Click Here to view current information
Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will learn how to apply fundamental laws of physics related to energy and electricity using authentic engineering problems. You will be introduced to the concepts of heat, energy, work, energy conversion and laws of thermodynamics. You will apply energy principles of rotational motion, simple harmonic motion and oscillations. You will learn the concepts of voltage and current and use Kirchhoff’s laws to analyse simple direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) electrical circuits. You will also learn the operation of electrical machines such as motors and generators and how to select a machine for a given application. Throughout this unit you will be using experimental and measurement techniques to investigate relevant physical phenomena and learn how they can be used in practice to solve engineering problems. This unit will also provide you with opportunities to develop communication skills through collaborative team work and opportunities to create professional documentation through laboratory reports. Mixed mode students are required to attend the compulsory Residential School.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2019
Term 2 - 2019 Profile
Term 3 - 2019 Profile
Term 2 - 2020 Profile
Term 3 - 2020 Profile
Term 2 - 2021 Profile
Term 3 - 2021 Profile
Term 2 - 2022 Profile
Term 3 - 2022 Profile
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Term 3 - 2023 Profile
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. In-class Test(s) | 25% |
| 2. Practical and Written Assessment | 12% |
| 3. Online Quiz(zes) | 10% |
| 4. Practical and Written Assessment | 13% |
| 5. Examination | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
No previous feedback available
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE
Students are expected to understand and fulfil the unit requirements.
The unit requirements should be emphasised not only in Week 1 but also consistently throughout the term.
The unit requirements were described to the students at various times during the term.
Source: SUTE
Students expected improved Learning Resources.
Learning materials should be linked to practical applications in engineering and energy, providing students with examples of how theoretical concepts are used in practice. The lecture slides and tutorial problems and solutions should be updated to reflect these changes. Where relevant, multimedia resources should be used to enhance engagement.
The learning materials have been enhanced, and students have been briefed on the practical applications of the theoretical concepts used in the unit.
Source: SUTE
Students expected to identify the learning opportunities from assessments.
Assessments should be reviewed to explicitly reinforce key engineering and energy concepts by incorporating real-world problem-solving scenarios. The Online Test and detailed markers comments should be implemented to guide students on areas of improvement and ensure that assessments progressively build on prior knowledge.
The assessments have been reviewed to include real-world problem-solving skills in engineering and energy, building on knowledge gathered from high school physics.
Source: SUTE
Students expected more feedback with their graded assessments.
Elaborated feedback should be provided on completed assessment tasks, guiding them on areas for improvement and fostering a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
In-depth feedback was provided with the graded assessments.
Source: SUTE
Students found it difficult to identify the useful knowledge base and skills gained in completing the unit.
Each week's content should be clearly mapped to specific learning outcomes and provide a structured overview at the beginning of the term. A weekly summary highlighting key skills and knowledge gained should be integrated.
The learning outcomes expected for each lecture were presented to the students at the beginning of each lecture.
Source: SUTE
Students found it difficult to identify the relevance of this unit to the course they are studying.
Students should be consistently informed about the alignment of unit learning outcomes and assessments with the graduate attributes.
A mapping between the unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes was provided to the students in the unit profile. This mapping was briefly described to the students during the Week 1 lecture.
Source: SUTE
The prescribed textbook was published in the USA and contains examples relevant to that country. The examples discussed in the unit should be related to the current cohort in Australia.
Some examples on the lecture slides and in the tutorial problems should be replaced with content relevant to Australia.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
The unit material delivered in the first five weeks was not from the prescribed textbook, but from chapters in a book on the e-reading list. These different chapters have much more content than the content covered in the lectures. Some of the solutions given in this textbook are incorrect.
Identify clearly the content covered in each lecture and map it to the different textbook sections, which are available as an e-book. Solutions should be presented to a selected number of problems from the e-reading book.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
If possible, change the textbook from copies of different chapters to a centralised textbook (for the first five weeks).
Ideally, a single textbook that covers most of the unit content should be recommended as the prescribed textbook. Until such a textbook is found, the students should be directed to the exact content used from the e-reading book.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Some tutorial problems/quizzes could not be solved/answered if only the lecture slides or the prescribed textbook were read.
Students should be advised to do some background reading on the given problem/quiz and try to find the solutions. The solutions may not be directly available through the lecture slides or the prescribed textbook.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Describe the assessments in more detail during the class time.
The Online Test and the Written Assessment should be discussed in depth during the class time.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Due to technical difficulties at the beginning of the classes, some content was rushed through.
Try to minimise recurring technical issues.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Useful feedback on assessment items was low.
Sufficiently in-depth feedback should be provided to each graded assessment by each of the markers in the unit.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students' expected a higher amount of learning from assessments.
Student's should be sufficiently informed about the unit learning outcomes from each assessment.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Solve well defined engineering problems in work, energy and heat transfer
- Apply physical and circuit laws to find electric fields, electric potentials and currents in Direct Current (DC) circuits
- Calculate simple capacitor and inductor dimensions and transient behaviour of Resistor-Capacitor (RC) and Resistor-Inductor (RL) circuits
- Analyse simple Alternating Current (AC) circuits
- Solve problems related to rotational motion, and electrical machines
- Conduct scientific experiments to investigate physical phenomena using safe work practices
- Work individually and collaboratively in a team to produce professional laboratory documentation including error analyses.
Learning outcomes are linked to Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competencies and also discipline capabilities. You can find the mapping for this on the Engineering Undergraduate Course website.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | |||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | |||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • | • | ||
| 4 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | |||||
| 5 - Examination | • | • | • | ||||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | ||||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 4 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 5 - Examination | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | ||||||||