded!

Just one more unit after this--the urinary system -- and then the countdown to the final exam on November 28th really starts in earnest.

There are still the online discussion topics to do and David should be posting those soon.

Those extra tutorials still haven't been finalised, but David and I are working on it.

All the best, Ruth

P.S. Please, please take a few minutes to fill in the survey form for me (see David's post below). I need them for submitting for the Certificate in Tertiary Teaching I am trying to get done by the end of the year.

Please give Ruth some feedback

Hi all,

Could you please take 10 minutes to complete the following survey for Ruth?

http://polybase.tekotago.ac.nz/StudentSurveys/TakeSurvey.asp?SurveyID=9M14746L4m4K1

Cheers,

David

October 20th

Hi everyone. No, I have not marked the test yet ---I will try and do so later today. However, now it is out of the way, you should all be seeing your way clear to looking at the Immune System notes on Blackboard and working through the Workbook and Blackboard quiz. As I said last week it is a relatively short Unit but you will find it is almost all new stuff and Immunology is quite a complex subject. Doing the concept map on innate immunity that I gave you at the practical class on Friday could be a great help in getting some of the concepts clear in your mind. I will post a possible solution on Blackboard later in the week.

You have this week to finish the blood Blackboard quiz, so make sure you get on to it before it closes next Monday.

Some of you asked me about doing extra tutorials to help you revise before the final test which is on Friday 28th November. I would be happy to do that. We just need to get dates and times agreed and then I would like some feedback on what are the specific areas you have particular trouble with so we can work on them together.

I also talked about going through the notes and thinking about the particular questions that could be asked about each subject. In the absence of previous exam papers to work with this is a really useful excercise. You now have quite a lot of experience of the exam papers I write. Look back at them and at the workbooks, which are really just a set of potential exam questions(!), and as you go through your notes think about what questions could be asked. In fact make part of your revision creating and answering questions as potentially set in an exam. Some sucessful exam sitters make themselves a pool of exam answers as a standard part of their revision.

And only 2 more units to go before the end of the course!

Have a good week,
Cheers Ruth

Monday October 13th

Hi Everyone, I expect most of you are thinking about the test this Friday morning (9am H415). I have to admit it has taken me a bit by surprise as I seem to have lost a week during the holidays and thought I had another week to write it. Never fear, I will get it written by then. It will be on Units 3, 4 and 5: the endocrine and digestive systems systems and the blood and its components (not the nervous system as I suggested in my email today). I intend to give all three Units equal weight i.e. 20 marks available for each.

The practical will be on the immune and respiratory systems. I cannot imagine anyone will have time to read the notes (or text book) on these before the class but of course it would be great if you did manage to.

As a further distraction, you should be thinking of moving onto Unit 6 on the immune system which has gone up on Blackboard with a workbook and quiz. It is a relatively short unit but please put a bit of time into it over the next 2 weeks as it is a hard subject with lots of new terms and concepts.

Finally just a reminder that you have until next Monday to complete the previous quiz on the blood so don't forget to get that done before it disappears from sight.

It's a busy week!

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday,
Cheers Ruth

October 7th 2008

Hi, Hopefully you are managing to do a bit of Bioscience work during your (and your kids!) holiday. This is the second week to work on Unit 5 on the Blood and its Components.

I see some of you have completed the quiz, some have a bit more work to do on it, some of you looked at it and went for a long cup of tea and some haven't even done that. Anyway you have until the 20th to complete it.

However, remember that on Friday 17th there will be the 2nd Test which will include the Blood as well as the Digestive and Endocrine Systems. You might therefore find it useful to have completed the blood quiz (and the workbook!) by then.

Next Monday we move on to the Unit 6 on the Immune System.

Enjoy your week,
Cheers Ruth

September 29th

Hi, It's hard getting back to work after the weekend retreat at Warrington. For those that didn't make it, we arrived at the Hatherly (the Kings High School "classroom by the sea") in pouring rain but soon had the place toasty warm and David's full programme of meditation, yoga and acupressure instruction meant 5 oclock was upon us before we knew it. The potluck hamburger dinner with creamy desserts was a gourmand's delight and helped fuel a late night drumming session round the blazing oildrum fire. Sunday was warmish and sunny and allowed us to meditate and do Qigong and yoga outside, which was great. The only problem is I am now so stiff that lowering myself into a chair is a little painful and I walk as though I spent the whole weekend in the saddle. There are obviously some crucial muscle groups I need to do a bit more work on. Sasha is also feeling a bit at a loose end. She did appreciate all the attention and ball throwing.

