1. From Reversing the Earth’s Orbitto
Orbital Death Lasers
The Physics of Owl Post
A brief history of learning through Physics Special Topics at Leicester
J. D. Nichols, M. Roy

2. A brief introduction to the Physics Department
Physics Building
Space Research Centre (SRC)

3. Of course we teach the IoP core of Physics…
Includes classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, special relativity, nuclear and particle physics, electromagnetism, optics, condensed matter, …

4. We are a top 5 Physics department (in 2017 Guardian League table)
We teach an IOP accredited degree (praised as teaching “best practice”)
And we do it well!

5. The Degree Programme Innovative approach to teaching
Flexible degree - plenty of choice
Choose modules to suit your interests and career aspirations, change “flavour” and BSc/MPhys
Supportive - lecture courses supported by
Small group tutorials
Open door policy
Workshops, problem classes
Physics teaching labs, computer suites,
Private study areas
Active learning - training you to be a physicist
Physics Challenge, Physics Special Topics
Project work in every year

6. The Degree Programme Innovative approach to teaching
2016: 98% of students (final year) satisfied with the quality of the course
Figures from Unistats:
The Degree Programme
Innovative approach to teaching
Flexible degree - plenty of choice
Choose modules to suit your interests and career aspirations, change “flavour” and BSc/MPhys
Supportive - lecture courses supported by
Small group tutorials
Open door policy
Workshops, problem classes
Physics teaching labs, computer suites,
Private study areas
Active learning - training you to be a physicist
Physics Challenge, Physics Special Topics
Project work in every year
2016: 78% of final year students graduated with 1st or upper 2nd

7. An active course
Not just teaching you about physics,
but helping you to be a physicist
Group research projects in every year
Opportunity of project work with industry
Term-length research projects (years 3 and 4)
Journal of Physics Special Topics
Physics Challenge

8. Journal of Physics Special Topics
Introduced to Mphys course in 1996 by Prof. Derek Raine
2015: Higher Education Academy Principal Fellowship
2012: MBE for services to Science Education in HE
2006: Institute of Physics Bragg Prize
“The panel was particularly impressed by the Journal of Special Topics”
The finished journal was found to be very impressive…
The journal is "an excellent advertisement for the physics department in addition to being a valuable piece of work that the students could show prospective employers."
Dr Mervyn Roy took over as module leader in 2009 and facilitated the process of moving the Journal fully online

9. Journal of Physics Special Topics
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Lectures and exams typically don’t stray beyond the lower levels
© tips.uark.edu
Image credit:

10. Journal of Physics Special Topics
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Accessing the upper levels involving analysis and creativity is more difficult in the traditional format
Lectures and exams typically don’t stray beyond the lower levels
© tips.uark.edu
Image credit:

11. Motivation
Introduce students to professional scientific communication skills and the peer review process
Enhance collaborative working skills
Practice using scientific concepts outside the context in which they are initially taught
Develop creativity, practise formulating problems and mathematical modelling
Media exposure: publications indexed on Google Scholar, press office, schools and outreach

12. The on-line journal
physics.le.ac.uk/journals/index.php/pst

13. The student experience
Students author, referee and edit papers for the department’s physics (or Nat. Sci.) journal
Authors – write original, quantitative, physics articles
Referees – critically review other authors’ articles
Editors – review referee reports and make final decision on whether articles are published or not
Run in exactly the same way as a professional journal
Opportunities to work with the University press office

14. Student engagement: why should they bother?
Practice the skills of a professional research scientist
Transferable skills (employability)
Formulate problems
Communicate scientific results
Give and take professional criticism
Group work
Take part in the formal process of running the journal
Work available world-wide - prospective employers, friends, family, the media (press releases, podcasts and videos)

15. In the news

16. Paper appears in Journal
The process
Paper submitted
Thursday
board meeting
Friday
report submitted
Thursday
board meeting
Friday
Publish
Authors formulate problem and write article
Editors distribute paper to referees
Referees review the article
Editors consider referee reports
Authors correct paper
Minor revisions
Authors correct paper
Resubmit for review
Reject

17. The process Groups of 3-4 students
Students typically publish around 10 papers per group
since 2007 groups have published between around 5 -> 15 papers
Students typically review around 30 papers per group
Workload for a typical student:
each group member will write ~3 papers (and ~7 to 10 reviews)
10 credit (75) hour module ~2 hrs per review ∴~20 hrs per paper

18. Average quality of published work = X%
The marks
Groups ranked by journal points
Determined by number and quality of publications and referee reports
points
group
% mark 80 65 50
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
X %
Points scaled to % mark at end of module.
Average quality of published work = X%
Average quality of work is determined by a staff review of papers / referee reports at the end of the module

19. There’s more than one way to skin a cat - allocation of Journal points
Physics (fixed groups)
Submission = 1, Referee report = 0-1, Publication = 2, Press Release = 1-3
Papers re-reviewed by staff at end, simple ABCD grading
+3 marks for A-graded papers
-3 marks for D-graded papers - and -1 for reviews of these papers
(Benchmarks provided to students)
Natural Sciences (flexible collaborations)
Papers = 0-3 (only if accepted), Referee report = 0-1, referees reports marked by staff as the journal progresses, papers reviewed by staff at the end

20. Student roles: as authors (1)
Find an ‘original’ idea
Undergraduate courses
I wonder why… what would happen if…
Everyday experience
Fiction/Media
Published PST papers
extensions, errors, suggestions for further work
Papers should be accessible to peers
avoid overly specialised material (i.e. projects)
Work as a group

21. Student roles: as authors (2)
Develop a (simple) model and calculate something quantitative
Trends, explanations, analysis better than a single number
Write the paper
Communicate results clearly – use a formal writing style: correct grammar, spelling etc. Avoid jargon/acronyms. Keep things simple.
Conform to the style guide

22. Student roles: as referees
Critically appraise the work of peers
make a judgement on whether or not it should be published
Reviews should be rigorous, fair, professional – written politely
Criticisms should be constructive – suggestions for improvements?
Include a brief summary of the work at the start of report – demonstrates referees have read the paper! Useful for the authors to see if they have explained things as well as they should
What is an acceptable standard?
Ultimately depends on the current students – guidance from previous issues of the journal

23. The refereeing process
Is the physics correct and the paper understandable? no
resubmit for review, or reject
yes
Is the physics at an appropriate level? no
minor revisions
yes
Is the paper free of minor errors? no
yes
publish

24. The refereeing process
Student led – with a staff supervisor / observer
Consider referee reports and author correspondence
- have final say on whether or not a paper is published
Board has members from all groups - including authors and referees
this has some advantages
easy resolution of misunderstandings
easier to maintain consistency of standards
seeing the process from all sides helps students to write better papers
but there are also some challenges
board members must be ‘fair’

25. Student feedback The module helped me:
understand more about scientific publishing
practise transferable skills
I think that:
the induction was useful
the instructions were useful
the web guides were useful
the regular updates were useful
academic support was available
the science communication session was useful
it is good that my work is available worldwide

26. Student positives Student negatives Good experience Was quite fun
Great preparation for my PhD
Good to explore unusual physics
Thinking outside the box
Insight into review process
Getting a paper published!
Student negatives
Lot of work for the amount of credits
Inconsistency of refereeing was very frustrating
Lot of pressure
Petty reviews
Time consuming

27. Summary Journal of Special Topics is an innovative method of learning
Enables creativity and analysis using Physics outside the context in which it is originally taught
Introduces the scientific peer review process
Develops transferrable skills, e.g. collaboration, communication skills
Students like and value it!