MD3A1-15 Laboratories and Assessments for Integrated Science
Introductory description
Laboratories and Assessments for Integrated Science
Module aims
To increase the practical and laboratory skills of Integrated Science students, including experimental design.
To increase the written, critical evaluation and presentation skills of Integrated Science students.
To continue to encourage students to use the primary literature to research topics.
To support the student’s overall development as effective working scientists.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Students will complete the third year of a laboratory and tutorial-based skills program. The key aims of the year 3 program are to embed final year level literature and practical research skills in preparation for their final year research projects. This will be achieved through a combination of tutorial set tasks and laboratory classes.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Efficiently design & perform experiments following Good Laboratory Practice taking an Integrated Science approach – i.e. combining principles and techniques from more than one discipline to answer biological questions.
- Write detailed, well-researched, concise, effective summaries of scientific information on a variety of topics.
- Demonstrate ability to critically interpret scientific papers
- Research topics in the literature.
Indicative reading list
Reading lists can be found in Talis
Specific reading list for the module
Interdisciplinary
Students will learn to solve scientific problems by integrating concepts and approaches from different scientific disciplines, including biology, physics, chemistry and computing, with the underlying mathematics serving as a common language
Subject specific skills
Be able to harness the methods and concepts of more than one discipline to answer biological questions.
Transferable skills
Carry out experiments following Good Laboratory Practice taking an Integrated Science approach
Skills with written detail, well-researched, concise, effective summaries of scientific information
The ability to critically interpret scientific papers, to design experiments, analyse data and write lab reports
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | 12 sessions of 1 hour (8%) |
| Practical classes | 8 sessions of 6 hours (32%) |
| Private study | 30 hours (20%) |
| Assessment | 60 hours (40%) |
| Total | 150 hours |
Private study description
Student led reading of methodological topics and data analysis from the reading list and beyond. Pursuit of independent learning surround research topics covered in the practical labs.
Time for reading more broadly the literature around the allocated papers for the Project plan.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A2
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Integrated Science Lab 1 Report | 35% | 20 hours | Yes (extension) |
|
Project Lab Report 2000 words or 5 pages (with the font size specified e.g. 12). |
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Integrated Science Lab 2 Report | 35% | 20 hours | Yes (extension) |
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Project Lab Report 2000 words or 5 pages (with the font size specified e.g. 12). |
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Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| Project plan | 30% | 20 hours | No |
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Oral presentation of a mini-project plan for a 6-month student project including brief background, objectives , experimental methods and expected outcomes. |
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Reassessment component |
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| Project plan reassessment | No | ||
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Reassessment of the Project plan to be submitted as a written report. The report will consist of no more that four slides with up to 750 words in total explaining the project in lieu of an oral presentation. |
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Feedback on assessment
The Lab reports will be written in the format of a scientific paper, in line with and further developing the approach first used in Y1 and Y2 Integrated Science. Feedback on project plan selection will be given in tutorial sessions. Written feedback will be given individually for project plan presentations.
Courses
This module is Core for:
- Year 3 of UMDA-CF10 Undergraduate Integrated Natural Sciences (MSci)