Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton

Knowledge and understanding
An ability to work alone on a topic through carrying out reading and other research, design, planning, implementation and testing. Also the ability to explain technical work both verbally and in written form.

Cognitive (thinking) skills
Students should be challenged intellectualy in order to gain more specialist knowledge in the area chosen for the project. Independent study and note-taking skills will also be enhanced. The ability to solve problems encountered through problem solving is a key objective.

Practical, subject specific skills
Implementing part or all of a project will lead to a better understanding andproblem solving techniques. Writing the final report will provide valuable experience in presentation skills, as will the preparation and presentation of an oral Powerpoint talk. The latter will provide opportunity for further development of oral communication skills.
Design for validation experiments and experimental tsting will be improved.

Key transferable skills
Problem solving.
Planning and meeting your own deadlines.
Implementation, design and testing skills.
Presentation skills.

To gain intensive knowledge and practical experience in a more focused area than generally possible elsewhere in the course.
To undertake a project within a research group that involves application of the taught material and also independent investigation and research.

Dependent upon the subject of the project, normally requiring certain specific Part III modules to be taken.

Regular interaction with supervisors and peers to discuss project aims and progress.
Short course on literature searching and Powerpoint presentations.

Learning through independent research, problem solving, design of models (numerical and/or analytical) and experimental validation.
Feedback on draft dissertations to improve presentation skills.