This resource is composed of materials from Wayne State University's professional development workshops which are designed to introduce educators to hybrid electric and electric vehicle fundamentals. Included materials are an event agenda, faculty presentations, and fliers.

This web site hosts the materials for an annual middle school competition that consists of four physical science experiments centered on a mystery. The experiments are designed for small groups in a classroom or after school setting. Each of the experiments gives students a clue to solve the mystery. The current year's competition is available to join and the materials from previous years are available for download.

This web site has links to the materials for the 2006 Physics Quest middle school competition, hosted by the APS. The 2006 lesson covers static electricity, conductors and insulators, heat, and optics. These are connected to the life and science of Benjamin Franklin. The experiments are designed for small groups in a classroom or after school setting. Each of the experiments gives students a clue to solve the mystery.

This four credit course offered by Macomb Community College provides practical training in the theory and basic design aspects of electric vehicle propulsion systems and is a required course for MCC's Electric VehicleDevelopment Technology Certificate. Primary subjects covered include rationale forelectric vehicles(EVs), safety, battery technologies, basic battery testing, electric machine (motor) types, electric machine operation, power management, power inverters, DC to DC converters, accessory systems, and potential future technologies. Educational materials included arethe first day handout, detailed course outcomes, homework (no solutions), labs, pre/post assessments, presentations, sample quizzes/exams, syllabus, and more. If you're an instructor and need access to homework solutions or complete exams/quizzes, please contact theCAAT. This course is composed of nine modules thatcan be used to supplement existing courses or can betaught together as a complete course.These modules are The Need for EVs, EV Safety, Introduction to Battery Chemistry, Battery Pack Integration with Vehicle Systems, Electric Machines (DC Motors, AD Induction Asynchronous Motors, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor, and Switched Reluctance Motors), Power Inverter/Electronic Motor Controls, DC to DC Converters, Vehicle Accessory Systems, and Introduction to Advancing Technology (Fuel Cells, Ultra Capacitors, and Hydraulic Propulsion)

This module introduces the concept of biological absorption, storage and distribution of chemicals.

This module provides an intrioduction to acid and base chemistry. The Arrhenius and Bronsted-Lowry concepts of acids and bases are discussed as well as the pH scale and neutralization reactions.

This subset of the Black Box Software Testing collection includes resources to teach quality cost analysis, combination testing, regression testing, GUI regression automation, high volume test automation, requirements analysis, test documentation, test scripts, and scripted testing and inattentional blindness. Resources include lecture videos, slides, activities, and suggested readings.

The following module consists of a PowerPoint presentation, two lab sheets, and a syllabus for modifying automotive engine courses to include HEV technologies and was developedthrough a seed grant from theCAAT. The PowerPoint discusses the application of variable valve timing (VVT) and Atkinson cycle principals to HEVs, and the extra hydrocarbon capturing devices added to HEVs due to the use VVT and Atkinson principles. The lab "Compression Testing VVT systems" reinforces the ideas of the presentation illustrating engine malfunctions caused by a faulty VVT system. For additional insight on HEV engine service procedures, an oil change lab sheet for HEVs is included. For educators looking to modify current courses, the syllabus has highlighted fields where HEV technologies were incorporated to an engines course at Lewis and Clark Community College.

This Web unit describes a project involving fifth grade students and the areas of the fifth and sixth grade classrooms. Included in the unit are measurement, graphing, computation, data analysis, and presentation of results. The lesson descriptions and extensions, student worksheets and charts, figures, and tables appeared as an article in the NCTM journal Teaching Children Mathematics.

In this unit, students learn about the form and function of the human heart through lecture, research and dissection. Following the steps of the Legacy Cycle, students brainstorm, research, design and present viable solutions to various heart conditions as presented through a unit challenge. Additionally, students study how heart valves work and investigate how faulty valves can be replaced with new ones through advancements in engineering and technology. This unit demonstrates to students how and why the heart is such a powerful organ in our bodies

These modules were originally presented to First Responders during a two-day workshop at the North Carolina Solar Center (now known as the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center) and were taught by National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium trained instructors. Three separate modules were used to educate them on the properties, technology, and safety precautions to take when working with alternative fuel vehicles utilizing gaseous fuels, biofuels, and electric drivetrains.

