SIXTH CENTURY COURSES

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor M Cotter, Professor P McGeorge

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

This course explores some of the most intriguing issues regarding the complex relationships between the mind and the brain. Topics include brain parts and what they do; understanding savants, insanity and creativity; the nature of consciousness and language; the healing power of the mind/brain; and creativity, mind and madness. Students will be exposed to different methods for appreciating these questions from biological, lingusitic, historical and philosophical perspectives.

Structure

The course will comprise weekly lectures and workshops which total 3 hours. 

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment, including assessments for each of the themes (100%). 

Students will have the opportunity to submit/resubmit any assessment missed or failed.

Formative Assessment

A subset of the workshops are assessed for formative purposes.

Feedback

Students will receive written feedback on all continuous assessment.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor H W Chandler

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

The course would consist of six topics (a list of possible topics is shown below) delivered over 12 weeks.

• The historical development of materials and their use.


• Siege engines.


• Mills (wind and water)


• Steam engines


• Spinning and weaving


• Agricultural engines


• Printing and communications


• Musical and dramatic (eg music boxes, fairground engines, kirby wires etc)


• Internal combustion engines


• Ships


• Arms and Armour

The subject matter would cover engineering (how the engine works) and historical (social and political impact of the invention or activity). It is anticipated that each topic would be delivered by an engineer and a historian or social scientist or similar. The materials topic will run as the first topic delivered each time the course runs. All the other topics will be designed to be independent, while avoiding duplication. This will ensure adequate flexibility as the topics can then be delivered in any order to suit the workload of the contributors. A “library” of topics (with associated contributors) will be developed. Each semester the topics to be delivered will be selected taking account of availability and workload of the contributors.

Course Outline

Outline of Materials topic:

Historical development, processing and properties of traditional materials, such as: timber; fabrics; stone; ceramics; and metals.

General outline of all the other topics:

The mechanics of the engine (ie. how it works) its technological strengths and weaknesses.

The historical development of the engine.

The historical, social and political context of the period and its influence on the development of the engine.

How the historical, social and political context of the period changed and the influence that the engine had on that change.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures a week plus 1 two-hour practical/workshop session alternate weeks.

Assessment

In-session assessment of workshop/practical activity and student engagement with the material, including their engagement with the student assessments. The student must pass this element to pass the course. (10%)

2 briefing documents or similar written work. Each student will review, rank and comment on a selection of the submissions. These submissions will be "seeded" with tutor prepared material and, in due course, appropriate student work from earlier years. The student ranking will guide the tutors with regard to final grading. Anonymity and confidentiality will be protected. (50%)

2 Posters; the second will be based on their first briefing document (this poster to be prepared after recieving feedback for the first briefing document and the first poster). The students will evaluate all the posters and provide feedback to their fellows via a managed electronic system. (40%)

Students who fail assessment element 1 MAY be offered a viva at the discretion of the course coordinator. Failure to adequately attend and engage in the work of the course will result in failure of the course.

An extended essay applying the skills acquired during the course to a topic allocated by one of the tutors (100%).

Formative Assessment

An online Q&A form will be supplied for each topic with approximately 10 questions. The student will be able to use this to evaluate what they have "taken away" from each topic and use this to improve their listening, note taking and report reading skills. It will not be marked. WebCT will be used for this.

The feedback from the first poster and briefing document will help the student improve their performance for the second round of assessments. Peer assessment of the first poster will help improve subsequent performance.

Feedback

Peer assessment will be provided via non-graded comments presented (anonymously and confidentially to the receiving student) electronically. The source of all comments will be available to the course co-ordinator via the WebCT system and any inappropriate remarks will be dealt with severely. Students will be trained in the use of this system.

Tutor feedback will be provided in writing, and verbally during the workshop/practical sessions, in the usual manner.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Masthoff

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

(i) Assistive technologies may be required for any student who is unable to use a standard keyboard/mouse/computer monitor. Any students wishing to discuss this further should contact the School Disability Co-ordinator.
This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

Examples of topics to be covered include:
Digital Divide

• The growing digital divide, including the rural-urban divide, the age divide, accessibility risks for people with disabilities, problems for developing countries.

