Course syllabus

Course-PM

FFR141 / FIM730 Complex systems seminar lp1 HT19 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Space, Earth and Environment

Contact details

Main lecturer and examiner on this course is Martin Nilsson Jacobi ( mjacobi@chalmers.se )

Student representatives for this class

Jonathan Bergqvist
Pernilla Gellerman
Martin Lidén
Emma Rydholm
 Fan Zhang

Course purpose

The main purposes of this course, and the learning goals, are:

• improve your presentation technique
• learn (much) more about a specific subject
• learn a little more about many subjects
• ethical reflexions on science and technology

Schedule

Note that most weeks there are two doubles lecture in the schedule. One of these occasions is the actual seminar that everyone should attend (this is the occasion that has a room listed in TimeEdit). The other occasion only involved the student group that will present the week after (other students are free, i.e. self-studies), see more details about this below.

The first few seminars will be given by senior teachers. The student presentations will start in October. A detailed schedule will be posted as soon as the student groups are formed.

When you know which group you are in and when you are going to give a seminar, the following is important. The theme of your seminar should be checked with the teacher (me) at the latest two weeks before your seminar (I advice you to check and discuss the theme with me much earlier if you have any doubts about how appropriate the theme is as a seminar subject). One week before the seminar your group will meet with me and do a pre-presentation, a rehearsal. I will then give you feedback that you will use to further improve the presentation before you give the seminar to the class the week after. The time for the pre-presentation is the scheduled time that has no lecture room associated with it in TimeEdit (in the fall this is Wednesday 10:00-11:45).

The schedule is available in TimeEdit.

Course design

During the course you will be assigned to a group of 3-4 students. Each group will hold one seminar focused on a complex systems theme. The format of the seminars is that each student give an individual presentation but each presentation is part of the theme, so the 3-4 presentations cover different aspects of the theme. After the presentation there will be time to discuss the seminar, first in small groups and then in a plenary session. To summarise: in this class, you as a student will

• attend seminars
• give a presentation to the class (together with your group, 3-4 students in each group)
• collaborate with your group on preparing the seminar
• participate in the discussions after the seminars

Study plan

Examination form

To pass the class you will ned to attend at least 80% of the seminars. You will also have to prepare and give one presentation (a seminar).

News

You have now been assigned to a seminar group. Of your group is scheduled to present your seminar in the autumn, then the date of your seminar is written in the name of your group. The schedule for the spring will follow as soon as it appears in TimeEdit, but you should be able to guess when you will present since the order of the groups is known...