Course Catalogue

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You will study the physiological adaptations to exercise, and biomechanics, focusing on the cardio-respiratory and skeletomuscular systems  and complete specialist courses in statistics and skills in science.

Lectures, laboratory work, tutorials, seminars etc as organised.

Normally, this course is only open to students admitted to Level-3 of a programme for which this is a compulsory course. The course may also be available to visiting students, at the discretion of the Life Sciences Chief Adviser and the Course Coordinator.

None

The course will be assessed by means of a 3-hour examination paper (60%) in the spring diet and in-course assessment dispersed throughout the course (40%). The in-course assessment comprises:

■ 2 x Reports (CVS Lab Report (10%) including CVS Lab report- Statistics section (3%) and Statistics report (3%))

■ 1 x Class Test (on Moodle for Muscle & Biomechanics (6%))

■ 1 x Essay (12%)

■ 1 x Set Exercise (tutorial task (6%))

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The aims of the course are:

■ To provide a broad-based knowledge and understanding of Physiology and Sports Science

■ To develop practical skills and introduce laboratory techniques

■ To develop skills relating to the systematic acquisition of factual information and data

■ To develop the ability to solve problems and to analyse, interpret and discuss factual information and data

At the end of the course you should be able to:

Demonstrate a broad understanding of the central facts and the experimental basis of modern Physiology and Sports Science, especially giving thorough accounts of:

■ respiratory function, at rest and in exercise

■ cardiovascular function, at rest and in exercise

■ human muscle function and its neural control

and more briefly to discuss:

■ biomechanics of basic movements

and to demonstrate practical competence in:

■ solving problems of a numerical or logical nature in the context of this understanding

■ practical skills in fundamental techniques

■ presenting and interpreting results obtained from using these techniques

■ analysing results using appropriate statistics

■ presenting information clearly in both written and oral form

■ finding original scientific literature in the library and analysing the data

■ using a computer to prepare documents, including graphs and diagrams

■ searching on-line databases

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.