BIO A 270
Human and Comparative Anatomy
Winter 2026
Course Description:
This course is meant to provide students with an introduction to human and nonhuman primate anatomy, from an evolutionary perspective. This course will provide you with a vocabulary and foundation for further study. We will largely employ a regional approach in this course to study the structure and function of human and nonhuman primate anatomy at the organ-level. This means that we will focus on learning parts of organs, rather than tissue types and cell populations. This course counts toward the Natural Science requirement.
Learning Objectives: By the end of this course, you should be able to do the following:
- Be fluent in the terminology used to describe the human and nonhuman primate body.
- Identify anatomical structures on 2D and 3D schematic images of the body.
- Describe the spatial relationships of important anatomical structures.
- Apply your knowledge of organ structure and function to explain the workings of the human and nonhuman primate body.
- Explain how human anatomy differs from that of nonhuman primates.
Course Structure:
This course will meet twice a week. Students are expected to attend all lectures. In each lecture we will cover the human anatomy of a particular region (i.e., the thorax) and how it compares to that of nonhuman primates. Although there is no in-person laboratory session, you will have online lab activities to complete (see grading and assignments for more details). An online lab component is a part of this course as visually investigating the body is an essential component to learning anatomy, however the use of dissections for this course is not logistically feasible. These will focus primarily on human anatomy as there are significantly more widely available online resources.
Coursework is organized by week in Canvas Modules. This is a 200-level class, but that refers to the lack of prerequisites, not to the level of difficulty. The workload is balanced between low-stakes assignments (online quizzes, lab activities) and higher stakes tests and exams. Assignments will be submitted via Canvas.
Grading and Assignments:
Details:
Weekly Canvas Quizzes
- These are weekly assignments that cover lecture topics. These are meant as low-stakes practice questions to help students keep up with the material and practice applying what they have learned. The quizzes are not timed and may be accessed as many times as the students want prior to the quiz due date (i.e., students may retake the quiz as many times as they would like).
Virtual Lab Assignments
- Due to limitations of materials for dissection and examination, this course will have a virtual lab component rather than an in-person lab session.
- Students may work on these assignments in groups; however, each individual student must complete and submit the assignment.
- These will be graded on correctness, rather than completeness.
- Your lowest lab assignment grade will be dropped.
Exams
- All exams will be given in-person during regular class times or as specified.
- Exams are not cumulative in the strictest sense, however anatomical terminology and names of primate taxa introduced early in the course will be used throughout.
- Students with DRS accommodations should schedule their own exams in advance directly with the DRS testing center. See the accommodations section for more details.