Courses Catalogue

Syllabus of the course: English for Physics I


In this web page we provide the syllabus of the course English for Physics I, offered by the Department of Physics.
The list of the courses offered during the current accademic year is available here.
The list of all courses offered by the Department of Physics is available here.

CodeΦ-011
TypeA
ECTS4
Hours4
SemesterWinter
InstructorM. Sisamakis
ProgramTuesday, 11:00-13:00, Seminar Room, 3rd Floor
Wednesday, 13:00-15:00, Seminar Room, 3rd Floor
Web pagehttps://new.edmodo.com/home
Goal of the course

The class goal is to act as a first hands-on introduction to English academic texts and terminology related to Physics. Major topics covered: Basic Physics notions in English, SE Units, Waves and Oscillations, Light, Projectiles, Forces, Momentum, Heat, Energy. Aid is offered for the familiarization with authentic, subject specific texts and vocabulary. Development of reading skills and techniques. Additional writing skills to be developed: Introduction to motivation letters.

Syllabus

The course is taught solely in English.

Nine lectures covering the main topics outlined in the class goals, supplemented by relevant texts, multimedia and exercises.

During this course, a combination of teaching practices is used which aim to optimize the participation and learning of the participating students. Thus, in parallel with a multimedia-enhanced presentation of the themes of each lecture in English, a form of continuous assessment is carried out through a series of graded portfolio-based mini-assignments, and a final written examination.

Learning is aided by the extensive use of the interactive e-class Edmodo platform, where all relevant notes, announcements, feedback, and so on, as well as online, multimedia and other learning resources are posted.

Students are assessed on the basis of four sub-categories:
a) Selection of a paper from a scientific journal of Physics, which each student chooses to analyse and present both in writing and orally, and submission of the rationale behind the selection of a specific article. Selection of a second paper on the same topic to compare key points. Provision of written feedback to all students who submitted this assignment. This assignment follows a relevant model given to the students (3% of total grade).
b) Four-minute presentation of the paper, which each student has chosen to present and compare with a second paper. Provision of written feedback to all students who submitted this assignment. This assignment follows a relevant model given to the students (17% of total grade).
c) Written of final project on the above-mentioned papers. Provision of written feedback to all students who submitted this assignment. This assignment follows a relevant model given to the students (30% of total grade).
d) Final examination of the material covered during the semester (50% of total grade).

The reading texts will be taken from existing course books and popular scientific magazines.

BibliographyΣταφυλίδης, Δ. (2009) Λεξικό Τεχνολογίας και Επιστημών, αγγλοελληνικό λεξικό, ελληνοαγγλικό λεξικό, τεχνικό επιστημονικό Εκδόσεις Σταφυλίδη, Αθήνα.
Sisamakis, M. (2019) Physics I and II course lecture notes (ver. 3)

University of Crete - Department of Physics  - Voutes University Campus - GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece
phone: +30 2810 394300 - email: chair@physics.uoc.gr