Three in-class lecture demonstration questions to test and build understanding of DC circuits are presented. These questions cover simple series and parallel circuits, and a more complicated circuit that is fundamental for understanding this topic.

After a brief history of plastics, students look more closely as some examples from the abundant types of plastics found in our day-to-day lives. They are introduced to the mechanical properties of plastics, including their stress-strain relationships, which determine their suitability for different industrial and product applications. These physical properties enable plastics to be fabricated into a wide range of products. Students learn about the different roles that plastics play in our lives, Young's modulus, and the effects that plastics have on our environment. Then students act as industrial engineers, conducting tests to compare different plastics and performing a cost-benefit analysis to determine which are the most cost-effective for a given application, based on their costs and measured physical properties.

This activity is designed to provide qualitative understanding of the Work-Energy Theorem. Students are expected to have read introductory material regarding the theorem, and are tested on this with a short online quiz prior to class. After a brief discussion a "warm-up" demonstration is conducted with student participation. A question is then posed regarding the height a "Hopper Popper" will reach if launched from a thumb instead of a hard flat surface. After initial responses are presented, discussion groups are formed to achieve consensus and provide justification of conclusions. This is followed by a confirming demonstration with surprising results.

The 1935 edition published by R. T. Gunther was based on only three or four local manuscripts, and as such is defective in many places. Missing phrases, or mis-copies or mis-read phrases at times makes that text unintelligible.

This edition is based on the collation of a significant number of manuscripts (over 80, and eventually, it is hoped, all manuscript copies). What is now being published here is the text of the Prologue and of the first sixteen chapters (Version 1.1).

The edition is available in five PDF files:

Part I: Introduction contains the preface and introductory material, including manuscript information;

Part II: Critical Edition contains the Latin text and diagrams, the critical apparatus and a facing English translation;

Part III: Latin Text contains the Latin text and diagrams, without the apparatus criticus, but maintaining the line numbers of the critical edition;

Part IV: English Text contains the English text and diagrams, for those who are interested in consulting only the translation.

Appendix I: Catalogue of Stars contains information about the all the stars mentioned in the text.

Over time these texts will be updated and expanded, when the remaining manuscript copies are collated, and when the editing of further sections have been completed. However, it is not expected that the present version will change – the rest of the manuscripts will expand the apparatus criticus but are unlikely to modify the text itself.

The editor is interested in the receiving comments on the text, and further insights into its interpretation, from others. He is willing to incorporate such additions into future versions for the benefit of others who would consult this edition in the future. Comments can be sent to thomson@chass.utoronto.ca.

Permission is given for scholars to print out (and bind) any or all of these texts for non-commercial uses: research, study, criticism and citation. Commercial reproduction of all or part of the texts is not permitted without the prior consent of the copyright owner.

This collection of activities is based on a weekly series of space science problems distributed to thousands of teachers during the 2009-2010 school year. They were intended for students looking for additional challenges in the math and physical science curriculum in grades 9 through 12. The problems were created to be authentic glimpses of modern science and engineering issues, often involving actual research data. The problems were designed to be ‘one-pagers’ with a Teacher’s Guide and Answer Key as a second page. This compact form was deemed very popular by participating teachers.

Lab 1: the students begin by describing on a worksheet their own ideas
of delta formation using concept sketches and written descriptions of
the stages of formation, with only broad guidance from the instructor.
They are also asked to describe the key features of their concept
sketches, and to hypothesize how those features might develop (the
processes). The students have all been exposed to deltas in Physical
Geology, but likely only have rudimentary knowledge of them. Once they
have completed the worksheet, the entire class moves to a lab with a
stream table in it, preset to run a "model delta." The model has both a
web cam and a time-lapse web cam set up over the table to record the
development. The students help start the water flowing and the cameras
recording, then watch as it develops over the next 2-3 days.

Lab 2: In the second lab, we use grain-size analysis of the
stream-table delta as a means of testing some of their ideas from lab
1. The students as a class develop a strategy to sample the
stream-table delta for grain size, using a laser grain-size analyzer.
Each pair of students collect one sample, but are also asked to predict
the changes in grain size distribution for samples elsewhere in the
delta. The particle size analyzer rapidly provides results to the
students near the end of lab.

Lab 3: the final lab is a field trip to a pair of gravel pits that
expose the guts of two natural stranded deltas, including topset and
foreset beds. The students are asked to assess the landforms on a topo
map before arriving, and to describe the deposits at each site we
visit. On the final writeup, the students need to synthesize all the
elements of the three labs, along with input from our readings in the
textbook (Easterbrook) and McPhee's "Control of Nature."Â

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In this video from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how scientists detect potential signs of life on distant planets.

In this activity, students play the roles of detectives investigating the loss of a city's water supply by evaporation. They will design an experiment to see whether heat or wind causes the greater loss of water, conduct the experiment, and write a report detailing their findings.

This lesson discusses the interior structure of the earth as defined by research on the behavior of seismic waves as they move through the layers inside of the planet. The lesson details both compositional layers as well as mechanical layers.

This activity includes reading a non-ficiton book and trying the experiments with air listed in the book. Students will record their observations regarding the experiments in an observation journal.

Students are tasked with designing a special type of hockey stick for a sled hockey team—a sport designed for individuals with physical disabilities to play ice hockey. Using the engineering design process, students act as material engineers to create durable hockey sticks using a variety of materials. The stick designs will contain different interior structures that can hold up during flexure (or bending) tests. Following flexure testing, the students can use their results to iterate upon their design and create a second stick.

This series of informative graphics provide a regional overview of US energy resources.

Research physical scientist, Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum, is featured in this short (~3 min.) video. Dr. Kirschbaum explains how the integration of her initial interest in math and her subsequent interest in the science of natural disasters lead to her career focus of landslide modeling. Now part of the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) team, she communicates about the GPM mission and data to the public and to others who use it in their work and/or research.

Students interact with an applet to experiment with waveform interference. The activity should be performed in a computer laboratory, with each student at a workstation. They should each be provided with a copy of the following handout, available in Word and pdf format, which they should fill in as they proceed through the exercise. At the completion of the exercise, they should hand it in for grading.

(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.)

In this lesson, students will explain CRaTER's purpose and how it works. They will also design (using paper and pencil) a cosmic ray detector to answer their own questions. CRaTER's purpose is to identify safe landing sites for future human missions to the moon; discover potential resources on the Moon; and characterize the radiation environment of the Moon. The lesson includes background information for the teacher, questions, and information about student preconceptions. This is lesson 4 of 4 from "The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation."

This activity enables students to apply concepts of 'newton's laws of motion' that are learned in class to a realworld situation by having them create a car powered by a deflating balloon that travels as far as possible.

Students make a wheel and axle out of cardboard and a wooden dowel. It is rooled along a ramp made of parallel meter sticks, and the acceleration can be made small enough to make accurate measurements and calculations.

Sal draws a free body diagram for a box held stationary against a wall with a force at an angle theta.

David explains moment of inertia and the rotational version of Newton's second law and shows how to solve an example problem. Created by David SantoPietro.

David explains what rotational kinetic energy is and how to calculate it. Created by David SantoPietro.