The Open University has finally opened registration for the new SXx288 Practical science modules and I have duly registered for SXC288 Practical science: chemistry and analysis.
This will only be the second OU module that I have done on its first presentation and from previous experience there may be some teething troubles to begin with (maybe the various false starts for registration will be the only ones but I doubt it).
I must admit I've been obsessing over this module for a while now as there is a mini residential (3 days) associated with it and I wanted a specific date (the long weekend option). I've been checking pretty much every day since 1st July and registered at 07:09 this morning (after a tip off in the OU Science programme website yesterday).
The module starts in February next year so I've still got a while to wait before it starts but S205 begins next month so I've got something to keep me occupied.
Oh and I'm still completing the S104 EMA which I will probably post a bit about when I'm done.
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
S104 Book 6
The title of book 6 is "Exploring Earth's History" and its another foray into geology (oh joy!!!)
After a brief introduction in chapter one, chapter two looks at geological time and stratigraphic columns.
Chapter three is a bit of a mixture. It starts off looking at fossils (there are some copies in the home kit for us to look at) and then goes into radioactive half-lives as a method of dating rocks.
Chapter four looks at igneous rocks (a couple of examples are in the home kit), how they form and how various minerals are concentrated in them.
Chapter five looks at sedimentary rocks (again a couple of examples are in the home kit), how the various sediments are laid down and how the rock is subsequently formed.
Predictably, chapter six looks at metamorphic rocks (yes we have a couple in the kit), their formation and deformation. This chapter also sums up the previous three chapters by introducing the rock cycle.
Chapter seven takes a look at the geology of the British Isles and chapter eight looks at human evolution and how it was affected by geological events.
I didn't find this book too heavy going, it was certainly easier than Book 5. I think it helped that I had attended SXR103 before studying it and so had some understanding of the processes involved.
After a brief introduction in chapter one, chapter two looks at geological time and stratigraphic columns.
Chapter three is a bit of a mixture. It starts off looking at fossils (there are some copies in the home kit for us to look at) and then goes into radioactive half-lives as a method of dating rocks.
Chapter four looks at igneous rocks (a couple of examples are in the home kit), how they form and how various minerals are concentrated in them.
Chapter five looks at sedimentary rocks (again a couple of examples are in the home kit), how the various sediments are laid down and how the rock is subsequently formed.
Predictably, chapter six looks at metamorphic rocks (yes we have a couple in the kit), their formation and deformation. This chapter also sums up the previous three chapters by introducing the rock cycle.
Chapter seven takes a look at the geology of the British Isles and chapter eight looks at human evolution and how it was affected by geological events.
I didn't find this book too heavy going, it was certainly easier than Book 5. I think it helped that I had attended SXR103 before studying it and so had some understanding of the processes involved.
S104 Book 5
The title of this book is Life.
It starts off asking the question, "What is life?" and gives an introduction to reproduction, metabolism and population levels.
The book then moves on to consider diversity and the classification of species into domains and phyla.
Next we got a look at cells, their classification, structure and diversity as well as mitosis/meosis and both asexual and sexual reproduction.
Chapter five is an introduction to biochemistry. It explains polysaccharides, nucleic acids, enzymes and proteins in some detail.
We then look at how energy is created (photosynthesis) and used in metabolic processes in some depth.
The idea of energy utilisation is then extended from an individual to an ecosystem in chapter seven.
Chapter eight introduces genetic variation and inheritance as well as another look at meosis.
Chapter nine continues the variation theme by looking at genes and how they can become mutated.
The subject of genes is continued in chapter ten by looking at DNA and how errors can creep in.
Chapter eleven looks at how DNA is used in creating polypeptides and the genetic code.
There is another look at genetic mutation in chapter twelve.
Chapter thirteen looked at various genomes, as well as the projects to sequence the genomes of various creatures.
Chapter fourteen looks at Darwin's work on evolution and natural selection.
The final chapter, fifteen, looks at human evolution.
I found this to be a very long book and struggled to remain motivated through it. The TMA helped me consolidate my understanding of some of the topics covered (I know more about photosynthesis then I ever wanted to know) but it was still a slog.
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
New practical science courses - Update 3
Online registration for any of the SXx288 courses is still not available for online registration. I've emailed the OU Student Registration and Enquiry Service requesting a date when they will be available and am awaiting a reply.