Anyway, down to Bioscience. Today you should be finishing off the Digestive system and thinking of moving onto Unit 5: The Blood and its Components. This is an appropriate unit for what should be your holidays (sorry!) as you will find you have done much of it before. So concentrate on expanding your knowledge of the functions of the different sorts of blood cells, as well as where and how they are formed, how long they live and what happens to them when their time is up. You will find that blood clotting is dealt with in some detail as well as blood groups.
You have another week to finish the Digestive System Blackboard quiz which closes next Monday night.

Some people have been asking me about Test 2 which is on Friday October 17th. It will cover Units 3, 4 and 5: The Endocrine and Digestive Systems and the Blood and like the first test is worth 15% of your final mark.

I have just been told of a fun website that may help you with remembering those new words. It is called Wordle and is at http://wordle.net/ It produces "Wordclouds" of any document you copy in to it (try doing an 'edit" and "select all" on the print version of the notes). The most common words used are in the largest script (you can edit out "and" and "the" etc.) and you could print out the "cloud" to put it on your loo wall! Enjoy playing.

Have a good week,
Cheers Ruth

September 22nd

Hello everyone, Just to let you know that the Endocrine System quiz finishes at 11pm tonight so if you haven't doen it yet, you will need to get a move on. You should be well into the Digestive System now and hopefully having fun doing the crossword on the Workbook.

There is a practical in the block course on Friday morning and we will be concentrating on blood there in anticipation of the next unit. I should be supplying some dog's blood from my very long suffering dog Sasha, but for the unsqueamish (!) there will also be the opportunity for you to look at your own haematocrit, blood group and clotting time.

Looking forward to seeing you at Warrington,
Cheers Ruth

September 15th

Hi everyone, today you should be moving on to Unit 4: The Digestive System. You will be pleased to see there is only one course note document so there is probably slightly less information than in the previous two units. People also seem to have more general knowledge of the digestive system than say the nervous or endocrine systems. However, dont get too complacent. There are still lots of new terms to learn.

I can see that most people are doing well in the quizzes with 15 marks being the norm-even if it does take a lot of tries to get there! So you have until next Monday to do the Endocrine one.

There will be a tutorial on the Digestive System on Thursday 1pm, so if you are able to make it please do come along. I think those who have got to the previous ones thought it was well worth while. It would be good if you could do some reading before so it is not a total black hole when you get there.

Have a good week,

Cheers Ruth

Monday September 8th

Hi, I have marked the tests and most have done really well. I have sent you an email with your marks and you should get your scripts back this week. Get back to me if you have haven't got the email yet.

So now the test is over you can really concentrate on getting into the Endocrine System notes and hopefully, after the practical on Friday, you should find that the hormones names and their functions are a little familiar. Hopefully the idea of feedback control should also start to make sense. Often the explanation is a bit hard to follow but when you see it in action, as I tried to show you in the practical exercise, you can see more clearly how it works to keep the concentrations of hormones or glucose etc. closely within the limits tolerated by the body.

There are a couple of crosswords in the endocrine workbook. I have found a program that allows me to put in the words and their clues and it generates crosswords for me, not beautiful symmetrical ones as in the paper, but quite good looking ones. Tell me if they are a good idea.

Have a good week,

Cheers Ruth

Bioscience 2 September 1st

Hi everyone, Today you should be thinking about moving on to the endocrine system unit but with the first test fast approaching on Friday, I can appreciate that your mind may not be 100% on hormones. I can reassure that the endocrine system unit is not so large as that frightful nervous system one, but much of it will again be new for you with some awful hormone names to learn----so dont get too far behind!

I see some of you still have to do the nervous system quiz so make sure you get that done before next Monday when it will disappear from sight. Dont worry if your marks show up as a padlock instead of the marks you actually got. I can still go in behind the scenes and see each test you did and what you got for them. I am getting advice on why Blackboard is doing that for some people.

So the test: It will be an hour long, 9 -10am, on the 6th floor (I think!) and will be worth 15% of your total marks. There are 60 marks in the actual test, with 20 of them from human systems, cells and tissues and the rest on the nervous system.

Once you have done the test, the practical/tutorial will be on the endocrine system so having made a start on it will make the exercises much more meaningful and valuable.

See you there,
Cheers Ruth

Bioscience 2 August 25th

Hi, You should all now be well embarked on the Nervous System Unit. I have not had any particular feedback on it except people saying "My, Goodness! It is long!" It is, of course, with 3 separate parts and lots of new words and concepts. However, hopefully when you have put all those distractions aside, have no more excuses and have sat down and studied it, it is making sense.

A website which you could find helpful - and fun- is http://www.howjsay.com/ Just type in a word you dont know how to pronounce and it is spoken for you clearly. I tried it with adrenocorticotropic, mnemonic and epinephrine and it seemed great. With tomato it gave both English and American prononciations!

