BIOM30001 - Frontiers in Biomedicine The Debate 2015

This exercise comprises 5% of the total marks for this subject. Your mark will be determined by your tutor and will be a shared mark for your team. Follow the instructions carefully. It is very important you attend this week’s preparation tutorial and next week’s debate.

Skills/Attributes:

On completion of this exercise, you should have gained:

• experience in the use of group work to facilitate research and collation of information; • an appreciation of, and familiarity with, concepts influencing public health policies including ethics; • the ability to identify an issue and address it from two opposing perspectives • more ability to communicate scientific knowledge orally in an intelligible manner.

Some of the graduate attributes developed in this exercise will include:

• Academic excellence:

◦ reach a high level of achievement in writing, generic research activities, problem-solving and communication

◦ be critical and creative thinkers, with an aptitude for continued self-directed learning

• Knowledge across disciplines:

◦ examine critically, synthesise and evaluate knowledge across a broad range of disciplines

◦ have the capacity to participate fully in collaborative learning and to confront unfamiliar problems

• Leaders in communities:

◦ engage in meaningful public discourse, with a profound awareness of community needs

• Active global citizens:

◦ be advocates for improving the sustainability of the environment have a broad global understanding, with a high regard for human rights, equity and ethics

Adapted from: The Melbourne Model Report of the Curriculum Commission, 2006, p.27.

For context, read this first:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673615605785

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960175-1/abstract

http://www.ubble.co.uk/

The motion for the debate is that

“Australia should build a similar biobank cohort to that of the UK Biobank”.

For this debate you are asked to prepare arguments for and against the motion.

Preparation (August 19/20): You should consider both sides of the argument, as your team will be allocated to advocate either for or against on the day of the tutorial. You should get together with your team/group this week in your usual tutorial room (which is available to you for use during your scheduled tutorial time). Teams will comprise students with odd student numbers; or even student numbers. Divide the research workload across the issues and ascertain who will be your speakers on the day. If the odds/evens divide is too uneven, you should organize yourselves to approximately equal numbers on each side.

You can prepare your arguments for and against in your teams, or as a whole class. You may find the discussion board helpful to share questions and resources.

An academic will be present for a short period during your preparation tutorial to provide guidance and answer queries.

On the day of the debate (August 26/27): During the first 15 minutes of the tutorial you will have an opportunity to further organize your case (once you know which side you’re on). A minimum of 3 speakers from each team will speak for a total of 10 minutes. If more people from you team wish to speak this is desirable, but ensure that the total time of 10 min is not exceeded. We encourage all students to speak.

Assessment: Will be based mainly on participation (80%) and to a lesser extent on quality of argument and articulation (20%). Team members will rate all other team members for effort using a fraction where 1.0 is a satisfactory effort. Each student’s mark will be the product of their team’s mark and the average fraction effort. I would expect in most cases that the fractional effort would be 1.0. This should not be unduly weighted to the speakers, as there will be research to do in preparation. If you elect not to speak, then you should expect to do more of the research to support your team’s arguments.