Tuesday 5 March

» Bachelor of Education taster

Your students are on the threshold of making one of the most exciting decisions of their life - to teach! By choosing teaching as a career, your students have chosen an important and satisfying profession as well as a challenging and rewarding journey through life. If your students would like to teach in a primary school setting then this taster will give them an insight what they'll need to do as a teacher. They'll have the opportunity to be involved in an interactive session-where they'll look at interesting ways how teachers encourage young children to engage in their teaching. And they'll look at what the role of a teacher means to them and how it helps individual.

Students will also get the opportunity to speak to our current Bachelor of Education students. So they'll get a first hand experience about the course from people in their own age group.

» Art and Design information sessions

This is a great opportunity for your students to attend 20 minute speed information sessions for each of the following areas;

• Graphics
• Illustration
• Animation
• Year 0
• Fine Art
• Fashion
• Photography and Commercial Photography
• Textiles
• Film and Video

Students will visit the individual work areas, learn about the course, the qualification and portfolio requirements and look at employability and student case studies.

Book your students a place on this session today.

» Biology, zoology and forensics taster

Catching the Wildlife Smuggler

Endangered animals are still threatened by poaching and the illegal trading of these animals and their body parts. Wildlife forensics is a relatively new field of criminal investigation. It aims to use scientific procedures to examine, identify, and compare evidence from crime scenes, and to link this evidence with a suspect and a victim, which is specifically an animal.

This challenge will give your student the opportunity to practically explore techniques in wildlife and human forensics and try and identify animal parts and who is the smuggler.

During this interactive session your students will:

• learn about wildlife forensics and the use of DNA
• take part in a practical session using sticky tape to discover the forensics involved in hairs and fibres being transported from place to place through contact
• receive a crime scene bag containing human hair samples, samples of smuggled unknown animal skin
• have the chance to match the DNA sequence from human hair samples with DNA sequences from a number of suspects
• have the chance to match the DNA sequence from the smuggled animal skin with a list of DNA sequences from an unknown animal species
• match the two samples of DNA and identify which person was smuggling the animal.

» Built environment taster (also suitable for people interested in architecture or construction)

Disaster shelter

Frequently, natural disasters occur in the world which require professional people to rebuild homes and lives temporarily. Today's activity is based on an actual earthquake in Japan in 1995. Your students will be asked to work in small groups to identify the design needs of a small family in a temporary building using only recycled material.

They'll build a small model of the shelter to the design and then present it to the other groups. We'll then examine the design and construction of the shelter that was produced and see how it compares with your students'.

» Business taster

» Child and Youth Studies taster

Concern about children's and young people's eating habits still exists - this is a highly topical issue and affects individuals aged from 0 to 19. Alarming statistics about obesity levels, heart disease in young children and diabetes in young people are regularly broadcast on the world's media stage.

But are sweets really the problem?

This taster aims to offer practical experience of tasks linked to the topic of healthy eating which affects the age group of 0 to 19. The tasks within this taster are aimed to raise awareness of key issues which practitioners face and have to positively address on a day to day basis.

The University Sweet Factory offers a series of challenges for students to solve and relate to what it would be like working in Children's and Young People's Services. Considerations linked to behaviour management, problem solving, decision making, creativity and self esteem will help students to develop first hand knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes when working with 'adults of the future'.

» Computing Challenge

Just about every business in Britain today, from the smallest one person shop to the largest multinational company is dependent on computers. But what do they do with them, and how do they do it?

This Challenge Day will show your students some of the problems businesses have to deal with, how computers help, and how we develop the computer applications that businesses use to solve their problems.

In the morning session they'll participate in a business simulation of a situation that many organisations face. In the afternoon session we will explore how an IT system might be able to help the business with this problem.

Your students will also get the chance to meet our current undergraduates and have a look around our facilities.

» Creative Expressive Therapies taster

The arts are increasingly used to help people become more confident, creative and to help them grow as people. For people who have health, educational or social problems, this can make a world of difference to their quality of life.

This interactive session is based upon the idea that everyone can be creative and as such can use the arts as vehicles for health and well-being, self-expression and personal learning. It'll give your students the opportunity to:

• experience group creativity using art, dance drama and music
• explore and discuss how they experienced the workshop
• find out how the facilitators plan and run such workshops
• find out about our course, how we teach and what jobs our graduates do now.

The taster will particularly appeal to students who

• like to work with people
• are creative in an art form
• want to make a difference in peoples lives.

» Dance and movement studies taster

Dance and movement studies is concerned with using movement as a creative medium. It has the specific aim of developing, encouraging and equipping students with a range of skills and abilities in the dance and arts context.

This interactive session is based upon the principle that everyone can express themselves through movement and dance, giving the students the chance to:

• feel the creative and expressive potential of dance and choreography as an artistic medium
• experience safe dance and movement practice
• begin to gain an awareness of the diversity of practice in the inclusive nature of dance
• understand the importance of balancing creativity with technique.

The taster will particularly appeal to students who: want to experience creative movement using the expressive nature of their bodies, want to feel how movement encourages health and well-being , want to try different aspects of dance, want to explore the idea of diversity in dance.

» Early Childhood Studies taster

Do your students learn more when they're having fun?

One of the key ideas within recent theories of child development is that children develop with more confidence when they can play in a "rich" environment.

There are different types of play and the role of the adults who work with children is far from straightforward. There's a need for adults (and sometimes older children) to interact helpfully, while at the same time letting children explore things for themselves at their own pace.