The next block course is at the end of next week with a test and practical class on Friday September 5th. The timetable will have moved you on to the Endocrine System on the Monday before that but the test will only be on the units you have completed. ie Introducton to Human Systems, The Cell and Tissues and the Nervous System. It will be a 1 hour test worth 15 marks and it will be quite helpful to have done the excercises in the Worksheets!!!!

Have a good week,

Cheers Ruth

Bioscience 2: August 18th

Hi everyone, We had a great tutorial/practical on Friday and although a few of you were a little anxious about being faced with half a pig's head to dissect, I think most will agree it was a really worthwhile and interesting exercise. Some of you really got into it and even dissected the eyes as well.

So today is the official start of the timetabled 2 weeks on the Nervous system, although I hope most people made a start on it last week. Certainly those of you who had read the Unit found the practical more useful than those who were struggling with all the new terminology. You will see that there are two versions of the Workbook on the Nervous System file. The longer version is going to be most useful as it should include most of the important concepts you will need to know.

If you haven't done the Cells and Tissues Blackboard quiz yet you have another week to do it before it disappears from sight.

Have a good week,

Cheers Ruth

Bioscience 2 Aug 11th 08

Hello everyone,
I hope you are all going OK with Unit 1: The Cell, and are thinking of getting onto the second unit on the nervous system before the end of the week both because it is such a large unit and also because that is what we will be focussing on at the practical at the block course on Friday. If I tell you you will be dissecting pigs' heads will that encourage you to come along or will it put you off? I hope the former as they are usually really good for showing the brain structure, the meninges and cranial nerves--and they are not smelly or bloody! We will also be looking at a model of a neuron and another of the human brain.

It would be great if you have at least read through the 3 lots of Nervous System notes on Blackboard and even bring along a copy of the printable version to the practical as that would be very helpful for you.

For those that didn't make it to the tutorial last Thursday, I have put up 2 Powerpoint presentations on the cell on Blackboard. One is on passsage of molecules across the plasma membrane as I know that is the hardest part of the cell unit. Although there is not much there that isn't in the notes, it is laid out nice and clearly and you may find it a good summary of the facts.

Looking forward to seeing you on Friday at 9am in H412,

Cheers Ruth

Bioscience 2 Aug 5th 2008

Hi Everyone,

First, welcome to Bioscience 2. I hope you enjoy this second part of the course. As I said at the introduction, the level is slightly higher than Bioscience 1 and there is quite a lot of material to be covered. The format is essentialy the same as Bioscience 1 with course material published on Blackboard in both interactive and printable forms. There is a 15 question quiz for each of the 8 units, to be completed before it disappears a week after the new unit begins. Keep your eye on the timetable!

The first unit Cells and Tissues was due to start on Monday. It covers much of the same material as the equivalent unit in Bioscience 1, but you will note that there is more detail especially about active transport across the plasma membrane and cell cycles and there are few extra tissue types included.

However, I'm hoping that you will not need to take the full 2 weeks on this first unit, as the next one, the nervous system, is huge and covers much materia that will be completely new to most of you. There are 3 separate interactive (and printable) documents on Blackboard each dealing with different aspects of the nervous system. There is a short version of the worksheet and I am at present working on a longer and more comprehensive version which should be more useful as a study aid. I should get that up today.

There is a Bioscience 2 tutorial on Thursday at 1-2pm in H602 and I hope I will see as many of you as possible at that. It is your chance to talk about anything you are having problems understanding. I was thinking I would look at movement across the plasma membrane but am happy to cover anything you ask for--- within reason! So get reading the material and thinking about what you want me to cover. David is hoping to have an audio feed from the tutorial through Elluminate so you will be able to participate even if not on site and I suppose it also means there will be a recording you can listen to after the event. You will need to contact David about accessing these.

I am in my office most afternoons during the week (H528) and am accessible by phone or email so dont hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or comments,

Cheers, Ruth

Bioscience 2

This is the course blog for Otago Polytechnic's Bioscience 2 course.

Aims

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of intermediate anatomy and physiology relevant to massage practice.

Pre-requisites

• OPTM1 Study Skills
• OPTM5 Bioscience 1

Co-requisites

• None

Learning Outcomes

At the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Describe the relationship between structure and function of the components of a generalised human cell.
2. Describe normal structure and function of the digestive system.
3. Describe the structure and function of the endocrine system including the roles and responses of the endocrine glands and hormones, and general adaptation syndrome.
4. Describe the composition of blood, blood and blood groups, and haemostasis
5. Describe the general role of human body defence mechanisms and immunity
6. Describe the relationship between structure and function of the respiratory tract.
7. Describe the structure and function of the human nervous system
8. Describe normal structure and function of the urinary system.
9. Describe the formation, composition, storage, and excretion of urine.

Content

• Cells and tissues
• The nervous system
• The endocrine system
• The digestive system
• Blood and it’s components
• The immune system
• The respiratory system
• The urinary system