PY7004 - Circadian rhythms and Sleep disorders

You will attend weekly sessions that will provide the framework for the development of understanding based on wider reading. These sessions involve diverse learning activities, including brief lecture-style presentations from experts in the field, guest lectures given by world-leading researchers, discussion groups on real-world case studies and student-led tasks. You will experience and reflect on controversial issues in the discipline. You will be trained to analyse and prepare the presentation of case studies, highlighting the scientific method and the interpretation of results. Independent study will give you further opportunity to enhance skills in critical analysis and explore key theoretical underpinnings and practical contexts relating to professional practice.

The module tutor will support you by making a variety of student resources linked to the lectures and assessments available on the eLearning Portal (e.g. PowerPoint slides, lecture handouts) along with links to resources to encourage further exploration of specific research topics. A discussion board on the eLearning Portal will be available for students to pose and respond to questions among peers and to the module tutor. This enhances collegiality and means that support is available to all students. The module tutor will set aside fixed office consultation hours available for one-to-one or small group appointments each week if students need direct contact for further explanation. Technology-enabled learning will be implemented through the use of Panopto recording software, online submission and marking of the summative assessment, along with the incorporation of different media formats into the lectures and seminars.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
• K&U1: Critically discuss a range of conceptual/theoretical frameworks in sleep and chronobiology.
• K&U2: Demonstrate how to apply integrated experiential and scientific knowledge in sleep and chronobiology to address disease processes.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• IPSA1: You will take charge of your own career development learning through critical self-evaluation and reflection on the relevance of the module for career enhancement and future learning.
IPSA2: You will develop means to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences, including peers and laypeople.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• PVA1: You will develop and reinforce the characteristics of a Northumbria graduate by building research skills to contribute to knowledge generation and dissemination, demonstrating awareness of ethical principles.

Formative assessment:
Formative assessment will include multi-choice quizzes and problem-based question sets. You will also be supported in your evaluation of primary papers via group discussions in which you will review some key journal articles. Students will be given feedback in class on these activities


Summative assessment:
The summative assessment consists of one piece of work contributing 100% to the module.

Clinical case study presentation. This is a group activity where participants will create a clinical case study based on literature review of sleep and circadian disorders discussed in the module (20 minutes each group). It will provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes K&U1, K&U2, IPSA1, IPSA2, PVA1. The presentation and the slides will be assessed based on an analytic rubric. Group feedback will be provided in written form for this assessment, along with cohort-level feedback.

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This module will introduce how sleep scientists and chronobiology researchers understand the health-disease processes. You will be offered a state-of-the-art perspective on how the scientific method has successfully been applied to uncover the pathological processes involving sleep and circadian rhythms. You will explore the biological basis of the classification of sleep disorders and the most prevalent sleep disorders that affect the human population, based on the European Sleep Research Society guidelines. Associated themes, such as the epidemiology and pathophysiology of important disorders associated with sleep and circadian rhythms, are also outlined. This module will engage you in an active approach to bridge the gap between scientific and experiential knowledge. Emphasis will be given not only to the current knowledge but also to the scientific process and the social-cultural-historical contexts that drive scientific development, allowing for a better understanding of key concepts and critical analysis of the scientific method. After completing this module, you will have acquired the necessary knowledge and skills to understand the most prevalent sleep disease processes, considering socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, gender-related, and cultural disparities, and plan research approaches to test pertinent hypotheses in this fascinating field.