These are a set of lecture slide that I have created for the OpenStax astronomy textbook. For each chapter, there are between 2 and 4 sets of slides broken down into topics following the flow of the chapter. In each case, the slides come in three formats: Keynote, PowerPoint and pdf. Note that the slides were created using Keynote so there may be some minor formatting issues in the PowerPoint versions.

Please feel free to use/modify any of these as you find useful for your classes.

This site from the Exploratorium looks at the physics of skateboard tricks (ollieing, mid-air maneuvers, and pumping for speed) and the physics of the skateboards themselves (wheels, bearings, trucks).

Fitness activity using a deck of cards. For shorter time frame you can use only part of the deck.  Can be done as a group or individually. Can be used at all grade levels.

This resource was created by Brandee Drahota in collaboration with Rick Meyer as part of the 2019-20 ESU-NDE Digital Age Pedagogy Project. Educators worked with coaches to create Unit Plans promoting BlendEd Learning Best Practices. This Unit Plan is designed for Pre-School Health.In addition to the Kindergarten standards addressed, this lesson also meets the following Nebraska Core Academic Content Standards:SE.01: Develops self-awareness and sense of selfHP.03: Child develops an awareness and understanding of health, physical activity and safetyHP.04: Develops healthy eating habits and exhibits increasing independence in eating abilitiesLL.02: Develops functional skills to communicate effectively for a variety of purposes

Overview:  In this lesson, students will learn the dietary needs of preschool aged children.  In the first activity, students use the website MyPlate.org to fill in the database chart.  In the second activity, the students evaulate a sample diet to see if it meets the MyPlate requirements.  Lastly, the students plan some nutritious snacks for a preschool aged child.

This OER course by Yavapai College instructor Gino Romeo is designed to be delivered in face-to-face modality. It incorporates content from Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Melon University, Licensed CC BY 4.0, as well as other sources cited as relevant in the course.

This is an activity about detecting elements by using light. Learners will develop and apply methods to identify and interpret patterns to the identification of fingerprints. They look at fingerprints of their classmates, snowflakes, and finally “spectral fingerprints” of elements. They learn to identify each image as unique, yet part of a group containing recognizable similarities. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

Learn about rotational forces by watching astronaut Jeffrey Williams spin objects onboard the International Space Station in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

This activity shows how an ordinary ruler can measure human reaction time (RT). Learners will convert a standard ruler into a time ruler (relating time and distance) and measure each others RT. They will also calculate means and variances and the RT required to accomplish a specific task. Additional resources and an extension to this activity are available. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

In this activity, students use a piano keyboard to model spectral lines as musical chords. It is designed to aid student understanding of spectral analysis, what the patterns mean, how elements are involved, and how this relates to stars. Traditionally, spectral images are two dimensional, and related to text. This auditory activity allows students to "hear" differences in patterns of various elements (e.g., nickel or helium). This activity is part of the "What is Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements" information and activity booklet. The booklet includes photos, teachers notes and instructions, and a link to a color image pdf of visible light spectra that can be printed and used to do the activity. This activity requires a piano keyboard, color printout or construction paper and/or toothpicks (to mark spectral lines of elements).

Students will use iPads to research and perform a workout that focuses on core strength. Students will evaluate the workout upon completion.

In this video adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, find out about the discovery of a new building material, the carbon nanotube, whose physical properties could theoretically enable the creation of a 22,000-mile elevator to space.

This ZOOM video segment shows how to create a self-contained environment and explores evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

Traditionally, spectral images are two dimensional, and related to text. This kinesthetic activity has groups of students position themselves along a printed spectrum to make spectral patterns and model various elements. Includes photos, teachers notes and instructions, related resources (e.g., color pdf of a visible light spectra image that can be projected onto a white board or wall to do the activity), and alternative suggestions.

Where is humanity going? How realistic is a future of fusion and space colonies? What constraints are imposed by physics, by resource availability, and by human psychology? Are default expectations grounded in reality?

This textbook, written for a general-education audience, aims to address these questions without either the hype or the indifference typical of many books. The message throughout is that humanity faces a broad sweep of foundational problems as we inevitably transition away from fossil fuels and confront planetary limits in a host of unprecedented ways—a shift whose scale and probable rapidity offers little historical guidance.

Salvaging a decent future requires keen awareness, quantitative assessment, deliberate preventive action, and—above all—recognition that prevailing assumptions about human identity and destiny have been cruelly misshapen by the profoundly unsustainable trajectory of the last 150 years. The goal is to shake off unfounded and unexamined expectations, while elucidating the relevant physics and encouraging greater facility in quantitative reasoning.

After addressing limits to growth, population dynamics, uncooperative space environments, and the current fossil underpinnings of modern civilization, various sources of alternative energy are considered in detail— assessing how they stack up against each other, and which show the greatest potential. Following this is an exploration of systemic human impediments to effective and timely responses, capped by guidelines for individual adaptations resulting in reduced energy and material demands on the planet’s groaning capacity. Appendices provide refreshers on math and chemistry, as well as supplementary material of potential interest relating to cosmology, electric transportation, and an evolutionary perspective on humanity’s place in nature.

Corrections and feedback can be left at https://tmurphy.physics.ucsd.edu/energy-text/

Students gain experience using a spreadsheet and working with others to decide how to conduct their model 'experiments' with the NASA GEEBITT (Global Equilibrium Energy Balance Interactive Tinker Toy). This activity helps students become more familiar with the physical processes that made Earth's early climate so different from that of today. Students also acquire first-hand experience with a limitation in modeling, specifically, parameterization of critical processes.

This video from NASA features the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS), which allows scientists to use spectrographic analysis to assess the composition of intergalactic material.

In this adapted video segment, ZOOM guest Tommy takes us on a tour of the Florida Everglades. He describes what makes a wetland biome unique, including the soil, precipitation, and biodiversity.

This is a hands-on lab activity about seawater density. After developing a hypothesis, learners will conduct a simple investigation of density. They will discuss changes in density observed and describe how salt affects the density of water. Background information, common student preconceptions, a glossary and more is included. This activity is part of the Aquarius Hands-on Laboratory Activities.