AN BEHAV 2000RW - Foundations of Animal Behaviour

Roseworthy Campus - Semester 2 - 2021

This course will provide students with a contemporary overview of the multi-disciplinary approaches to the study of animal behaviour. It will cover subject areas such as the genetic and neurobiological bases of behaviour, cognition, learning and memory, evolutionary and behavioural ecology, as well as their applied aspects. Major categories of behaviour such as foraging, predation, reproductive and social behaviour will be discussed. Practical sessions provide an opportunity to learn how to record, quantify and model animal behaviour.

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Course Details

Course Code	AN BEHAV 2000RW
Course	Foundations of Animal Behaviour
Coordinating Unit	School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	Roseworthy Campus
Units	3
Contact	up to 6 hrs per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Restrictions	Available to BSc (Animal Behaviour), BPsySci, BHMS students only
Assessment	Practical reports, online quizzes, tutorial attendance, written exam

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Camille Buhl

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Describe the major categories of animal behaviour, their underlying mechanisms and evolutionary framework
2. Observe, record and quantify animal behaviour
3. Formulate a hypothesis about animal behaviour to perform data analysis and statistics on animal behaviour
4. Compare and contrast different disciplinary approaches to animal behaviour
5. Clearly communicate thoughts and understanding orally and in writing

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1,3,4
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1,2
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	2,3,5
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1,2,3,4,5
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	5
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	2,3,5

Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course will provide a mixture of lectures, online materials, workshops, tutorials and practical classes.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

A student enrolled in a 3 unit course, such as this, should expect to spend, on average 12 hours per week on the studies required.
This includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g.,lectures and practicals), as well as non-contact time (e.g., reading and revision).

Learning Activities Summary

There is a series of lectures that cover the different approaches to animal behaviour (including developmental, genetic, neurobiological and evolutionary bases of behaviour) as well as a range of specific behaviour such as foraging, migration, predation, reproductive and social behaviour. Both fundamental and applied aspects are covered.

Practical sessions include creating an ethogram, performing data analysis on recordings of behaviour, measuring learning and memory in mice, studying foraging and nutrition in horses, and modelling animal collective behaviour. Students will also prepare a research proposal based on their own preliminary observations and for which there will be walk-in sessions to work on the project and receive help and feedback on the progress of the project.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Task Type	Weighting	Hurdle Yes/No	Learning Outcome	Approximate timing of assessment (week of teaching period)
Online practical quizzes	Summative	10%	No		Weeks 1, 3, 8, 10 & 12
Online formative quizzes	Summative	0%	No	1, 3, 4	Weeks 2, 3, 4 & 5
Observation of animal behaviour	Summative	10%	No	2, 5	Week 3
Feedback on major assignment, opportunity to refine project	Formative	0%	No	1, 3, 4	Weeks 3 & 6
Oral practical report on learning and memory	Summative	5%	No	2, 3, 5	Week 4
Data analysis in groups	Summative	10%	No	2, 3, 5	Week 6
Major assignment	Summative	25%	No	1, 3, 4	Week 9
Final examination	Summative	40%	No	1, 3, 4

Assessment Detail

Online practical quizzes (10%): for some practical sessions, the students will have to complete online quizzes testing their understanding of the topics that these sessions cover.

Observation of animal behaviour (10%): students will observe animal behaviour on existing video recording, establish an ethogram and use it to quantify behaviour.

Oral practical report on learning and memory (5%): student groups will give a 5-10min oral presentation in front of the rest of the class to describe the results of simple learning and memory experiments performed during the practical.

Data analysis in groups (10%): students work in groups to perform basic data analysis and statistics in order to interpret quantitative animal behaviour data. This analysis will be submitted as a short report per group.

Major assignment (25%): Students will write an individual report on a small project which they will have developed over the semester. In this project, they will formulate a simple hypothesis about an animal behaviour, perform preliminary observations or experiments before designing a research project proposal.

Final Examination (40%): an end-of-semester written examination will be used to assess the understanding of all components of the course.

Submission

Late Submission:

If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

The 成人大片 is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 成人大片 therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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