BSc (Hons) Natural Sciences

The key characteristics of the Natural Sciences degree at Durham are choice, flexibility and depth. The Natural Sciences degree has a wide choice of subjects and in later years there is choice between modules within subjects. It is also a flexible degree and with most subjects you can delay choosing your subjects until you get to Durham and you can also change the shape of your degree at the end of the first year.The Natural Sciences degree has the following features:The degree is based at the Durham campus.The University operates on a system of undergraduates studying 120 credits each year. There are 20, 40 and a few 60 credit modules, so students choose combinations of modules which add up to precisely 120 credits.There are two types of degree that you can obtain, a 3-year BSc (degree code CFG0) or a 4-year MSci (degree code FGC0). Both the BSc and the MSci contain BSc Joint Honours and MSci Joint Honours degrees as well as the more broad BSc Natural Sciences and MSci Natural Sciences degrees.You should note that not all combinations of all modules in all subjects are feasible. Choices are constrained by the limits of the University timetable, which changes every year.As part of the BSc Natural Sciences degree you may follow one of the following patterns of study:a BSc Natural Sciences degree in which you study two or more subjects and start a new subject in your second year or carry on with the three subjects you have studied in your first year.a Joint Honours BSc degree within Natural Sciences which involves studying the same two subjects in each of the three years (it is usually possible to study three or even four subjects in the first year).take a Year Abroad in between the second and third years.do a placement in between the second and third years.Students on the Natural Sciences course design their own programme, so depending on their choices they learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical classes, fieldwork, informal but scheduled one-on-one support, and self-directed learning, such as research, reading, and writing. All of these are supported by a virtual learning environment, Durham University Online (DUO).Tutorials, seminars, workshops, and practical classes are much smaller groups than lectures, small enough to allow one-to-one interaction with a member of staff. Practicals also allow hands-on experience of the work of professionals in the disciplines studied on the course. The same is true of fieldwork and consists of engaging in, for example, geological, biological, geographical, or anthropological work in the field with members of academic staff. This emphasis on small-group and practical teaching reflects a conscious choice to enhance the quality of the learning experience rather than the quantity of formal sessions.The degrees in Natural Sciences are designed to feature fewer formal sessions and more independent research as students move from their first to their final year. Small-group teaching and one-to-one attention from the personal academic advisor (provided for all students when they enter the course) are part of the learning experience throughout, but by the final year classroom time gives way, to some extent, to independent research, including a major project. In this way the degree systematically transforms the student from a consumer of knowledge in the classroom to a generator of knowledge, ready for professional or postgraduate life. These formal teaching arrangements are supported by “drop-in” surgeries with teaching staff and induction sessions that begin in the week before the start of the programme and continue at key times throughout each year of the degree. Students can also attend an extensive programme of research-focused seminars where staff and visiting scholar