First Year Computer Science Projects at Coventry University:Activity-led integrative team projects with continuous assessment.

We describe the group projects undertaken by first year undergraduate Computer Science students at Coventry University. These are integrative course projects: designed to bring together the topics from the various modules students take, to apply them as a coherent whole. They follow an activity-led approach, with students given a loose brief and a lot of freedom in how to develop their project. We outline the new regulations at Coventry University which eases the use of such integrative projects. We then describe our continuous assessment approach: where students earn a weekly mark by demonstrating progress to a teacher as an open presentation to the class. It involves a degree of self and peer assessment and allows for an assessment of group work that is both fair, and seen to be fair. It builds attendance, self-study / continuous engagement habits, public speaking / presentation skills, and rewards group members for making meaningful individual contributions.Comment: 4 pages. Accepted for presentation at CEP2

Magnetic fields and differential rotation on the pre-main sequence

Maps of magnetic field topologies of rapidly rotating stars obtained over the last decade or so have provided unique insight into the operation of stellar dynamos. However, for solar-type stars many of the targets imaged to date have been lower-mass zero-age main sequence stars. We present magnetic maps and differential rotation measurements of two-higher mass pre-main sequence stars HD 106506 (~10 Myrs) and HD 141943 (~15 Myrs). These stars should evolve into mid/late F-stars with predicted high differential rotation and little magnetic activity. We investigate what effect the extended convection zones of these pre-main sequence stars has on their differential rotation and magnetic topologies. ©2009 American Institute of Physic

Winds of Planet Hosting Stars

The field of exoplanetary science is one of the most rapidly growing areas of astrophysical research. As more planets are discovered around other stars, new techniques have been developed that have allowed astronomers to begin to characterise them. Two of the most important factors in understanding the evolution of these planets, and potentially determining whether they are habitable, are the behaviour of the winds of the host star and the way in which they interact with the planet. The purpose of this project is to reconstruct the magnetic fields of planet hosting stars from spectropolarimetric observations, and to use these magnetic field maps to inform simulations of the stellar winds in those systems using the Block Adaptive Tree Solar-wind Roe Upwind Scheme (BATS-R-US) code. The BATS-R-US code was originally written to investigate the behaviour of the Solar wind, and so has been altered to be used in the context of other stellar systems. These simulations will give information about the velocity, pressure and density of the wind outward from the host star. They will also allow us to determine what influence the winds will have on the space weather environment of the planet. This paper presents the preliminary results of these simulations for the star $\tau$ Bo\"otis, using a newly reconstructed magnetic field map based on previously published observations. These simulations show interesting structures in the wind velocity around the star, consistent with the complex topology of its magnetic field.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 14th Australian Space Research Conference, held at the University of South Australia, 29th September - 1st October 201

Zeeman doppler imaging of the surface activity and magnetic fields of young solar-type stars

The cyclic magnetic activity of the modern-day Sun is generally considered to be powered by a self-regenerating interface-layer dynamo. However, Zeeman Doppler Imaging of the spots and magnetic fields of active young solar-type stars suggests that a distributed rather than an interface-layer dynamo is present. This paper outlines techniques we have used to map and study the spots and surface magnetic fields of a small sample of young active solar-type stars, the results obtained, and the implications for magnetic field generation in young cool stars

Abstraction in action: K-5 teachers' uses of levels of abstraction, particularly the design level, in teaching programming

Research indicates that understanding levels of abstraction (LOA) and being able to move between the levels is essential to programming success. For K-5 contexts LOA levels have been named: problem, design, code and running the code. In a qualitative exploratory study, five K-5 teachers were interviewed on their uses of LOA, particularly the design level, in teaching programming and other subjects. Using PCK elements to analyse responses, the teachers interviewed used design as an instructional strategy and for assessment. The teachers used design as an aide memoire and the expert teachers used design: as a contract for pair-programming; to work out what they needed to teach; for learners to annotate with code snippets (to transition across LOA); for learners to self-assess and to assess ‘do-ability’. The teachers used planning in teaching writing to scaffold learning and promote self-regulation revealing their insight in student understanding. One issue was of the teachers' knowledge of terms including algorithm and code; a concept of ‘emergent algorithms’ is proposed. Findings from the study suggest design helps learners learn to program in the same way that planning helps learners learn to write and that LOA, particularly the design level, may provide an accessible exemplar of abstraction in action. Further work is needed to verify whether the study's results are generalisable more widely