Course Title: Evolution

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Evolution

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

BIOL2546

City Campus

Undergraduate

171H School of Science

Face-to-Face

 Sem 2 2025

Course Coordinator: Akane Uesugi

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 7348

Course Coordinator Email: akane.uesugi@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Bundoora Campus

Course Coordinator Availability: by email appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Assumed Knowledge
You will find that completion of courses in introductory biology, ecology, plant and animal diversity and physiology is important and will be an advantage.


Course Description

This course provides a broad introduction to evolutionary biology, and how evolutionary thinking helps you make sense of life. Topics include phylogeny, natural selection and adaptation, origin of species, interactions and coevolution, evolution of behaviour, and human evolution.

You will learn fundamental theory and concepts in evolutionary biology and apply your knowledge to current environmental issues and human health, through group discussions, and workshops based on computer simulations. This course will build your critical thinking and communication skills, and quantitative and mathematical skills.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes

This course is an option course and will broadly contribute to the development of your program learning outcomes.

For more information on the program learning outcomes for your program, please see the program guide.


Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  1. Identify key processes of microevolution, speciation, and variety of ways that organisms adapt to their environment (PLO 1, 2).
  2. Apply evolutionary principles to address current issues in environmental crises under climate change and issues related to human health (PLO 1, 3).
  3. Design appropriate experiments and computer simulations to investigate evolutionary hypotheses that are grounded in theory (PLO 2, 3).
  4. Critically evaluate current literature in evolutionary biology and communicate findings (PLO 4, 5, 6).


Overview of Learning Activities

The learning activities required for this course are:

  • Attendance at lectorials and workshops, where you will actively engage in class discussion. Delivery will be face to face.
  • Completion of workshop assignments designed to give further practice in the application of theory and procedure, and to give feedback on your progress and understanding.
  • Completion of written assignments requiring an integrated understanding of the subject matter.
  • Private study, working through the course material as presented in classes and learning materials, and gaining practice at solving conceptual and numerical problems.

You will be actively engaged in a mix of self-directed online and timetabled, face-to-face learning activities (lectures, tutorials, workshops, etc.) Prior to attending the timetabled, face-to-face sessions you will be expected to have completed the specified online activities.

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 RMIT Student Website.


Overview of Learning Resources

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

Weekly learning resources are set up and available in Canvas.

A list of recommended learning resources will be provided by your lecturer, which may include books, journal articles and web resources. You will also be expected to seek further resources relevant to the focus of your own learning.

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 RMIT Student Website.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task 1: Quizzes
Weighting 20%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1 & 2

Assessment Task 2: Workshop assessments (including in-class or take-home problem sets, essay questions, and presentations).
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 3 & 4

Assessment Task 3: Independent research project (written review of current literature)
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2 & 4

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.