[shelbs]

Alright so I took this course in Winter 2015 with Dr. Mothersill. The course focused on radiation biology, including the effects of radiation on cells, tissues and organisms as a whole, as well as radiation protection and the issues with research in this field (controversy about the effects of low dose radiation, measuring the effects of radiation on ecosystems as a whole vs. individual organisms, etc.). There were three lectures per week, one of which was dedicated to student presentations, one was Dr. Mothersill's radiation protection lecture and the last lecture was usually used for a documentary. For the student presentations, each person was assigned a chapter from the textbook and was responsible for making a 15 minute presentation and 5 multiple choice questions on their material. Three presentations were given per week and we went alphabetically.

In terms of marks, the presentation was worth 20% (15% for presentation, 5% for the multiple choice questions), participation was 10% (I showed up to every class and didn't get perfect so she expects you to contribute to class discussions as well), we had an assignment worth 40% (10% for the outline, 30% for the paper - I will discuss that after) and the exam was 30%.

The assignment was interesting - you had to predict the implications and consequences of a radiation accident (you could pick where it was and what type of accident it was) keeping in mind the politics, religious beliefs, socioeconomic status of the people, population density, animals and plants in the area, etc. An outline was due before reading week describing what you planned on doing your project on, and the final paper was due 2 weeks after the exam (which was during the second last week of classes)

The exam was 15 multiple choice (which were from the multiple choice questions students had written for their presentations) and you had to do three short answer questions (out of five options) - these questions tested your understanding of the professor's radiation protection lectures. It was very fair.

Overall, I would recommend this class. Very light workload throughout the semester and although the paper was a lot of work, it was marked fairly and Dr. Mothersill was great. I really enjoyed her lectures because she focused on getting us thinking about, discussing and criticizing the material and research in the field.

Does the course cover a significant amount of physics? Would 1L03 be sufficient, or it would it be better having taken physics 1B03 + 1BB3 prior to taking this course?

It is a little late but for future reference, physics 1L03 is definitely enough - you need very little physics (or cell bio) background to do well in this class. A basic understanding might be helpful, but honestly you could probably get by with only limited previous knowledge

Thank you for the clarification! Did you find that the assignment was marked fairly and overall would you say it is possible to get a 10+ in the course?