TXR174 - Technology in Action

This is a week long residential school held in Bath, which I attended in 2005.

Quite a varied course, made up of 5 separate activities on which we spent a day studying each topic. You had to write one of them up for the final TMA. In 2005 the subject areas were:

Materials & Energy Conversion - Here we recycled some copper using electrolysis - brought back memories of Chemistry lessons at senior school

Structures - We built, and then tested to destruction, various designs of bridge. My team built the most complex bridge from the various struts and ties, but it proved not to be the strongest.....

Waste Management - What to do with the al the countries waste - recycle, compost, land fill, incinerate. I felt this was the weakest of the 5 subject areas, however, this seemed the most popular subject with most of the other students

Robotics - We built a search & rescue robot using LEGO Mindstorms. Great fun, and this was the activity I wrote up for the final TMA

Water Quality - Coach trip to a stream on the outskirts of Bath, where we took water samples at two locations, both upstream & downstream. Measured the BMWP, then back to the lab to measure suspended solids, chloride, pH, ammonia nitrogen etc etc
 

I found this course rather 'rushed' compared with TXR248. I suppose that was down to having 'only' a day for each topic, whereas TXR248 was the same subject matter, systems thinking, over the whole week.....

Which was the better Campus of the two residential schools I've attended? Well the dorms where better at Bath - each room has an on suite, whereas Nottingham had communal Bathrooms! Most evenings were spent in the bar at Bath whereas at Nottingham various 'events' were laid on in the evening. Also the food was much better at Nottingham. Bath has a more compact Campus - it used to take us a good 15 minutes to walk from the Dinning Hall back to the tutor room at Nottingham!

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