In the meantime here is a leaflet I picked up whilst on SXR103 with some information about them:
In the meantime here is a leaflet I picked up whilst on SXR103 with some information about them:
I know its not much but its something.
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
SXR103 - Thoughts of the week
I really enjoyed my week in Brighton. I met a fantastic bunch of people, who like me are studying science with the Open University as well as a group of enthusiastic tutors who can make the subject come alive.
I would totally recommend this course to anyone interested in science. Its a great way to get your 'hands dirty' with some practical experience, meet some like-minded people and immerse yourself in University life.
I found it quite an exhausting week but would definitely like to do a similar summer school again. Its a shame that the OU have retired most of their level 2 and 3 summer schools but i'm hoping that the new level 2 'practical' courses are just as good.
Only the EMA left to do, but i'm looking forward to doing it as it should bring back memories of a great week doing science.
I would totally recommend this course to anyone interested in science. Its a great way to get your 'hands dirty' with some practical experience, meet some like-minded people and immerse yourself in University life.
I found it quite an exhausting week but would definitely like to do a similar summer school again. Its a shame that the OU have retired most of their level 2 and 3 summer schools but i'm hoping that the new level 2 'practical' courses are just as good.
Only the EMA left to do, but i'm looking forward to doing it as it should bring back memories of a great week doing science.
SXR103 - Day 7
The final day...
Another cooked breakfast (I know, im weakening) and then its back to the tutor room at Friston for the morning session with Brian.
We start by going over how we think we worked together yesterday. Which isn't too bad a way to start and I think went well. Then we start on a "writing up practicals" workshop. This involved us performing a little experiment (measuring the time for a pendulum to complete one swing) before Brian took us through how we should and shouldn't write it up (he had a handout on a less than ideal write-up).
After coffee we did a quick debrief on "Doing Science Safely", which was a little online section we had to do before coming on the week. The relevence for today was that there is a question on "Doing Science Safely" in the EMA.
Finally we took a quick look at the EMA (I had downloaded it this morning). Brian couldn't go into too much detail here but we all saw that there was nothing too taxing. His advice was to do the EMA as soon as possible, whilst everything is fresh in our minds.
Then it was all over. We posed for a group photo, said our goodbyes and parted company for the last time.
Another cooked breakfast (I know, im weakening) and then its back to the tutor room at Friston for the morning session with Brian.
We start by going over how we think we worked together yesterday. Which isn't too bad a way to start and I think went well. Then we start on a "writing up practicals" workshop. This involved us performing a little experiment (measuring the time for a pendulum to complete one swing) before Brian took us through how we should and shouldn't write it up (he had a handout on a less than ideal write-up).
After coffee we did a quick debrief on "Doing Science Safely", which was a little online section we had to do before coming on the week. The relevence for today was that there is a question on "Doing Science Safely" in the EMA.
Finally we took a quick look at the EMA (I had downloaded it this morning). Brian couldn't go into too much detail here but we all saw that there was nothing too taxing. His advice was to do the EMA as soon as possible, whilst everything is fresh in our minds.
Then it was all over. We posed for a group photo, said our goodbyes and parted company for the last time.
 |
| The Yellow Spots - 09-15 July 2011 |
SXR103 - Day 6
Activity E, the dreaded poster project. Of all the activities this is the one that few people have been looking forward to. The thought of a whole day researching and producing a poster seems very unexciting compared to the lab days (even the field trip) but it has to be done.
So after a cooked breakfast (only my 2nd of the week) I wander off to Friston to meet the rest of the group in our tutor room.
After a little prep talk from Brian we all moved on to the room dedicated for our project topic, Aluminium (if you're a spot you get Aluminium, if you're a rectangle its Energy), where we heard the subject areas on offer. From memory they were: Aluminium Recycling; Aluminium and Health; Uses of Aluminium; Aluminium and the Environment; Aluminium from the Earth. We then went and sat next to the subject area we were interested in and I picked Aluminium from the Earth with Pat and Michaela. We were then given a well-thumbed pack of information we could use as well as a group logon for the computer (this is mainly so the OU can limit our printing capability to a set budget of £2.50 with 5p per b&w print and 20p per colour print).
