How you will be taught

You will learn by traditional methods such as lectures, tutorials, workshops and labs – as well as hand on experience. The course will cover the basics of penguin care to the more complex issues of understanding the mating and behaviour patterns of penguins – allowing you to explore the animal far beyond the limits of traditional teaching.

Individual reading and study takes a particularly important role in the summer project, producing a dissertation on a topic related to the modules you have studied. For the project, you will be guided to prepare your research project plan and to develop skills and competence in research including project management, critical thinking and problem solving, project reporting and presentation. The project will also guided from your own experience in caring for your own penguin, provided at the start of the course, along with the tools you need to care for it.

How you will be assessed

Assessment is via a mix of open book continual assessment and closed book examinations, a care journal of your experience looking after your penguin and a substantial project completed over the summer term (Antarctic winter).

What you will study

This one year course involves taking four taught modules in semester 1 (September-December), followed by a further 4 taught modules in semester 2 (January-May), and undertaking a project over the Summer (May-August).

A typical selection of taught modules might be:

Ethics of human interaction with wild animals

Penguinese – the language of penguins

The archetype penguin – the representation of penguins in history and literature

The evolution of penguins

Basic care of penguins – animals not pets

Geographical impact of urban development and climate change on penguin habits

Did penguins ever fly?

Penguins on film

Advance bird biology

What can we learn about co-parenting from penguins

Penguins in animation – the appeal of the cartoon penguin

Piper as a mascot – supporting our sports teams

Filming in the wild

We also offer the option of replacing one or two penguin modules with modules from subjects such as Life Sciences, Art & Design, Language and Animal Care.