Phys 2130: Course Overview
Physiology is a great course if you're interested in learning about how the body works. You get to learn about all the major systems of the body in pretty good detail and you spend a couple weeks on each one. There is a different professor that comes in for each topic and usually that professor is a "specialist" in their field e.g. they do research on that system so they are quite knowledgeable in that area.
It's a course that involves concept and memorizing little details. For example, in the renal unit, you learn all about how the kidneys work. So you will learn about how the kidneys filter stuff and concepts like filtration, reabsorption and secretion e.g. how certain ions move. As for the memorization bit, you will be expected to memorize all the major channels in the different sections of the nephron. And then you'll also be given a bit of application e.g. what happens when your body is given a huge salt load or water load... and how the body regulates the system e.g. using hormones.
For all units, you'll learn a little bit of the anatomy, a LOT of how the actual system is supposed to function, application/scenarios of the function and a little bit of what happens when things go wrong (pathology and disease)
I think physiology overall gives a very nice balance of memorizing details, concepts and application. To me, I think it's probably one of the most useful courses that you can take as an undergraduate science student because it's basically how your body works. I think it would give you a good foundation if you're interested in any of the healthcare careers.
As for evaluation, they are all multiple choice exams so every prof's level of difficulty is a bit different. It's one of the courses I think where you need to understand the concepts really well, but also pick up the little details to do well because the little details do matter.
Lectures
Lectures are held twice a week at 8:30 am. At 9:30 am during the year that I took it, the kinesiology physiology class was right after ours so sometimes people who missed the 8:30 class sat in on that one. I cannot guarantee that the lectures are exactly the same though as my friends who have sat through both lectures have said that it is almost identical for some units.
Tutorials
Tutorials are held once a week and led by a Teaching Assistant. Tutorials cover the material that was covered in lecture. During the year that I took it, there were no evaluations/quizzes during tutorial. Usually the TA would give a brief presentation on the topic that was covered in lecture that week and answer any questions students had. The quality of teaching you get during tutorial really depends on the TA you have. Some TAs will take a lot of time to prepare their slides and take time to go over some review questions and give very clear explanations while others will have some difficulties communicating their knowledge. There are many sessions across campus during the week though so if you have trouble making it out to a session, you could probably arrange to sit in on another session.
It's a course that involves concept and memorizing little details. For example, in the renal unit, you learn all about how the kidneys work. So you will learn about how the kidneys filter stuff and concepts like filtration, reabsorption and secretion e.g. how certain ions move. As for the memorization bit, you will be expected to memorize all the major channels in the different sections of the nephron. And then you'll also be given a bit of application e.g. what happens when your body is given a huge salt load or water load... and how the body regulates the system e.g. using hormones.
For all units, you'll learn a little bit of the anatomy, a LOT of how the actual system is supposed to function, application/scenarios of the function and a little bit of what happens when things go wrong (pathology and disease)
I think physiology overall gives a very nice balance of memorizing details, concepts and application. To me, I think it's probably one of the most useful courses that you can take as an undergraduate science student because it's basically how your body works. I think it would give you a good foundation if you're interested in any of the healthcare careers.
As for evaluation, they are all multiple choice exams so every prof's level of difficulty is a bit different. It's one of the courses I think where you need to understand the concepts really well, but also pick up the little details to do well because the little details do matter.
Lectures
Lectures are held twice a week at 8:30 am. At 9:30 am during the year that I took it, the kinesiology physiology class was right after ours so sometimes people who missed the 8:30 class sat in on that one. I cannot guarantee that the lectures are exactly the same though as my friends who have sat through both lectures have said that it is almost identical for some units.
Tutorials
Tutorials are held once a week and led by a Teaching Assistant. Tutorials cover the material that was covered in lecture. During the year that I took it, there were no evaluations/quizzes during tutorial. Usually the TA would give a brief presentation on the topic that was covered in lecture that week and answer any questions students had. The quality of teaching you get during tutorial really depends on the TA you have. Some TAs will take a lot of time to prepare their slides and take time to go over some review questions and give very clear explanations while others will have some difficulties communicating their knowledge. There are many sessions across campus during the week though so if you have trouble making it out to a session, you could probably arrange to sit in on another session.