Course Title: Chinese Medicine Theory 1

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Chinese Medicine Theory 1

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

COTH2187

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

173H School of Health and Biomed

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2017,
Sem 1 2018,
Sem 1 2019,
Sem 1 2020,
Sem 1 2022,
Sem 1 2023,
Sem 1 2024

Flexible Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

COTH2187

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

173H School of Health and Biomed

Face-to-Face

PGRDFlex21 (All)

Course Coordinator: A/Prof Zhen Zheng

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 7167

Course Coordinator Email: zhen.zheng@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 202.04.048


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None


Course Description

Chinese Medicine Theory 1 is a one-semester course that will cover the history and development of Chinese medicine and the philosophies and fundamental principles that guide its practice and achievements. The course will provide you with a solid theoretical basis and foundation for your future learning in subsequent courses across Chinese Herbal Medicine or Acupuncture programs (but particularly for diagnosis of Chinese medicine, Acupuncture, Chinese Herbs, medicinal formulae, Clinical Chinese Medicine, classic literature and Chinese Medicine Research courses).

You will learn some basic pinyin, the official phonetic system for transcribing the Mandarin pronunciations of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet to enable you to understand terminology in Chinese medicine. Study topics will include: the theory of yin-yang, the theory of five elements, the theory of zang-fu organs, aetiology and pathology of Chinese medicine and principles of treatment.

This course is foundational for all other courses in the Chinese Medicine programs.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following Program Learning Objectives for MC024 Master Applied Science (Acupuncture):

  • PLO 1: Apply your knowledge of Chinese Medicine principles and methods in the diagnosis and management of a range of internal medicine disorders
  • PLO 6: Reflect and improve upon your professional practice and build problem solving skills and abilities through lifelong learning.


On successful completion of this course you should be able to:

  1. Critically analyse the development and achievements of specific scholars and schools of thought in Chinese Medicine and their influence on social economics, culture, science and health.
  2. Review the philosophies and fundamental theories that underpin the practice of Chinese medicine including: Yin Yang theory, Five-element theory, Zang-fu theory, theory of Qi, blood and body fluids, meridian theory, aetiology and pathogenesis.
  3. Reflect on and synthesise the physiological functions and inter-relationships of organs and other structures of the human body from the perspective of Chinese medicine; identify how these will influence a Chinese medical diagnosis; and how these are influenced by the individual’s environment
  4. Critically apply principles of aetiology and pathogenesis in the field of Chinese medicine to case studies and defend your application of particular fundamental theories
  5. Conceptually map the ways in which cultural factors impact on language study and describe issues associated with communicating Chinese medicine terminology to a Western audience.
  6. Use relevant components of the Chinese pinyin system both accurately, appropriately and with some flexibility. 


Overview of Learning Activities

Your learning activities include a mixture of lectures, tutorials and practical sessions. Lectures will introduce you to the origin, development, achievements and contemporary state of Chinese medicine (including acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine), as well as providing a solid theoretical basis to help you to achieve professional practice.

Tutorials are used to explore your critical and clinical thinking by examining case studies in addition to discussing various key topics. The practical sessions will integrate skills in the application of Chinese medicine theory and practice of Chinese medicine terminology. You will appraise academic literature relating to history and principles of Chinese medicine with a related written assignment task. You are expected to practise Chinese medicine terminology by participating in role playing scenarios.

Postgraduates are expected to demonstrate advanced conceptual knowledge and application in written responses, demonstrate greater synthesis of complex ideas and draw upon a greater body of literature as specified in assessment rubrics.

You are encouraged to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or peers and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course.


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course.

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.

Chinese medicine library subject guides are available via http://rmit.libguides.com/chinese-medicine 


Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task 1: In semester Assessments
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 3, 4 & 5

Assessment Task 2: Assignment
Weighting 30%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

Assessment Task 3: End of semester Assessment
Weighting 30%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.