A professional studies unit for third year university students

Abstract

For three years now all of the third-year physics students at Monash University have participated in a unit of work aimed at giving them an appreciation and understanding of the role of physicists in industry and the value of physics to society. As well, we aim to increase the students' awareness of physics-related careers and their suitability for such careers and to help them prepare to win their first job. In this article we outline the content of the unit and present some analysis of student responses both to this content and to the various assessment tasks employed.