PHY2034 : Computational Methods and Professional Skills for Theoretical Physics
- Offered for Year: 2024/25
- Module Leader(s): Dr Mark Rayson
- Lecturer: Mrs May Wang
- Owning School: Mathematics, Statistics and Physics
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 5.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
To raise awareness of and develop students' transferable Physics career management skills.
To enable students to utilise current careers information to help them to make future careers decisions.
To reflect and market their employability attributes in job applications.
To work towards the idea of coding user-defined functions and further towards programming aimed at solving more substantial problems.
To promote some element of independent thinking and critical appraisal by linking the computational experience to the tackling of unfamiliar problems.
Module Summary
The career management aspects of the module will develop students' understanding of what it means to be employable in the national and international labour market. Computing methods are of great use in a wide range of applications of Physics. This module will introduce and develop familiarity with numerical computing, relate this to problem solving techniques based on independent thinking, and develop the ability to apply such methods independently, towards specific goals in Physics: theory and applications.
Outline Of Syllabus
Professional Skills: employability attributes awareness and development, occupational/LMI awareness, marketability including application writing and interview techniques.
Numerical Analysis: root finding, interpolation, numerical differentiation and integration, minimisation of functions, linear algebra and iterative methods.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 45 | 1:00 | 45:00 | Completion of in course assignments/ examination revision |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 6 | 2:00 | 12:00 | Formal Lectures (Careers) |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 12 | 1:00 | 12:00 | Formal Lectures (Computational Methods) |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 31 | 1:00 | 31:00 | Preparation time for lectures, background reading, coursework review |
| Total | 100:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lectures are used for the delivery of theory and explanation of methods, illustrated with examples, and for giving general feedback on marked work.
The teaching methods are appropriate to allow students to develop a wide range of skills, from understanding basic concepts and facts to higher-order thinking.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prof skill assessmnt | 1 | M | 50 | Career management portfolio made up of report of current graduate landscape, selection of 1 career idea, annotated USP, media report |
| Written exercise | 1 | M | 15 | Numerical analysis coursework assignment |
| Written exercise | 1 | M | 35 | Numerical analysis coursework assignment |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The two coursework assignments allow the students to develop their problem solving techniques and to practise the methods learnt in the module. They also allow the assessment of the computational skills acquired by the students.
The application portfolio will consist of a number of tasks (which could be, for example, application questions, CVs and cover letters).
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- PHY2034's Timetable