Hubio541: Respiratory Systems

Course Information

Introduction

Human Biology 541, the Respiratory System, was a new course designation in 1987. The course was previously taught as a subsection of a combined Cardiovascular-Respiratory System course (and the students had to walk barefoot in the snow to take this big final.)

Objectives

The central theme of Human Biology 541 is the function of the respiratory system and its interactions with the blood and circulation in health and disease. Building upon the anatomy, histology, and basic mechanisms of the first year, we will emphasize respiratory physiology and the pathology and pathophysiology of major disease processes. The course includes an introduction to radiologic, medical, and surgical aspects of diseases of the chest.

Teaching Philosophy

The core material of this course is encompassed in the syllabus. Additional reading on disease processes from a standard textbook of medicine and a textbook of pathology is recommended. The course teaching time is divided evenly between lecture and discussion sessions. Lectures are used to amplify, explain, and illustrate conceptual or visual material but are not intended to cover the entire course content. We place particular emphasis on the small group discussion sessions which are based on problem solving around clinical examples to illustrate physiology, pathophysiology, and pathology and an introduction to clinical diagnosis and management of illustrative disease examples. The syllabus is the primary source and the small groups are the primary teaching venue for much of the disease related material in the latter portion of the course, with lectures only to introduce and highlight aspects of each category of respiratory disease.

Conference Groups

Students are assigned to one of eight conference groups and are requested to remain with that group throughout the course in order for the faculty to be most helpful to them. Each group will have two to three leaders from a multidisciplinary faculty from the areas of environmental health, physiology and biophysics, and pulmonary and critical care medicine, with special sessions by faculty from radiology and pathology. Students are strongly encouraged to work on the conference materials before each session and to take an active part in discussion, either by offering answers or indicating where more explanation is needed. Answers to the discussion problems will be posted on the course web site after each session.

Examinations

Examinations will be predominantly of the multiple choice and multiple true/false type, with some use of short answer responses. Exams from prior years will be available for review on the course web site. Simple calculators will be provided in the exam room; personal calculators and PDA devices will not be allowed.

The course is graded on a Pass / Fail / Honors basis.

Quiz

There will be one one-hour quiz midway through the course covering the material through the preceding day’s conference session. The quiz will represent a potential 30% of the course grade and will be applied to the overall course grade in a "no harm" manner. That is, a quiz score higher than the final exam score will be counted and a lower quiz score will not. A missed quiz will be scored as zero and will not contribute to the course grade.

Final Exam

The final exam will be given in a three hour time block during the end of quarter exam period. This exam will account for 70-100% of the course grade, depending upon whether the quiz score is counted as described above.

Honors

To earn Honors in this course a student must meet a qualifying standard and write a superior response to an optional Honors Exam at the time of the final.

  • To qualify, a student must achieve a numerical score either ≥ 90% or in the top third of the class (whichever is more inclusive).
  • Honors Exam - an optional Honors Exam at the final exam session will include additional multiple choice questions and analysis-discussion of one or more problems relating to the respiratory system. This exam will overlap with the 3hr Final Exam period but will extend beyond it at least one hour.

Honors will be awarded to students meeting the qualifying standard and whose Honors Exam score meets a high standard.

Failure

Students achieving an overall course grade greater than 70% are assured of passing. A lower pass may be possible after adjustment for exam difficulty and after the performance of students is evaluated individually including their conference participation.

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