Course guide

Specification

Level
2000-level undergraduate
Prerequisites
None
Culinary experience
Not required
Session
Semester 1 2027
Duration
Twelve teaching weeks
Assessment
Four submissions, 100% total

Summary

The Sandwich Must Hold treats the sandwich as a temporary material system. Students investigate how layers carry load, exchange moisture, generate friction, respond to temperature, survive transport and fail under use.

This is not a cooking course. No culinary experience is expected, taste is not assessed, and no student is required to prepare or consume food. The course is concerned with observation, controlled testing, failure analysis and the defence of structural decisions.

Central question

What must be true for a sandwich to remain a sandwich from assembly to use?
MATERIALINTERFACELOADOBSERVATIONEVIDENCE

Specimen 001 — five layers, exploded for inspection

Material
What a layer is made of, and how it behaves when loaded, wetted or warmed.
Interface
The boundary between two layers, where grip, slip and moisture transfer happen.
Load
The force the assembly is asked to carry, declared before the test rather than after it.
Observation
What was seen and recorded, kept separate from what it is thought to mean.
Evidence
An observation with its condition, its measurement and its limitation attached.

Learning outcomes

Five capabilities. One load path.

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to do each of the following. Each outcome attaches to the submission that carries its principal evidence.

  1. 01

    Classify the structural roles of layers, boundaries and interfaces in a sandwich assembly.

    Principal evidenceSandwich Field Log

  2. 02

    Design and document a controlled comparison that isolates one structural variable.

    Principal evidenceComponent Test

  3. 03

    Distinguish direct observation, reasonable inference and unresolved uncertainty.

    Principal evidenceSandwich Field Log and Failure Autopsy

  4. 04

    Diagnose failures involving slippage, moisture, compression, geometry, temperature and transport.

    Principal evidenceFailure Autopsy

  5. 05

    Design, test, revise and defend a sandwich system for a declared load case.

    Principal evidenceThe Sandwich Must Hold

Weekly teaching format

The rhythm holds. The question changes.

  1. 60 minLecture. The week's structural question, the principle behind it, and the cases that make it concrete.
  2. 120 minLaboratory or studio. Observation, testing, comparison or failure analysis at the week's own test station.
  3. FieldDocumentation task. One activity that generates reusable evidence rather than a one-off result.
  4. OutputOne distinct artefact. A compression record, a moisture diagram, a transport dossier — a different instrument each week.

Equivalent participation

Three materials. One assessed outcome.

Every practical activity in the course supports three routes. They are not a concession and they are not ranked: each is a way of reaching the same learning outcome, and each is marked against the same criteria.

  1. Physical Specimen

    Real, low-cost materials, tested structurally.

    No requirement to consume the result at any point.

  2. Non-Food Analogue

    Foam, sponge, cardboard, clay or textile.

    The same variable, in a material chosen for measurement.

  3. Supplied Evidence

    Course photographs, measurements and failure cases.

    Used where field or physical testing is impractical.

All three routes assess the same learning outcome. Selecting an alternative to direct food handling costs no marks.Equivalent

Safety, allergies, cost, waste and consent

Scope

What this course is not.

This course does not teach recipes, professional cookery, nutrition, food styling or restaurant service. A structurally successful submission does not need to be attractive or edible.

A visually appealing sandwich with no evidence, no testing and no defensible load case will not receive a high mark.

  • Taste is not assessed.
  • Ingredient expense is not assessed.
  • Culinary skill is not assessed.
  • Whether the specimen is eaten is not assessed.

Who runs it

Two people, two jurisdictions.

convenor

Marisol Quaye

Convenor. Sets the twelve-week testing programme and marks the final structural defences.

Email for anything course-level. Bring work-in-progress to the Week 4 and Week 9 consultations rather than to email.

tutor

Idris Fenn

Tutor. Runs the laboratory sessions, the supplied evidence pack, and the equipment that applies the loads.

Email for laboratory access, equipment, the evidence pack, and anything about an alternative participation route.

What a week asks

Contact
One two-hour laboratory session each teaching week
Lectures
Four — Weeks 1, 2, 4 and 8; the last two carry a full deck
Independent work
Around four hours a week, most of it recording rather than reading
Consultations
Weeks 4 and 9, for work in progress

The independent hours are an estimate from the assessment load, not a measurement. A week in which a specimen has to be observed over an interval costs more of them than a week in which one does not.

Continue

  • WeeksTwelve dated teaching weeks on one load path.
  • AssessmentsFour submissions, 100%, and what counts as evidence.
  • PoliciesSafe, accessible, low-cost and equivalent participation.
SLOP2895 / specification / reviewed

Teaching period22 February 2027 – 28 May 2027