• The changing nature of interpersonal relationships in light of social networking sites (Facebook, Flickr, MySpace) and new communication means (text messaging, online-messaging).


• The culture and consequences of having a second life.


• Identity and impression management.

• Freedom of expression and privacy: civil rights in a digital society


• Ownership in a digital world (eg. rights to music, Flickr photos, YouTube videos)


• Cyber-crime, cyber-terrorism and cyber-bullying


• Security for the digital society.


• Information credibility and authority in a Web2.0 world (eg. Wikipedia).

• How digital technology has changed the way we do business (eg. Amazon, e-Bay, I-Tunes) and the way the markets work.


• The potential of and issues in using digital technology for Health, Education, Entertainment, Transport, Science and Governance.


• Digital behaviour intervention: how technology may encourage people to live more healthily and sustainably.


• The environmental impacts of a digital society.

Structure

4 one-hour lectures in total, and 1 two-hour tutorial a week

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%): participation in small group sessions (20%), poster, news article or online artifact showing insights gained in case studies (80%, 20% per case study).

Resit: Continuous assessment (80%). Participation mark carried forward (20%). Students resubmit coursework for those elements they failed, passing marks carried forward.  

Formative Assessment

During lectures, the Personal Response System and/or other ways of student interaction will be used for formative assessment. Additionally, practical sessions will provide students with practice opportunies and formative assessment.

Feedback

Formative feedback for in-course assessments will be provided in written form. Additionally, formative feedback on performance will be provided informally during practical sessions.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr R Wells

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

The course provides a grounding in the basics of risk and risk perception together with methods for calculating these factors.

Sessions on individual topical subjects such as:

1. Nuclear energy


2. GM foods


3. Drugs and medication


4. Finance and banking


5. Climate change


6. Water and water availability

Structure

2 formal sessions detailing basics of risk perception.

Large group sessions on selected topics led by experts in the field.

Small froup facilitated workshops.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%).

Assessed work may include any combination of the following:

1. Poster presentation


2. Preparation of newspaper style article.


3. Preparation of U tube video


4. Preparation of web site

Second attempts at continuous assessment.

Feedback

Small group sessions will be used to give rapid feedback to students on their performance.
SSLC

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L Bennie & Dr D Gray

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

Through an analysis of various relevant case studies the course will cover a broad range of issues with respect to the three key areas of environment, economics and society. Substantive topics include:
• Conceptualising sustainability
• Introduction to the (local and global) ecosystem
• Science and other ‘ways of knowing’ the world
• Sustainability science as a new paradigm
• Environmental ethics and philosophy
• Legislative debates
• Consumption and risk
• Becoming a global citizen
• The Politics of Sustainability

Structure

1 three-hour block each week. This will comprise 1 one-hour lecture every week and 1 two-hour workshop.

Assessment

The summative assessment will be in three parts undertaken at approximately 4, 8 and 12 weeks. The first element will be an on-line short answer exercise based on the first four weeks of the course. The second will be a peer reviewed assessment of group project work. Students will produce a poster with presentation or presentation with slides which will be reviewed by other groups using feedback sheets and collated to provide an assessment of the group project. This will be moderated by a tutor report.

The final part will be an individual project report. The weightings for each part will be: Part 1 (10%); Part 2 (30%); Part 3 (60%).

Resit: New individual project report (100%).

Formative Assessment

This will take the form of on-line quizzes and on-going discussion during workshop sessions.

Feedback

Summative feedback: The on-line exercise will provide automatic feedback; the group project work will be provided through peer feedback and the final project report will be in the form of written feedback from the tutor.
Formative feedback will be provided through automatic feedback using on-line quizzes and a combination of oral and written feedback arising from workshop sessions.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr Hilary Homans

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is being offered by the University of Aberdeen Centre for Sustainable International Development. This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

The course begins with an historical perspective and look at how development has been portrayed in academic texts as well as in novels, films and music. Running throughout the course will be a focus on human rights, equity and social inclusion, good governance and resource allocation and how they are central to the sustained achievement of the MDGs. Case studies will be used to demonstrate good practice and different cultural, social, economic and political barriers to progress will be identified. The course will conclude with a focus on the need for information, systems, community participation, empowerment and political commitment for the realisation of the MDGs.