This collection of resources, published by the American Museum of Natural History, is intended for educators, parents, students, or anyone who is interested in teaching and learning about science. The resources include activities, curriculum materials, articles, evidence and analysis materials, exhibition materials, and lists of references. Items may be text-based, pedagogical, or multimedia (photos, videos, interactives) in nature. The collection is searchable by keyword or browseable by main topic: anthropology, astronomy, biology, Earth science, or paleontology. There are also special collections, groups of resources organized around specific themes such as Antarctica, ocean life, and the dynamic Earth.

These materials are written to supplement the book Amusement Park Physics, 2nd Edition by Clarence Bakken. They include descriptions of contests, projects, and demonstrations related teaching physics through amusement park rides. There is also a set of short histories of Physics Day at four amusement parks to provide ideas for improving these events, examples of data taken on amusement park rides, and a Powerpoint presentation on vertical loops on roller coasters. The Amusement Park Physics book will be available from the AAPT store in the Spring of 2011.

After gaining skill through analyzing a historic and contemporary speech as a class, students will select a famous speech from a list compiled from several resources and write an essay that identifies and explains the rhetorical strategies that the author deliberately chose while crafting the text to make an effective argument. Their analysis will consider questions such as: What makes the speech an argument?, How did the author's rhetoric evoke a response from the audience?, and Why are the words still venerated today?

In the first of two sequential lessons, students create mobile apps that collect data from an Android device's accelerometer and then store that data to a database. This lesson provides practice with MIT's App Inventor software and culminates with students writing their own apps for measuring acceleration. In the second lesson, students are given an app for an Android device, which measures acceleration. They investigate acceleration by collecting acceleration vs. time data using the accelerometer of a sliding Android device. Then they use the data to create velocity vs. time graphs and approximate the maximum velocity of the device.

After researching the characteristics of arthropods, students observe arthropods in the field, analyze their data, and learn how to develop their own arthropod collection. The unit is designed to be completed in eight or more sessions. The comprehensive curriculum materials contain information for teachers, including activity tips and an overview of the characteristics that define arthropods.

Through this earth science curricular unit, student teams are presented with the scenario that an asteroid will impact the Earth. In response, their challenge is to design the location and size of underground caverns to shelter the people from an uninhabitable Earth for one year. Driven by this adventure scenario, student teams 1) explore general and geological maps of their fictional state called Alabraska, 2) determine the area of their classroom to help determine the necessary cavern size, 3) learn about map scales, 4) test rocks, 5) identify important and not-so-important rock properties for underground caverns, and 6) choose a final location and size.

The lessons at this website were prepared to introduce 5th-8th grade students to the fundamental principles of the earth's atmosphere: history, composition, and structure. Includes three pages of information and features to allow for exploration and expansion of current knowledge. In addition, there are four activities to develop performance skills, not only in science, but in math and language arts as well. Links to external sites also included.

This website contains a series of videos describing the operation of Atomic Force Microscopes. These videos include outlines of microscopy, models of AFM's, and examples of the operation and output of real microscopes. Also included are student activities and curricular resources for teachers. This is one of a series of similar modules on Nanotechnology produced by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Center on Hierarchical Manufacturing.

This lesson introduces J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron and E. Rutherford's planetary model of atomic structure. This is the first in a series covering modern atomic theory.

This module provides information on the content and writing style used in writing a Visionlearning teaching module.

This lab manual describes Franklin's thoughts on the electrical nature of lightening and the use of lightening rods. It includes descriptions of historical experiments and studies and electrostatic experiments with simple and inexpensive generators and Leyden jars.

