A vector approach to the assessment of undergraduate engineering courses

In any undergraduate engineering programme there is a need to assess the balance and flavour of the various educational strands. In order for a quality assurance of these programmes to be met there is a need to evaluate the course load, academic content and the assessment marks of each course in the undergraduate programme. The existing ranges of QA methods for these programmes are focused on one or two of these issues and do not provide a comprehensive assessment procedure. Following a review of the existing QA methods, this paper will define a three-dimensional approach to the assessment of the educational aspects of an undergraduate course. Various features of this method will be described and potential benefits explained.

Researcher development: the impact of undergraduate research opportunity programmes on students in the UK

Undergraduate research opportunity programmes (UROP) are common in North America where research has confirmed their benefits. These schemes are gaining ground in the UK, and this article provides evidence for how UK students are benefiting from the experience. Results suggest UROP makes a significant contribution to the research capabilities and confidence of participating students, boosting their understanding of both research and their own subjects. Whilst offering considerable benefits to student learning, there is no evidence that UROP schemes on their current small scale attract additional students to postgraduate research, since the majority that participate are already interested in postgraduate study. However, at an individual level, most students report increased confidence and appreciation of the realities of the research process, and desire to progress on to postgraduate study following the placement, indicating that schemes may have the potential to cultivate new research confidence and interest if expanded.

'In practice it doesn't always work out like that.' Undergraduate experiences in a research community of practice

This paper examines the extent to which a structured undergraduate research intervention, UROP, permits undergraduate students early access to legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) in a research community of practice. Accounts of placement experiences suggest that UROP affords rich possibilities for engagement with research practice. Undergraduates tread a path of gaining access to mature practice while also building their own independence, participating in work that they see matters to the community and making gains in use of a shared research repertoire. Students place UROP experiences in a contrasting frame to research exercises experienced during degree programmes; their sense of the authenticity of the research experienced through UROP emerges as a key element of these accounts. The data generate the interesting question that the degree of engagement with mature practice may account for more of the gain from UROP than simply the quantity of contact other researchers.

Bioscience Horizons: the national journal of undergraduate research

Bioscience Horizons (BH)commenced publication in 2008 and features research papers and reviews written by graduating UK bioscience students. The journal is run by a consortium of UK universities (the Universities of Nottingham, Reading, Leeds and Chester) in association with Oxford University Press. Its submissions encompass the full range of subjects taught by UK bioscience departments, ranging from agronomy to zoology and including animal behaviour, cancer research, environmental biology, microbial sciences, molecular biology, pharmacolgy, primatology, taxonomy and other areas. BH receives manuscripts from recent graduates (with a bachelor of science or equivalent first degree) describing research carried out during their undergraduate studies, usually as a final-year research project. All submissions undergo expert review and have to meet strict criteria for scientific excellence and originality. Articles are written by a single author and published with the agreement of the graduate's home university department. The journal has an ISSN number and is open-access; articles are freely 'cite-able' contributions to the bioscience research literature.

The physical pendulum in an advanced undergraduate course in mechanics

The physical pendulum treated with a Hamiltonian formulation is a natural topic for study in a course in advanced classical mechanics. For the past three years, we have been offering a series of problem sets studying this system numerically in our third-year undergraduate courses in mechanics. The problem sets investigate the physics of the pendulum in ways not easily accessible without computer technology and explore various algorithms for solving mechanics problems. Our computational physics is based on Mathematica with some C communicating with Mathematica, although nothing in this paper is dependent on that choice. We have nonetheless found this system, and particularly its graphics, to be a good one for use with undergraduates.

An operationally simple sonogashira reaction for an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory class

An operationally simple, reliable, and cheap Sonogashira reaction suitable for an undergraduate laboratory class that can be completed within a day-long (8 h) laboratory session has been developed. Cross-coupling is carried out between 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol and various aryl iodides using catalytic amounts of bis-(triphenylphosphine)palladium(II) dichloride, with copper(I) iodide as a cocatalyst, in triethylamine at room temperature, so a range of products can be prepared within a single group and results compared. The coupling itself is usually complete within 1.5 h and is easily monitored by TLC, leaving up to 6 h for purification and characterization. Purification is by “mini flash column chromatography” through a plug of silica encased in the barrel of a plastic syringe, so the procedure is amenable to large class sizes.

The perception of support received from breast care nurses by depressed patients following a diagnosis of breast cancer

INTRODUCTION Due to their specialist training, breast care nurses (BCNs) should be able to detect emotional distress and offer support to breast cancer patients. However, patients who are most distressed after diagnosis generally experience least support from care staff. To test whether BCNs overcome this potential barrier, we compared the support experienced by depressed and non-depressed patients from their BCNs and the other main professionals involved in their care: surgeons and ward nurses. PATIENTS AND METHODS Women with primary breast cancer (n = 355) 2–4 days after mastectomy or wide local excision, self-reported perceived professional support and current depression. Analysis of variance compared support ratings of depressed and non-depressed patients across staff types. RESULTS There was evidence of depression in 31 (9%) patients. Depressed patients recorded less surgeon and ward nurse support than those who were not depressed but the support received by patients from the BCN was high, whether or not patients were depressed. CONCLUSIONS BCNs were able to provide as much support to depressed patients as to non-depressed patients, whereas depressed patients felt less supported by surgeons and ward nurses than did non-depressed patients. Future research should examine the basis of BCNs' ability to overcome barriers to support in depressed patients. Our findings confirm the importance of maintaining the special role of the BCN.