Hot Topic 7, new reading material and Space Rocks!
Its week three and I have made it to another blog post!
With last weeks TMA finished and submitted, I along with my fellow tutor groupies are now awaiting our results, queue constantly refreshing that assessment page every hour till it appears!
Our tutors have 10 working days to get our results back to us and it almost always feels twice as long as that - having painstakingly prepared the latest TMA, proof read it and made at least 100 amendments since the first version, the wait to see that mark can be unbearable especially when you see others on the same module start to receive theirs.
Although I am always happy for my fellow students I always have a slight tinge of jealously that a) they have theirs back already and b) that their result is pretty high and that I can only hope mine will be equally as high (before you ask there is a facebook group set up for results and if we wish we can share with our fellow students).
So now begins the studying of the next hot topic on my first year of degree study, Topic number 7 "Does the Earth Move Under Your feet?" My first initial thought was yes of course it does!
Its something we learn whilst at school, and the majority of us believe it to be common knowledge, but have we really sat back and thought "How?" Until this topic this wasn't something Id really thought about and I kinda took for granted that it just happened.
This weekend's studying has seen me look at fossils, how species crossed different continents, the ice ages (not what we think!), earth's core, mantle and crust and of course there has been some maths thrown in too!
Trigonometry is the area of choice for this topic so far, something I haven't looked at since I left school in 1999! Now I know what those SIN, TAN and COS buttons are for on my shiny new pink (yes pink) calculator.
As this year's current module is the basics of science I am enjoying telling my 7 year old son about certain things I am learning. Today for example I was explaining to him the earths crust, mantle, outer core and inner core and what they were potentially made up of - turns out he had something to show me to! At school he had also learnt this (on a very basic level) and eagerly rushed upstairs to collect something he had made. He came running back down with a paper model of what the Earth looks inside. Perhaps this science degree I am doing may come to some use!
Just for fun I have included an image below that shows you what the Earth looks like inside!
New reading material for my own reading pleasure this week too! I was lucky at Christmas to receive a handful of different science/space related books.
Included with these was Tim Peakes book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, the basis of this book is set around questions that the general public have asked Tim and he goes on to give his answers. It was a wonderful insight into the life of an astronaut, the training required and what it feels like to take off and land! Although I have no intention of ever visiting space myself (heights just really are not my thing!) it was a good book to experience through Tim's words what it feels like. If you haven't read this yet I would highly recommend!
I am now onto my next book entitled "the universe in your hands", although only a few chapters in I can see this one will be an equally good read. The story line with this one is that the author takes you on a journey through the universe whilst never actually leaving your physical body. So far I have visited the Sun and the middle of our galaxy!
Whilst not studying and not reading about space I am spending a lot of my time trying to find lectures, seminars and conferences that I can attend. The ones I have found so far though have been too far for me to travel or will cost a small fortune to get there. However I have found one coming up in April in London which I am quite eager to attend! It is entitled "Space Rocks" and has three sessions consisting of talks from well known people from the industry (including Tim Peake!) and also some space related music!
https://www.axs.com/uk/events/349453/space-rocks-tickets
Give me a shout if anyone else is going!
Remember you can always subscribe to my blog to be notified first of any new posts and content :) oh and feel free to share on social media and with friends and family!
Till next weekend with more tales from "Life of a Space Geek"
Em
With last weeks TMA finished and submitted, I along with my fellow tutor groupies are now awaiting our results, queue constantly refreshing that assessment page every hour till it appears!
Our tutors have 10 working days to get our results back to us and it almost always feels twice as long as that - having painstakingly prepared the latest TMA, proof read it and made at least 100 amendments since the first version, the wait to see that mark can be unbearable especially when you see others on the same module start to receive theirs.
Although I am always happy for my fellow students I always have a slight tinge of jealously that a) they have theirs back already and b) that their result is pretty high and that I can only hope mine will be equally as high (before you ask there is a facebook group set up for results and if we wish we can share with our fellow students).
So now begins the studying of the next hot topic on my first year of degree study, Topic number 7 "Does the Earth Move Under Your feet?" My first initial thought was yes of course it does!
Its something we learn whilst at school, and the majority of us believe it to be common knowledge, but have we really sat back and thought "How?" Until this topic this wasn't something Id really thought about and I kinda took for granted that it just happened.
This weekend's studying has seen me look at fossils, how species crossed different continents, the ice ages (not what we think!), earth's core, mantle and crust and of course there has been some maths thrown in too!
Trigonometry is the area of choice for this topic so far, something I haven't looked at since I left school in 1999! Now I know what those SIN, TAN and COS buttons are for on my shiny new pink (yes pink) calculator.
As this year's current module is the basics of science I am enjoying telling my 7 year old son about certain things I am learning. Today for example I was explaining to him the earths crust, mantle, outer core and inner core and what they were potentially made up of - turns out he had something to show me to! At school he had also learnt this (on a very basic level) and eagerly rushed upstairs to collect something he had made. He came running back down with a paper model of what the Earth looks inside. Perhaps this science degree I am doing may come to some use!
Just for fun I have included an image below that shows you what the Earth looks like inside!
New reading material for my own reading pleasure this week too! I was lucky at Christmas to receive a handful of different science/space related books.
Included with these was Tim Peakes book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, the basis of this book is set around questions that the general public have asked Tim and he goes on to give his answers. It was a wonderful insight into the life of an astronaut, the training required and what it feels like to take off and land! Although I have no intention of ever visiting space myself (heights just really are not my thing!) it was a good book to experience through Tim's words what it feels like. If you haven't read this yet I would highly recommend!
I am now onto my next book entitled "the universe in your hands", although only a few chapters in I can see this one will be an equally good read. The story line with this one is that the author takes you on a journey through the universe whilst never actually leaving your physical body. So far I have visited the Sun and the middle of our galaxy!
Whilst not studying and not reading about space I am spending a lot of my time trying to find lectures, seminars and conferences that I can attend. The ones I have found so far though have been too far for me to travel or will cost a small fortune to get there. However I have found one coming up in April in London which I am quite eager to attend! It is entitled "Space Rocks" and has three sessions consisting of talks from well known people from the industry (including Tim Peake!) and also some space related music!
https://www.axs.com/uk/events/349453/space-rocks-tickets
Give me a shout if anyone else is going!
Remember you can always subscribe to my blog to be notified first of any new posts and content :) oh and feel free to share on social media and with friends and family!
Till next weekend with more tales from "Life of a Space Geek"
Em
Great blog post. I'm doing S111 and haven't yet made my mind up about which science to "major" in..
ReplyDeleteI admit doing S111 has definately made me think about the different science disciplines - I now know that I like physics too! Next month I can finally choose my year 2 modules! Thanks for the positive feedback Steve.
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