We then looked through the information pack trying to find a thread to follow. Our pack was a mixture of geology and processing based information with a few odd additions (the aluminium content of certain gemstones) which were soon abandoned. After 30 minutes of brainstorming we had a skeleton outline for our areas of research, we would each do 2 sheets of A4 and I agreed to cover the geology of bauxite (the principle ore of aluminium). Within another hour we have exhausted the information packet so it's off to the computer suite for some web-based research.
I pretty much knew how I would lay my section out and had gotten a lot of information from the information pack; I just needed to fill in the gaps. After lunch I had most of the information into Microsoft PowerPoint and it was just a case of tweaking the layout. Then disaster struck, we had a power blip and half the computers rebooted!!!! There were a few cries around the room, including a tutor who was working on something in front of me when the power went, so we waited for the PCs to boot and log back in. Fortunately Microsoft had saved the day with its auto recovery feature and so I had only lost a couple of tweaks, I think a lot of people saved their work at this point!!!
The afternoon went pretty quickly and by 3 I had my first draft printed in b&w so I could check the overall result. A few further tweaks were required which I made while I remembered and then I was done. All I had to do was to wait for my teammates to finish their contributions and we could see the final product. I spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with the odd technical question (IT-based) and sorted out my bibliography. By 6 we were done and dusted and I was quite pleased with the results, then it was off for tea.
We reconvened at 7:15 and got to take a look at what the rectangles had done. The task was actually to critically review one of their posters, which proved slow going (4 people reaching a consensus of opinion often does) but I did take the opportunity to look at the other posters as well and they were all of a very high standard. Then we got to look at the comments the rectangles had made of our poster, some of which I agreed with others I didn't. Then the day was over.
In all it wasn't too bad a day. Creating a poster is a valuable skill to have and so it was a useful exercise. Last day tomorrow, well half day as we end at 12:30.
So after a cooked breakfast (only my 2nd of the week) I wander off to Friston to meet the rest of the group in our tutor room.
After a little prep talk from Brian we all moved on to the room dedicated for our project topic, Aluminium (if you're a spot you get Aluminium, if you're a rectangle its Energy), where we heard the subject areas on offer. From memory they were: Aluminium Recycling; Aluminium and Health; Uses of Aluminium; Aluminium and the Environment; Aluminium from the Earth. We then went and sat next to the subject area we were interested in and I picked Aluminium from the Earth with Pat and Michaela. We were then given a well-thumbed pack of information we could use as well as a group logon for the computer (this is mainly so the OU can limit our printing capability to a set budget of £2.50 with 5p per b&w print and 20p per colour print).
We then looked through the information pack trying to find a thread to follow. Our pack was a mixture of geology and processing based information with a few odd additions (the aluminium content of certain gemstones) which were soon abandoned. After 30 minutes of brainstorming we had a skeleton outline for our areas of research, we would each do 2 sheets of A4 and I agreed to cover the geology of bauxite (the principle ore of aluminium). Within another hour we have exhausted the information packet so it's off to the computer suite for some web-based research.
I pretty much knew how I would lay my section out and had gotten a lot of information from the information pack; I just needed to fill in the gaps. After lunch I had most of the information into Microsoft PowerPoint and it was just a case of tweaking the layout. Then disaster struck, we had a power blip and half the computers rebooted!!!! There were a few cries around the room, including a tutor who was working on something in front of me when the power went, so we waited for the PCs to boot and log back in. Fortunately Microsoft had saved the day with its auto recovery feature and so I had only lost a couple of tweaks, I think a lot of people saved their work at this point!!!
The afternoon went pretty quickly and by 3 I had my first draft printed in b&w so I could check the overall result. A few further tweaks were required which I made while I remembered and then I was done. All I had to do was to wait for my teammates to finish their contributions and we could see the final product. I spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with the odd technical question (IT-based) and sorted out my bibliography. By 6 we were done and dusted and I was quite pleased with the results, then it was off for tea.
We reconvened at 7:15 and got to take a look at what the rectangles had done. The task was actually to critically review one of their posters, which proved slow going (4 people reaching a consensus of opinion often does) but I did take the opportunity to look at the other posters as well and they were all of a very high standard. Then we got to look at the comments the rectangles had made of our poster, some of which I agreed with others I didn't. Then the day was over.
In all it wasn't too bad a day. Creating a poster is a valuable skill to have and so it was a useful exercise. Last day tomorrow, well half day as we end at 12:30.
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