i know biology books draw a hard line on what his living and what isn't, but the reason for me asking was because during that semester I was also taking philosophy, and we were talking about when does life begin, when does self consciousness begin? my stand was that it isn't so clear cut, but more of a gradual thing.
for instance it used to be broadly accepted that humans are the only animals with self awareness and emotions, but there are studies now that have disproved this.
You are not asking about life, but about conscious.
Biology is not the study of conscious. And if I were the teacher, I won't waste my time talking about it especially in bio 101. You could ask your professor in neurology, and neuro psychology. In biology, I did remember the teacher tell us that we shouldn't feel sorry for the worm we are going to dissect. Worms do not feel pain. Their reaction is simple reflexes. We know this because they lack the brain to process pain.