Structure

Mixture of lectures and lecturettes (16 hours), tutorials (5 hours), workshops (4 hours), debates (1 hour), case studies involving computers (2 hours), films (3 hours), a World Cafe session (2 hours) and student presentations (3 hours).

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%) 3 assessments.

The first assessment will be a computer quiz worth 30% of the course grade. It will assess students understanding of the key concepts and differences in disciplinary approaches (and will act as a check that they are coping with the interdisciplinary elements of the course and permit tutors to make any changes needed). They will also be required to find answers to questions through the electronic use of the UN Development data base (DevInfo).

The second assessment will be a computer-based case study utilising real data provided by the course code worth 30% of the course grade. It will judge the student's capacity to assimilate the knowledge acquired and to formulate informed questions to panel debates.

The third assessment will be a peer-assessed oral group presentation worth 40% of the course grade. It will look at the extent to which students are able to become involved in affecting change relating to a specific development issue through interacting with webpages and social networking media throughout the course.

Resit:Any assessment failed or missed will be submitted/resubmitted until a pass is achieved.

Formative Assessment

Workshops and practice questions will provide formative assessments.

Feedback

Feedback will be given on performance in workshops and practice questions will carry full feedback for immediate self-reflection. The summative assessments will be returned with written feedback.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor U Witte

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

Students will be encouraged to reflect upon Oceans and Society through study of three themes: Ocean ecology (physical influences and their impact including consequences of climate change on the harvesting of marine resources, the occurrence of tsunami waves and consequences of changes in sea level); seafaring, contact and colonisation (including technological and societal requirements for as well as political, economic, cultural and legislative impacts of trade and colonisation) and governance (legal challenges of sustainable managment, marine spatial planning etc).

Structure

1 three-hour teaching session every week, for eleven weeks (includes lecture/tutorial/workshop delivery and supervised field/group activity).

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%) via output from group work pertaining to each of the three themes.

Resit: Submission/resubmission of work not previously submitted or for which a fail mark has been awarded, respectively.

Formative Assessment

Students will participate in a range of formative exercises within each theme. These will include PRS-based activity and access to online quiz material within each theme.

Feedback

Participation in the formative exercises will be monitored and students with apparent difficulty will be identified and invited to discuss solutions with members of the teaching staff. Written feedback will be given on the summative exercises (report on observational study and reflective writing).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Andrew Whitehouse

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

Animals have played a pivotal role throughout human history. They provide us with resources but are also companions, symbols and spectacles. This course explores human-animal relations by examining themes such as domestication, animal rights and welfare, pets and conservation. It also considers what an animal is and what it means to say that human beings are also animals. Through diverse disciplinary, historical and cultural perspectives, students are introduced to the complexity of human-animal relations, gaining deeper understandings of the differences and similarities between humans and animals, and developing a more informed appreciation of contemporary and historical issues in human-animal relations.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%). One online diary (30%), one group project (30%), one individual project (40%).

Resit: Continuous assessment (100%). Two 1,500-word essays.

Formative Assessment

None.

Feedback

Detailed feedback will be provided to students on their assessed work, with a particular emphasis on developing the skills outlined in the course aims. This will normally be given within two weeks of the submission of assignments.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Barker, Dr L Colucci-Gray

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

Students will be encouraged to reflect upon their own appreciation of the Natural World through thematic study of: The value of nature (personal philosophy, cultural context, ethics, responsibility); Growth of the environmental movement (classic literature); Natural environment and wellbeing; Wildlife education and interpretation; Recorded experiences of the natural world (literature, film, art); Observing, recording and interpreting the natural world.

Structure

6 one-hour lectures every second week (6 hour total); 6 two-hour tutorial sessions every second week (12 hour total); 1 two-hour briefing session (2 hour total); 1 three-hour class symposium (3 hour total); 3 three-hour field trips (9 hour total).