The challenge will give your students the opportunity to explore practice and discuss the latest ideas in child development in a friendly and welcoming way.

During this interactive session, your students will:

• learn about theories of play
• take part in a creative play activity
• explore how theories of play connect to practice in an early years setting
• discuss how building resilience enables children to develop their confidence in new situations.

» Education studies taster

Education studies involves looking at different aspects of education, where and how education happens, including primary education, secondary education, lifelong learning, and higher education.

The aim of this taster session is to give your students the opportunity to consider and question the role of education in contemporary society, to think about different aspects of education and where and how education happens.

In small groups your students will have the opportunity to discuss the following questions:

• What do you think education is about?
• What are the elements of education?
• Where does education happen?
• How does education happen?
• Who is involved in delivering and providing education?

» Geography taster

Soil testing and land sliding

Geomorphologists are particularly interested in slope instability and landsliding both from a landform evolution point of view and as a hazard to human activity. Material properties are important in the stability of slopes developed on clay soils and tests can be carried out to assess their physical properties.

This session will introduce tests known as Atterberg Limits which describe the behaviour of such soils as water content varies. The drop cone penetrometer will be employed to identify the liquid and plastic limits of clay materials in the laboratory which can then be used to compute the Plasticity Index. These measures have been used describe the character of mass movement on fine grained soils and to assess the risk of failure on slopes prior to development.

» Geology taster

Rocks under the microscope

Most rocks look dull and uninteresting to the naked eye. It is only when we look more closely that a whole new world appears. Geologists have a special technique for grinding rock samples until they are thin enough to allow light to pass through them. These slices when mounted on a microscope slide reveal the details of the minerals which make up the rock sample. The geological microscope is set up specially to reveal a kaleidoscope of colours from which individual minerals can be identified. In some rocks fossils can be seen and the texture of the rock - the way the minerals relate to each other can be most informative of the rocks history. Come and see for yourself in a specially designed introducing geological microscopy.

» Law Challenge

Get an insight into the world of Law and Criminology at Derby.

On this interactive and fun Challenge Day your students will take part in a scenario which will culminate in a trail at the end of the day. There'll be roles for everyone, whether they're interested in being a barrister, a solicitor or a ciminologist.

Your students will be able to practise their teamwork, communication and problem solving skills and they'll get a real taste of how the law operates in our fantastic courtroom.

» Nursing and Healthcare taster

Nursing is a challenging and exciting profession where every day is different. Because of this, nurses develop a repertoire of skills for practice in order to be competent as qualified nurses.

During this interactive taster session your students will learn about the clinical skills nurses use and why they are so important in clinical practice.

Using our modern and well equipped Clinical Skills Suite, which replicates medical environments such as a hospital ward and emergency room, your students will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of realistic, practical sessions. They'll learn about the technologies used in clinical environments and in training nurses of the future.

We also include time for your students to be able to ask questions and talk to the lecturers about training to be a nurse and nursing as a career.

» Occupational Therapy taster

Do your students like to do something a bit different? Have they thought about occupational therapy?

Occupational therapy is an exciting and ever developing field of health and social care, yet lots of people know very little about it. This workshop will focus on how occupational therapists work with all kinds of people to enable them to do the things they want and need to do in life. The people occupational therapists work with are all ages from children through to older adults; they may have physical health problems, psychological problems or be experiencing social issues.

Your students may find out if their people, communication, practical and problem solving skills and enthusiasm for life could be used in this exciting career.

» Social Work, Health and Social Care and Community and Youth Work taster

» Sociology taster

In this session we'll explore together the complex links between society, culture, identity, the state and economics. We will do so by focussing on forms of activity that go against the grain in each area: crime.

Crime is a multi-faceted concept with many aspects of our lives being policed and, with the spread of daily life into digital realms, under increased scrutiny. For this session we will examine the links between crime and social values and the implications of criminalising certain forms of behaviour in one of the following contexts:

• cybercrime
• pornography
• blasphemy laws
• mass media representations of crime
• moral panics
• the drug trade.

The session will be fully interactive with students' views, knowledge and experiences contributing to the direction that the session takes. It's a great opportunity to explore the flexibility and insights that sociology provides.

» Sport and exercise taster

What does it take to become an elite sports performer? And how do the fitness levels of your students compare with those of elite performers?

It's well known that at the elite sports level a high degree of physical fitness is essential for peak performance. But how do we know how fit an individual actually is? And how do the demands of performers in one sport differ from another?

During this interactive session your students will consider the fitness requirements of performers in different sports and the best way of determining those fitness levels. They'll take part in a series of practical activities in the laboratory and the sports hall which are designed to assess the many different components of fitness.

Once the tests are completed, students will have a better understanding of their own fitness profile and will be able to compare their performance with performers in other sports as well as their peers.

Childhood and adolescent fitness is a key issue in society today. By completing this taster your students will be inspired to think about their own fitness, and learn what it takes to be an elite athlete in an engaging and scientific way.

» Technology information sessions

Would your students like to know more about the Technology courses on offer at the University of Derby? If so, this information session would be ideal for them.

Students will attend 20 minute speed information sessions for;

• Product Design
• Technology Foundation Programme
• Architecture
• Construction
• Civils
• Music Production
• Electrical Engineering
• SLET
• Mechanical Engineering
• Motorsport

Students will get to see where the subject areas are taught, take a look around the facilities, learn about the course and look at employability and student case studies.

Book your students a place on this session today.