course content
Students have a minimum of 18 hours tuition per week. The course includes:
English for Academic Purposes; Subject Tuition, General Studies, Critical Thinking, Individual Tutorials, Communication Skills Workshops, how to apply to UK Universities, and lessons on Interview techniques and writing personal statements and extended essays.
1. English for Academic Purposes
These lessons include preparation for the IELTS examination which is the examination most commonly asked to establish student's level when applying to UK universities.
2. Subject Tuition:
Students choose two from the following:
Economics and Management
Science for Medical Students
Introduction to the Arts
Mathematics
These lessons will deal with current and exciting topics in each subject area. The lessons are given by Cambridge University Phd students and Cambridge teachers and are designed to engage and challenge the students so that they are able to talk in greater depth about the subject areas in University application interviews.
3. General Studies
The lessons on General Studies and Critical Thinking will introduce the students to two important subject areas in UK secondary education and will teach them how to think for themselves, be confident in their own conclusions, criticise and analyse and how to self study and self learn - very important concepts in the UK educational system. By following these lessons, the students will be better equipped for the type of study and studying process that will be required of them if they study in a UK university and will give them a better idea of the approach to study of UK students who will be studying with them.
4. Critical Thinking
Students will have individual tutorials with Dr Caroline Jones, Course Director, Andrew Pearson, assistant Course Director and Rory Wilkinson, Director of Bucksmore, during which time they can discuss what and where they want to study at University level and what they want to do when they leave university. The tutors will give them feedback that will help them make choices about their university and university course.
5. Communication Skills – 2 hours per week
The communication skills workshops, which include lessons on interview skills and making a film, are designed to improve the students ability to put forward extended arguments in speech and construct communications for their own ideas or a team's ideas of which they are a part.
6. How to apply to UK universities
These lessons take
the students through the process of applying to a UK university from the
general requirements of filling in the UCAS form to the specific requirements
of individual universities.
7. Interview skills, Writing Personal Statements and extended essays
The students will
'learn by doing' lessons on these three important parts of UK university
application process and English for Academic Purpose examinations.
Schemes of Work for General Studies,
Critical Skills and the Subject Tuition:
Topics for General
Studies, Critical Skills and Subject Tuition will be taken and developed in
depth from the following general topic areas.
General Studies
Science and Society
·
The origins of the universe, natural forces and sources and forms of
energy
·
Human and social behaviour and approaches to social studies and policy
·
Commerce and industry and the impact of political and economic issues on
science, society and the environment
·
Mathematics in science and society
·
The impact and implications of new inventions
·
Moral dilemmas surrounding the work of scientists
·
The impact and social, ethical and environmental implications of
scientific discoveries and inventions
·
Research methods in science and social science
·
The concept of life and matter
·
The approach of different social sciences to our understanding of people
and problems solving world problems; co-operation and intervention
·
The nature of hypothesis and theory in scientific development
·
Commenting on data and representations of data; interpreting results and
assessing implications
·
The contribution of science and technology to lifestyles in different
societies
Culture and Society
·
The similarities and differences between cultures, nature and use of
language
·
The role of artists and art in society, examples of art works and major
artistic movements
·
The role of religious and value systems, beliefs and values, tolerance
and moral issues
·
Freedoms, rights and responsibilities
·
Evaluating the media and recognising bias
·
The U.S and U.K. political systems
·
The power of language and images to transmit, persuade or distort;
'spin' and propaganda processes, problems and responsibilities of a democracy
Critical Skills
·
How to recognise reasoned argument and its contexts;
·
How to interpret and evaluate reasoning;
·
The identification of evidence, ambiguity and persuasive language within
reasoning;
·
How to recognise bad reasoning and counter it with cogent responses;
·
The acquisition of basic vocabulary of associated with reasoning;
·
The various ways in which information or evidence can be presented;
·
Basic methods of numerical and statistical reasoning;
·
How to judge what can (and cannot) be safely inferred from information
or evidence;
·
How to use information and data to draw conclusions and construct
reasoned arguments.
Science for Medicine
Biology:
Muscles
Early notions of how muscle works
Optical microscopy: new technology leads the way
The chemistry of muscle: a different approach
Electron microscopy: the key to progress
Muscles 1 : structure
Muscles 2 : sliding filaments
Muscles 3 : how filaments slide
Photosynthesis
Early discoveries
Towards the current understanding
Photosynthesis: preview
Light harvesting
Light dependent reactions
Light independent reactions
DNA
Discovering the chemical carrier of genetic information
Structure of DNA
Genes and polypeptides
DNA and chromosomes
The genetic code
Polypeptide synthesis
Gene mutation
Gene expression
Evolution
The growth of an idea
Evolution through natural selection - a modern statement
The current paradigm
Before Darwin
Enter Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)
The man who walked with Henslow
HMS Beagle
1836 - 1838
Hesitation . . . . and barnacles
Wallace intervenes
1859
Selection and speciation
The developmental origins of speciation: an afterthought for the future.
Chemistry
·
Review of reversible reactions. Le Chetalier's
principle. Definition of the equilibrium constants Kc
and Kp.
·
Bronsted-Lowry definition of acids and bases. Strong and weak acids and bases.
Conjugate acid-base pairs
·
Definition of acid (Ka) and base (Kb) dissociation constants for weak
acids and weak bases. Definition of pH and Kw.
·
Buffer solutions and how they work. Relevance to biological systems,
foods, skin / hair products and cosmetics.
·
Calculations to determine the pH of solutions of weak acids, weak bases,
and buffer solutions.
Organic Chemistry
Stereo isomerism in Organic compounds
· 1. cis/trans
and
· 2. geometrical isomerism
·
Importance of overall 3 dimensional shape for efficacy of pharmaceutical
products and reference to thalidomide, amino
acids, sugars, albuterol, penicillins
etc...
·
The chemistry of benzene, including the reactions of side groups
attached to the bemzene ring.
·
Opportunities for making organic compounds more water soluble.
Transition metal Chemistry
·
d-block and transition elements. Key
features of transition metals and their compounds, including propensity to form
highly coloured compounds with , variable oxidation
state. Catalytic activity.
·
Formation of complex ions, and their reactions
with aqueous solutions of sodium hydroxide / ammonia, to demonstrate deprotonation and ligand exchange
reactions.
·
Chemistry of chromium, iron, cobalt and copper.
·
Relevance to biological systems - e.g. haemoglobin and Vitamin B12, and
drugs - cis Platin
(chemotherapy). Carbon monoxide poisoning.
Economics and Management
·
Deflation - why this may be less desirable than inflation
Public Finances - do very large deficits matter?
·
Must the environment lose from economic growth?
Emerging economies - what is driving their growth?
Less Developed Economies - a case study
Corporate social responsibility and ethical decision
making in business
Executive pay - a case for government intervention?
Mathematics
- Quick note on Mathematics (Why
mathematics? What is mathematics?)
- Very brief review of functions
and graphs
- Calculus: Derivatives and
Integrals
- (If Fast-Track) Differential equations
and applications
·
(If
Normal) Applications of Derivatives and Integrals
·
Linear
algebra and matrices
- Array of applications of linear
algebra
·
Conceptual
difficulties in Mathematics: Infinity, limits, continuity etc
·
Construction
of Mathematical Proofs and usefulness in everyday life
·
Symmetries
in Mathematics and Physics (e.g. horizon problem, decay rules, conservation
laws)
·
(Fast-Track)
Quantised gravity emerging from String Theory
- (Normal) Harmonic Oscillator and
Quantum Field Theory
·
Transformations
·
General
Relativity and Analysis on Manifolds
·
Partial
Differential Equations and Quantum Mechanics