This article describes an initiative introduced at Loughborough University by SIGMA, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), to support physics students who were mathematically less well-prepared than their counterparts. The article outlines how students were identified as being less well-prepared. These students were taught in a…

Explores the derivation of empirical models for the stopping distance of a car being driven at a range of speeds. Indicates that the calculation of stopping distances makes an excellent example of empirical modeling because it is a situation that is readily understood and particularly relevant to many first-year undergraduates who are learning or…

Discusses using black body function for radiative heat transfer, which can be used in a real-life application in a number of different topics in A-level and first-year undergraduate mathematical methods courses such as differentiation, solving nonlinear equations, and integration by substitution. (ASK)