Sport: the science behind the medals
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This is a wholly online module that focuses on the physical science that underlies sport. You will investigate a variety of sporting phenomena associated with Olympic sports, including track and field, swimming, diving, and cycling. To understand these phenomena, you will be introduced to a range of scientific concepts that include speed and acceleration, forces and energy, gravity, aerodynamics and the technology of new materials. By the end of the course, you'll have developed a greater awareness of the role of science and technology in sport, and a greater understanding of the fundamental scientific concepts that underpin many Olympic events.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Science.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | S172 |
| Credits | 10 |
| OU Level | 1 |
| SCQF level | 7 |
| FHEQ level | 4 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| End-of-module assessment |
| No residential school |
Register for the course
This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.
What you will study
This is a highly interactive online course that focuses on the physical science that underlies sport. The study materials have been developed specifically for online study – there are no books. You will study the course using a combination of online text, video clips, animations of sporting phenomena and a series of interactive computer activities that focus on specific scientific topics. A taster of the study material is available for viewing on OpenLearn – see right for link to A taste of OU study.
A central theme of the course is the concept of force, which is one of the most fundamental factors that affect sporting action. You will learn about the force of gravity, how this affects the motion of athletes in jumping and diving events, and how it affects the motion of balls in sports such as tennis and volleyball. You will learn about the basic nature of air and water, and how this leads to drag forces due to air and water resistance in swimming and diving. You will learn about frictional forces, and the effect that these forces have on performance in track sprinting and speed skating. Finally, you will see how the way that athletes move during sport and their overall performance depends, not on individual forces, but on the combination of many different forces.
Another theme of the course is the role of technology in modern sport. You will learn about the nature of materials such as carbon-fibre, and the effect that such materials have had on sports such as cycling and wheelchair racing. You will see how a better understanding of the human body has led to the development of specialised sporting drinks, training regimes and even specialised drugs that can influence sporting performance.
The course also explains the quantities that athletes and coaches use to evaluate performance. You will learn about the concepts of speed, velocity and acceleration, and see how measurement of these quantities enables improvement of performance in runners moving away from the blocks during sprint races and swimmers travelling through the pool in aquatic events.
By the end of the course you’ll have developed a greater awareness of the role of science and technology in sport, and a greater understanding of the fundamental scientific concepts that underpin many Olympic events. You’ll also develop a range of study skills associated with finding, interpreting and communicating scientific information. You will develop graphical skills that enable you to plot and interpret scientific data and a special emphasis is placed on developing skills related to finding, evaluating and summarising scientific information on the internet.
This course is delivered completely online via the course website through a variety of online activities: reading text; viewing video of sports action; interpreting data; performing simple calculations; and accessing websites. Additional activities and quizzes will help test your understanding.
Entry
The course does not assume any previous scientific background or any specific sporting knowledge and teaches the ideas and skills needed as and when they are required. All you need is an interest in the relationship between sport and science and the motivation to understand more of the science, and particularly the physics, behind a range of different sports.
Mathematically you need only to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide simple numbers. The structured teaching will take you to a level at which you are happy to use mathematics as a tool in a range of scientific contexts. You should be able to read and understand written English of a style and complexity characteristic of a professional magazine or quality newspaper, and you should be able to communicate your thoughts clearly and comprehensibly in a written format.
You can check that you have the appropriate background by trying out the interactive quiz Are you ready for science study?
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
This course is delivered online via the course website, so you will need to spend all of your study time using a personal computer and the internet. A large proportion of the course is based on educational software, delivered via the course website, which must be studied in order to complete the course. The course learning outcomes assess the use of the internet, interpretation of coloured images and audio-visual material. However, the assessment will only require students to demonstrate that the majority of the course learning outcomes have been achieved. You should consider if you will find achieving these learning outcomes challenging and contact the OU for advice if necessary. Written transcripts are available for the audio-visual material but textual descriptions of the images are not available.
You may be required to draw diagrams or to annotate diagrams that you download, and then to use either a scanner or a digital camera to produce electronic versions of these drawings for inclusion in your assessment. Alternatively creating diagrams electronically will be acceptable.
If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in operating a computer or the internet and have any concerns about accessing the types of study materials outlined you are advised to talk to our Student Registration & Enquiry Service about support which can be given to meet your needs.
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and mathematical, scientific, or foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.
You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Study materials
You will need
A basic scientific calculator.
You will be required to draw diagrams or to annotate by hand diagrams that you download, and then to use either a scanner or a digital camera to produce files of these diagrams for inclusion in your assessment.
We recommend that you have broadband access to the internet as the interactive activities will be very slow to load on a dial-up internet connection. If you use Internet Explorer 6 it will be necessary to update it to a more recent version.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.
Teaching and assessment
Study support
You can contact a team of expert science study advisers by telephone or through an online discussion forum, and they will be able to help you with academic questions to do with the course and the assessment. There will also be an online discussion forum that you can use to get in touch with other students.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You must use the online system to submit your end-of-module assessment (EMA).
For each course presentation there is a choice of two alternative dates by which you have to submit the single piece of assessment: February course start completes end of April or end of July; May start completes end of July or end of October; September start completes end of October or end of January; November start completes end of January or end of April.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in February and May 2012. It will be available again in October 2012. More details will be available in June 2012.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Science.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | S172 |
| Credits | 10 |
| OU Level | 1 |
| SCQF level | 7 |
| FHEQ level | 4 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| End-of-module assessment |
| No residential school |
Study explained
- Financial support
- - find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.
- Study explained
- - all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.
Student Reviews
Another course aimed at capturing your interest and cleverly introduces the science. I certainly look at action sports with a ...
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A more accurate title for this course would be, 'Sport: the physics behind the medals', as its focus is mainly ...
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Or contact an adviser in our Student Registration & Enquiry Service Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90+44(0) 845 366 60 35
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