Assessment

Attendance at tutorials and field trips is compulsory.

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%) based on submission of report pertaining to observational study and a reflective piece of writing. The report on observational study may take the form of e.g nature journal, scientific survey, portfolio of images or audio montage - choice of submission to be approved by academic staff.

Resit: Submission/resubmission of work not previously submitted or for which a fail mark has been awarded, respectively.

Formative Assessment

Students will participate in a range of formative exercises (tutorials) based on analysis and critique of lecture material.

Feedback

Partcipation in the formative exercises will be monitored and students with apparent difficulty will be identified and invited to discuss solutions with members of the teaching staff. Written feedabck will be given on the summative exercises (report on observational study and reflective writing).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor M Cotter, Professor C McCaig, Dr N Spedding & Dr B Marsden

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

How is scientific evidence constructed? How can we determine “good” science from “bad” science? How is science presented in different media? These questions will be addressed through critical analysis of modern and historical case studies exploring the interaction between science and media. During the course, groups of students will construct opposing arguments on a number of scientific topics for the purposes of diverse presentation and debate.

Structure

Weekly: 1 or 2 hour interactive lectures, associated with 1 or 2 hour workshops/assessments.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%): consisting of 4 assessments of 20% each and a 20% component related to individual performance determined by tutors (15%) and peers (5%).

Any assessment failed or missed will be submitted/ resubmitted until a Pass is achieved.

Formative Assessment

Workshops and practice questions will provide formative assessments.

Feedback

Feedback will be given on performance in workshops and practice questions will carry full feedback for immediate self-reflection. The summative assessments will be returned with written feedback.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

TBA

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course is now full for 2012/13.

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at classes for Sixth Century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a Sixth Century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

The course takes in a ‘quick tour of the Universe’, a selective summary of what we think we know (with recent advances) in several key fields: physics; cosmology/astronomy/planetary science; biology, evolution, genetics and disease; the climate system.

The course looks at these key topics in relation to objectivity, uncertainty vs realism and the philosophy of science. It also examines how our world view is shaped by values and religion and how myth and science interact and affect our knowledge of the scientific world.

Structure

1 three-hour slot a week to be filled with a combination of lecture and small group classes.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous Assessment (100%);
A series of short assessments will be set corresponding to each section of the course: science, myth, objectivity, climate, and genetics/evolution/ethics. These will be a mixture of individual and group work, with class discussions, blogs, wikis, online tests as examples.

Resit: Continuous Assessment (100%);
Only available to those who have attended sufficient classes and have exceptional good cause. Make-up essays will be provided.

Formative Assessment

As the students are regularly completing small summative assessments, they will have feedback throughout the course. Marks (and comments, where possible) will be returned through MyAberdeen.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr T Stack

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Notes

This course is available only to students registered in programme years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

'Rights' is one of the most powerful yet ambiguous concepts in today's world. So many local, national and global issues are framed in terms of rights: not just our right to vote and our human rights but our rights to health and food, clean air and water. Students will be confronted by approaches to the study of rights from across the arts and social and physical sciences, and will learn to consider and compare the different approaches, reaching their own conclusions. The key questions are:

• How have 'rights' come to be seen as such?


• What do people claim as 'rights' and with what success?

• history and theory of rights


• how citizen and human rights are institutionalized in the contemporary world


• the extension of rights to development, food, health and environment

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 reading-based essay (30%); 1 research-based report (30%); 4 written comments on readings (20%); tutorial participation (20%).

Resit: Students will have the opportunity to submit/resubmit any assessment missed or failed.

Formative Assessment

As the students will be completing regular summative assessments, there will be no formative assessments.

Feedback

As the students will be completing regular summative assessments, they will have regular feedback throughout the course.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor T Barmby, Dr V Watson and Mr D Newlands

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course is now full for 2012/13.

This course is only available to students registered in Programme Years 1 and 2.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Attendance at sixth century courses is compulsory. Students who do not attend all classes (including lectures) for a sixth century course, without exceptional cause, will not pass the engagement component of the course and will therefore fail the course.

