The microscopic world is full of phenomena very different from what we see in everyday life. Some of those phenomena can only be explained using quantum mechanics. This activity introduces basic quantum mechanics concepts about electrons that are essential to understanding modern and future technology, especially nanotechnology. Start by exploring probability distribution, then discover the behavior of electrons with a series of simulations.

Are all atoms of an element the same? How can you tell one isotope from another? Use the sim to learn about isotopes and how abundance relates to the average atomic mass of an element.

This Project has been completed as part of a standard Calculus 1 asynchronous online course at MassBay Community College, Wellesley Hills, MA.

Using data on the world's water distribution, students calculate the percentage of water that is available to humans and examine graphics that illustrate the distribution. Students develop a sense of where the world's water is located and how it moves through the Earth system.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Isaac Newton's famous thought experiment about what would happen if you launched a cannon from a mountaintop at a high velocity comes to life with an interactive computer model. You are charged with the task of launching a satellite into space. Control the angle and speed at which the satellite is launched, and see the results to gain a basic understanding of escape velocity.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In a civil engineering class in Ireland, college students take their seats, open their tablets, cell phones, or laptops, and choose jerseys. They’re gearing up for a mad dash across Europe – cycling hard over hills and speeding through valleys – as they compete for best standing in Le Tour de France. To win the race, they need to answer questions on topics like structural engineering and stress analysis. But the game isn’t really about winning – it’s about making learning more effective, interactive, and fun. Designed by University College Dublin civil engineering professor Arturo Gonzalez, ‘Surviving Le Tour de France’ is a real-time assessment tool that improves the educational experience of both students and teachers alike. It works like this. A teacher prepares lectures and accompanying questions, which are delivered in stages. Each stage corresponds to a different leg of a simulated cyclist race that progresses over the course of a semester..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This Project has been completed as part of a standard 10 weeks Calculus 3 asynhronous online course with optional office hours during Summer 2022 semester at MassBay Community College, Wellesley Hills, MA. 

6.867 is an introductory course on machine learning which gives an overview of many concepts, techniques, and algorithms in machine learning, beginning with topics such as classification and linear regression and ending up with more recent topics such as boosting, support vector machines, hidden Markov models, and Bayesian networks. The course will give the student the basic ideas and intuition behind modern machine learning methods as well as a bit more formal understanding of how, why, and when they work. The underlying theme in the course is statistical inference as it provides the foundation for most of the methods covered.

In this activity, students interact with 12 models to observe emergent phenomena as molecules assemble themselves. Investigate the factors that are important to self-assembly, including shape and polarity. Try to assemble a monolayer by "pushing" the molecules to the substrate (it's not easy!). Rotate complex molecules to view their structure. Finally, create your own nanostructures by selecting molecules, adding charges to them, and observing the results of self-assembly.

Study the motion of a toy car on a ramp and use motion sensors to digitally graph the position data and then analyze it. Make predictions about what the graphs will look like, and consider what the corresponding velocity graphs would look like.

Start a chain reaction, or introduce non-radioactive isotopes to prevent one. Control energy production in a nuclear reactor! (Previously part of the Nuclear Physics simulation - now there are separate Alpha Decay and Nuclear Fission sims.)

OpenClass is a free learning tool for building mastery-based assignments that follow a research-based format to optimize knowledge retention for learners. I (Laura Neser) have partnered with them to provide a set of 17 non-punitive review assignments around our textbook content that you can easily incorporate into your classes.
**As of spring 2024, an additional set of 17 short quizzes has also been developed through OpenClass and is available at the same URL already linked for this resource.

Instructions: You can clone the review assignments for your own use via the URL link (click the "Clone this class" button at the top of the page to set up a free account with the assignments).

Please feel free to reach out directly with any recommended edits (or possible errors) in the OpenClass assignments (neser@vt.edu). Thank you for reviewing and/or adopting this textbook and I hope this free resource is useful to you!

This Project has been completed as part of a Precalculus course with corequisite section during the Fall 2023 semester at MassBay Community College, Wellesley Hills, MA. 

Igor Baryakhtar's Presentation at NEMATYC 2022 Conference, 4/09/2022.The presentation is a comparison of three types of learning materials• paper and pencil• word processor document, Microsoft Word etc.• web page.  Outline • Introduction: types of learning materials• How to present formulas? Tools available• Student project implementations.

What do plants eat? This unit explores plants and how they make food.

Play is something that every child enjoys doing. Since this is the case why not use play as a tool for education? Playing with the intent to learn is a great way to keep students interested and motivated in the lessons. This OER talks about different aspects of using play as a learning tool and why it is beneficial for all students. 

In the past building prototypes of electronic components for new projects/products was limited to using protoboards and wirewrap. Manufacturing a printed-circuit-board was limited to final production, where mistakes in the implementation meant physically cutting traces on the board and adding wire jumpers - the final products would have these fixes on them! Today that is no longer the case, while you will still cut traces and use jumpers when debugging a board, manufacturing a new final version without the errors is a simple and relatively inexpensive task. For that matter, manufacturing a prototype printed circuit board which you know is likely to have errors but which will get the design substantially closer to the final product than a protoboard setup is not only possible, but desirable. In this class, you'll learn to design, build, and debug printed-circuit-boards.

Delve into a microscopic world working with models that show how electron waves can tunnel through certain types of barriers. Learn about the novel devices and apparatuses that have been invented using this concept. Discover how tunneling makes it possible for computers to run faster and for scientists to look more deeply into the microscopic world.

This assignment exposes students to racial inequalities in their own communities and helps them to identify the impact of racial segregation on quality of life. The big ideas in this assignment are racial inequality, residential segregation, and environmental justice.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

How does energy flow in and out of our atmosphere? Explore how solar and infrared radiation enters and exits the atmosphere with an interactive model. Control the amounts of carbon dioxide and clouds present in the model and learn how these factors can influence global temperature. Record results using snapshots of the model in the virtual lab notebook where you can annotate your observations.