Sport and Exercise Science

School and College Visits

The Department of Sports and Exercise Science has a dedicated, Schools and Colleges Liaison team, whose role is to work with schools (years 10 and 11 especially) and colleges (16+), in support of prospective students as they investigate universities and degree courses. As students look to their future, advancing from school to college, or choosing a university course, there is often a confusion of information, a wealth of marketing material, similar named courses around the country and lots of universities to choose from.

Our team pay regular visits to educational establishments and present the most current information on the application process, our degree course content, future employment prospects, UCAS entry points, costs of university, as well as highlighting the general experience of going to University.

Visit us for a tour of Spinnaker building and workshop

Although we are happy to visit you to provide a talk of university life and courses, we would also like to invite you to the Department so that we can provide a more interactive and practical experience for your students. This would involve a tour of our facilities, a talk on university life and courses, and a dedicated workshop in Sport and Exercise Science or Sport Development. Each of the workshops are designed to provide your students with opportunities to get hands-on experience, using some of our specialised measuring equipment, to conduct a relevant, controlled experiment, collect and then analyse data, be informed of the most up to date theory, be challenged by questions and experience, and gain an initial understanding to what they might expect at university.

For further information please follow the following links videos, facilities, undergraduate taught, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research degrees.

Workshop details

The workshops can be adapted to your specific requirements but are designed to link in to the BTEC and ‘A’ level curricular relating to testing of sports performers. Workshops are designed to last up to three hours and would involve a talk about science, its application, how science relates to sport and physical activity and the wider community, before the collection and subsequent analysis of data. For example, our workshops would correlate with the following criteria from Edexcel BTEC Levels 4 and 5 Higher Nationals in Sport and Exercise Sciences:

Practical use of the latest equipment, in our laboratories, demonstrating aerobic and anaerobic fitness tests. (Unit 33, Functional Exercise Physiology).

Unit Learning Outcomes:

  • Understand relationships between energy systems and performance in sport and exercise.
  • Understand the responses of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems to exercise.
  • Understand influences of environment on performance in sport and exercise.

Biomechanical investigation of human movement, via devices such as:  high speed digital video; infra red cameras; force platforms or EMG. (Unit 4, Biomechanics for Sport).

Unit Learning Outcomes:

  • Understand biomechanical principles in sporting contexts.
  • Be able to record sport performances using biomechanical techniques.
  • Be able to compare sport performances to biomechanical models.

A workshop designed around one of the many aspects of sports psychology, such as: motivation; selective attention; performance routines or arousal. (Unit 2, Sport and Exercise Psychology).

Unit Learning Outcomes:

  • Understand motivation and its effect on successful sport and exercise performance.
  • Understand the effects of arousal, anxiety and stress on sport and exercise Performance.
  • Understand the processes leading to the effective functioning of groups.
  • Understand the psychological factors that impact on participants in exercise environments.

A scenario, based on a real life situation, would be presented and students would have to work in groups to solve this practical problem, within a set of rigid guidelines and time frame.(Unit 12, Managing Sports Development).

Unit Learning Outcomes:

  • Know about the vision and emphasis of sports development agencies.
  • Understand sports development partnerships, events and programming issues.
  • Understand the planning and funding of sports development schemes and relate barriers.
  • Be able to manage and evaluate sports development schemes.

 

Whilst our department has standard formats for these workshops, tailored to BTEC and ‘A’ level criteria, if you have a specific request, we may be able to accommodate you.

For further information and booking, please contact:

Mr Colin Iggleden, Schools and Colleges Liaison Coordinator.

colin.iggleden@port.ac.uk.  Phone 02392 845211

emma.lane@port.ac.uk.   Phone   02392 845111

For general talks and activities relating to higher education at the University of Portsmouth please visit our Outreach Team's webpage