Overview

Why do some societies become wealthier than others? Does this wealth result in healthier populations or not? This course will consider the processes which determine these outcomes. We will start by considering the nature of economic growth and development. The course will consider the origins of industrialisation, the role of trade and comparative advantage, of specialisation in production and the role of innovation and entrepreneurship. It will examine the history of the industrial revolution in Europe and elsewhere and consider the current state of the explanations of this. It will look at the demographic transitions as economies develop and the link between wealth and health, systems of health care provision, the economic burden of illness, AIDS and the diseases associated with affluence.

Structure

1 one-hour seminar (to be arranged) per week,  and 24 lectures.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Two assessed essays (50% each).

Formative Assessment

Short reports and presentations in seminars.

Feedback

The team delivering the formative assessment are currently designing and developing the methods of feedback.  All students will be supplied with relevant feedback as indicated by the content.

Assessed coursework will receive individual feedback.
Exam feedback will be in accordance with University policy.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Kedra

Pre-requisites

The course is aimed at a general interested audience at level three and four. However, the students should have basic numerical skills and should be able to manipulate formulae.

Overview

• Numbers


• Formulae


• Cryptography
• Controlling traffic
• Probability


• Biology


• Logic


• Special relativity


• Economy


• Computing Science


• Saving fuel of a spaceship


• Chaos

Structure

2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of a tutorial/discussion session per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment: two online tests (30% each), short oral presentation (20%), poster or a multimedial presentation on a chosen topic (20%).

Resit: To be arranged. Only the marks obtained at the first attempt can count towards Honours classification.

Formative Assessment

In-course assignments will normally be marked within one week and feedback provided to students in tutorials. Students will be invited to contact the Course Coordinator for feedback on the final examination.

Feedback

In-course assessment will be marked and feedback provided to the students.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A C Mclaughlin

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

The course focuses on the role of science in society and as such is more suited to students studying for science degrees.

Overview

A broad introduction to ethics in research will be given which will span topics from ethics in medicine and science, government and university codes and policies and ethical considerations in publishing.
The role of IPR and copyright in protecting ideas will be introduced.

The importance of scientific engagement with the public, government/policy makers and research peers will be revealed.
The process of successfully taking an original scientific idea to the marketplace will be described. We will show how to pitch a complex scientific concept to a general audience.

Structure

1 two-hour lecture/seminar per week for 12 weeks. 4 one-hour workshops (tbc).

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (100%):

There will be four individual assessments, each carrying an equal weight. The nature of the assessments may change slightly, depending on student numbers.

The students will:

Perform a case study to discover how academic research can lead to patents and spin out companies. This will be in the form of a publicity leaflet.

Write an a report in the style of the New scientist of not more than 2,000 words on a topic in general science selected from a list of possible choices. Flash presentations will also be given on the same topic.

Take part in a group discussion on the different issues related to ethics in research. This will then be written up and turned into a class wiki; the students will work in groups to prepare the site.

Pitch a complex scientific concept to a panel of academics. The students will work in a group to prepare the pitch.

Second attempts at continuous assessment.

Formative Assessment

Peer review of presentations.

Feedback

Constructive informal feedback will be give to students after each written or oral assessment.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M J Hole

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

Why does the Earth Melt ? Magma production on Earth today.
Physical properties of magma.
Lava flows.

Pyroclastic rocks and explosive eruptions.

Remote sensing of volcanoes.
Case studies of volcanic hazard monitoring, mitigation and management.

Environmental impacts of volcanism.

Structure

7 two- hour lecture/demonstrations;
4 three-hour workshops in groups of c. 30; 2 two-hour peer-review sessions.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment (100%).

Resit: Resubmission of failed elements of assessment.

Formative Assessment

Marking will be completed online and feedback tables provided to each student.

Feedback

In course assessments will be directed during workshops, uploaded to MyAberdeen and marked and returned before the next workshop. This turn-around time has already been used in level 3 geology courses and is practicable.