Course Title: Applied Science Project 1

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Applied Science Project 1

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
ONPS2186	City Campus	Undergraduate	135H Applied Sciences	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006, Sem 2 2006, Sem 2 2007, Sem 2 2009, Sem 2 2011, Sem 2 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 1 2015, Sem 2 2015, Sem 1 2016, Sem 2 2016
ONPS2186	City Campus	Undergraduate	171H School of Science	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2017, Sem 2 2017, Sem 2 2018, Sem 1 2019, Sem 2 2019, Sem 1 2020, Sem 2 2020, Sem 1 2021, Sem 2 2021, Sem 1 2022, Sem 2 2022, Sem 1 2023, Sem 1 2024, Sem 2 2024, Sem 1 2025, Sem 2 2025

Flexible Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
ONPS2186	City Campus	Undergraduate	171H School of Science	Face-to-Face	UGRDFx2020 (All)

Course Coordinator: Saffron Bryant

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925

Course Coordinator Email: saffron.bryant@rmit.edu.au

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Assumed Knowledge

This is a capstone course for Science degrees. You are expected to be in the final year of your program. The pre-requisite capabilities are those from core courses undertaken in the preceding years of your program stream, or evidence of equivalent capabilities.

Course Description

This course provides you with a capstone experience, which will give you the opportunity to integrate, critically reflect on and consolidate what you have learnt in your program. This course gives you an opportunity to engage in scientific research, while extending your knowledge and practical skills in a particular area of interest. You will undertake a small research project under the supervision of an academic staff member.

With the assistance of your supervisor, you will define the problem to be studied, carry out a risk assessment, develop the appropriate experimental methods, and carry out research on your project. You will report on your project in a written report and a poster. Collaboration with an external organisation may occur in some projects.

This course offers a challenge to final-year students, and allows innovation by the student with respect to both method and research direction. You are required to make a presentation regarding your project to your peers.

This course will include a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) experience in which your knowledge and skills are applied and assessed in a real or simulated workplace context and where feedback from one or more of active researchers, government, industry and/or community is integral to your experience.

To undertake this course, you will be required to sign either a 2-way WIL agreement with the University or a 3-way agreement with RMIT and an external partner if your project involves collaboration with an external organisation.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes:

PLO 1 Apply a broad and coherent knowledge of scientific theories, principles, concepts and practice in one or more scientific disciplines.
PLO 2 Analyse and critically examine scientific evidence using methods, technical skills, tools and emerging technologies in a range of scientific activities.
PLO 3 Analyse and apply principles of scientific inquiry and critical evaluation to address real-world scientific challenges and inform evidence based decision making.
PLO 4 Communicate, report and reflect on scientific findings, to diverse audiences utilising a variety of formats employing integrity and culturally safe practices.
PLO 5 Work independently, with agility, safety, and accountability for own learning and professional future.
PLO 6 Collaborate and contribute within diverse, multi-disciplinary teams, with commitment to diversity, equity and globally inclusive perspectives and practices including First Nations knowledges and input

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Develop a comprehensive research plan, including the formulation of research questions and rationale based on scientific literature, hypotheses, and the selection of appropriate methodologies.
2. Coordinate and manage a scientific investigation to address research questions.
3. Implement effective data collection strategies and techniques to investigate research questions.
4. Critically evaluate the results and their reliability to draw conclusions about the implications  of the research findings.
5. Articulate research findings in a clear, concise, and scholarly manner, with critical analysis of relevant scientific literature, adhering to the conventions of academic communication.
6. Exhibit responsible, safe, legal, and ethical work conduct within the framework of an individual or collaborative applied science research. 

Overview of Learning Activities

Despite the differences between individual projects, each aims to provide you with the opportunities to gain expertise in project design, management and reporting.

Any or all of the following learning activities are involved:

• Completion of laboratory, library, field or industry project designed to give you further practice in the application of theory and procedures in your field 
• Private study, working through the requirements of the project with the assistance of a supervisor, and gaining practice at solving conceptual and numerical problems. 
• Communication of the results of your project to an appropriate audience.

You are expected to develop skills in: 

• locating and synthesising information available in scientific (and in some cases other) literature in order to establish the need for, and potential scope and context of, the research project;
• developing creative ways of solving unfamiliar problems by devising a methodological approach to address the research question being raised;
• managing the time allocated to completing specific tasks;
• collecting and analysing data (qualitative and/or quantitative) including an assessment of the validity of the research results; and
• communicating the results in written form, requiring critical analysis, synthesis and organisation of knowledge, and the construction of a rational and lucid scientific argument.

Depending on the project, you may also find you learn other important skills such as how to work effectively in teams and how to take into consideration ethical issues associated with research.

Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course. 

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task 1: Project Brief describing project aims and methods with risk assessment.
Weighting 20%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1 & 6

Assessment Task 2: Lab/Field Performance
Weighting 20%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 3 & 6

Assessment Task 3: Poster Presentation 
Weighting 20%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 4 & 5

Assessment Task 4: Written Report
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.