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PHY1111 Practical Physics I2007-2008Code: PHY1111Title: Practical Physics I Instructors: Dr F.Y. Ogrin CATS credits: 10 ECTS credits: 5 Availability: Physics programmes only Level: 1 Pre-requisites: N/A Co-requisites: N/A Background Assumed: AS level Physics or equivalent Duration: Semesters I and II Directed Study Time: 10 laboratory sessions of 3 hours, 21 hours communications skills Private Study Time: 49 hours Assessment Tasks Time: - Observation report: See PHY1110 AimsExperiment is one of the central activities of a scientist. Experimental observations form the basis for new hypotheses, and also test scientific theories. It is therefore essential that all Physicists understand the experimental method and develop the ability to make reliable measurements. This module provides a broad foundation in experimental physics, upon which experimental work for the Stage 2 year and for projects in Stages 3 and 4 builds. Intended Learning OutcomesStudents should be able to: Module Specific Skills
Discipline Specific Skills
Personal and Key Skills
Learning and Teaching MethodsLaboratory work conducted in pairs, with support from demonstrators. Three lectures, supplemented with on-line notes, on error analysis and graph plotting. Private study in writing up experiments and preparing the formal report. Group work in preparing and delivering oral presentation. AssignmentsExperiments, written up in laboratory notebooks (47%); one group oral presentation (10%); one formal report (21%); communications and key skills component PHY0000 (22%). AssessmentRefer to the Undergraduate Handbook for details. Briefly, laboratory notebooks are marked in one-to-one discussion between the student and a demonstrator; oral presentations involve moderated peer assessment; the formal report is marked by the Stage 1 Laboratory Co-ordinator. Syllabus Plan and ContentStudents are provided with a Laboratory Manual in which the experiments for this module are summarised. There is some choice of which experiments are undertaken. Each experiment is described in detail in a 2-4 page laboratory script. Key documents for this module can be obtained from the Stage 1 Laboratory e-learning Resources section of the School website Note: The final section of the Stage 1 laboratory is the Communication and Key Skills training component which is held over three days following the examinations at the end of Semester-II; this exercise is described in the PHY0000 component description. Core TextNot applicableSupplementary Text(s)Not applicableFormative MechanismsGeneral supervision and assistance are available in the laboratory from the demonstrators. In addition, each demonstrator is assigned a group of about twelve students and monitors their progress, taking a pastoral role and reporting any problems to the Head of Laboratory. Feedback is given on each experiment during a 15-minute one-to-one marking session with a demonstrator. For the formal report and oral presentation, written feedback is given by the Stage 1 Laboratory Co-ordinator to each student. Evaluation MechanismsA suggestions box in the laboratory enables specific problems to be identified and remedied quickly. In addition, feedback from students on the module is gathered via the standard student representation mechanisms. |