Course Details

Engineering Science is a study of the roles of engineers in society, and of the knowledge and skills modern engineers are likely to have.

Topics and skills covered in the course include:

• Engineering contexts and challenges – types of engineering and engineering projects, economic, social and environmental impacts of engineering; emerging technologies; energy and efficiency.
• Systems and control – the systems approach to engineering; energy systems; open and closed loop control; two state control; proportional control incorporating negative feedback.
• Electronic systems – analogue electronics, including Ohm’s law, Kirchoff’s laws, resistors in series and parallel, electrical power, voltage dividers, and transistor switching circuits, including BJT and MOSFET functions, transistors as drivers, op-amp functions and circuit design; digital electronics including logic circuits (AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR), truth tables, Boolean expressions and NAND equivalents; microcontrollers including high-level programming techniques (including pulse width modulation, ramping, incremental counts and other logic operations).
• Mechanical systems– motion and forces; mechanisms and drive systems; pneumatic systems (including cascading, group air and electrical control); beams and frame structures; and material properties (including analysis of test results).

National 4 is assessed by passing a series of units. Once units are completed, a final project must be completed to obtain a course “pass”.

National 5 is assessed by completing a project worth 31% of the final mark. The remaining 69% is assessed by a written examination. The scores are added to determine grades A-D.

Higher is assessed by completing an engineering assignment worth 40% of the final mark. The remaining 60% is assessed by a written examination.

Expectations

• Engineering Science is recommended as a pupil choice along with Mathematics, Physics and Computing Science – it should not be seen as a replacement for other science subjects.
• Strong skills in Mathematics are required to succeed in Engineering Science.
• There will be regular past paper question homework.
• Meeting deadlines and being resilient are important features of being successful in this course – you will be expected to carry out tasks in your own time.
• For entry to Higher, pupils will normally have a National 5 pass at grades A-C. S6 “crash” Highers will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Progression Routes

Pupils returning into S5/6 may progress on to Higher following attainment of a passing N5 grade.

College courses that Engineering Science will support entry into include:                     

• Electrical & Electronic Engineering         
• Engineering Systems & Renewables
• Manufacturing Engineering                       
• Mechanical & Automotive Engineering                
• Robotics and Automation                          
• Petroleum Engineering

University courses that Engineering Science will support entry into include:      

• Aeronautical Engineering              
• Chemical Engineering       
• Electronic Engineering
• Environmental Engineering          
• Mechanical Engineering    
• Structural Engineering
• Civil Engineering                            
• Product Design Engineering