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4.3
Student Ouput
HKP No direct comparisons can be made
HKBC
(a)
(b)
Programme Aims: Factual
The programme seeks to give the student an appreciation of the diversity of the Animal and Plant Kingdoms. This aim is met. However, this wide appreciation of living organisms omits much modern evolutionary, biochemical and physiological thinking.
Comment
Members believe that an attempt is being made to update the approach to this area of work, but the staff are so overloaded that they are unable to achieve this. Furthermore, there is a lack of modern physiological and biochemical equipment, so the programme does not probe "deeper and deeper into the ultimate structure and function of living matter" as the staff claim.
Curriculum Character: Factual
The programme as presented lacks progression; very few second and third year units build on earlier work. This may be a function of the unit system, but need not preclude progression. The third year does build on earlier work, but it is on first year units only, not second year units. Staff argued that years 1 and 2 give two different approaches to biology which together form the basis for third year work. In the first year emphasis is laid on a systematic approach together with introductory genetics and general physiology, whilst in the second year students study Microtechnique, Animal Physiology and Plant Physiology. Members pointed out that most courses in Britain today satisfy the systematic section of biology by an approach which relates form to physiological and ecological processes in plants and animals. Hence, the proposed course appears to be dated. There appears to be no treatment at all of animal behaviour, nor of evolution (neither
natural selection, ecological genetics,
speciation nor theories of evolution are mentioned in the syllabuses). The ecology syllabus is very brief and introduces elementary
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