The Biofuels vs Fossil Fuels unit has students explore the similarities and differences between fossil fuels and biofuels. In the process, students investigate the carbon-transforming processes of combustion, photosynthesis, fermentation and respiration. They apply their knowledge of these processes to the global carbon cycle to examine how use of fossil fuels and biofuels have different effects on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and consequently global climate change. Students use their understanding of the global carbon cycle to study the claim that biofuels, such as ethanol made from plant material, can help reduce the rate of increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide. In addition, students examine the environmental impact of biofuels agriculture.

Overall, this unit has three important goals. These focus on: Matter and energy changes associated with the carbon-transforming processes, the effects of the use of fossil fuels and biofuels on the global carbon cycle and global climate change, and a cost/benefit analysis of the production and use of biofuels.

In this lesson, learners measure the lengths of various insect body parts from scanning electron micrographs using WebImage, a Web-based customized version of ImageJ. The lesson introduces students to setting scale in making the measurements and to units of measurement, as well as entomology.

Students examine an image produced by a cabinet x-ray system to determine if it is a quality bone mineral density image. They write in their journals about what they need to know to be able to make this judgment. Students learn about what bone mineral density is, how a BMD image can be obtained, and how it is related to the x-ray field. Students examine the process used to obtain a BMD image and how this process is related to mathematics, primarily through logarithmic functions. They study the relationship between logarithms and exponents, the properties of logarithms, common and natural logarithms, solving exponential equations and Beer's law.

This subset of the Black Box Software Testing collection includes resources to teach Bug Advocacy: Effective Bug Investigation and Reporting. Bug reports are not just neutral technical reports. They are persuasive documents. The key goal of the bug report author is to provide high-quality information, well-written, to help stakeholders make wise decisions about which bugs to fix. Resources include lecture videos, slides, activities, suggested readings, and study guide materials.

Students are introduced to some basic civil engineering concepts in an exciting and interactive manner. Bridges and skyscrapers, the two most visible structures designed by civil engineers, are discussed in depth, including the design principles behind them. To help students visualize in three dimensions, one hands-on activity presents three-dimensional coordinate systems and gives students practice finding and describing points in space. After learning about skyscrapers, tower design principles and how materials absorb different types of forces, students compete to build their own newspaper towers to meet specific design criteria.The unit concludes with student groups using balsa wood and glue to design and build tower structures to withstand vertical and lateral forces.

This page from CERES (Center for Educational Resources Project) features classroom-ready lessons for K-12 classes, developed by a team of master teachers, NASA researchers, and university faculty. The activities are designed to integrate themes and unifying concepts in science with astronomy objectives, and provide concrete experiences for observation, comparison, and organization of data about our solar system and the Milky Way galaxy. Lessons are organized by grade bands: K-4, 5-8, and 9-12. Some integrate NASA data to allow students to construct first-hand knowledge of the universe. All lessons are aligned to the NRC National Science Education Standards.

This module provides an introduction to the concept of carbohydrates as a macronutrient. The biochemical structure of simple sugars and complex carbohydrates are compared and contrasted.

This module provides an overview of the biogeochemical carbon cycle. Major sources and sinks of carbon are discussed as well as the impact of human activities on global carbon levels.

This lesson introduces the cell as the basic structural unit of life, and details modern cell theory.

This Web unit introduces the coordinate plane with the help of Sam the Chameleon, who illustrates how to find points on a number line and graph points in the coordinate plane. A link to a Java applet for graphing with Sam is included.

This is the second in a series of modules which detail the research of Charles Darwin and evolutionary theory. This module continues with a discussion of the processes that led to Darwin's formulation of the theory of natural selection.

This module introduces Darwin's Galapagos travels and an introduction to the theory of evolution as a force for biological change and diversification. This is the first in a series of modules which detail the research of Charles Darwin and evolutionary theory.

The ChemWiki project is a new approach toward chemistry education where an open access textbook environment is constantly being written and re-written partly by students and partly by faculty members resulting in a free chemistry textbook to supplement or supplant conventional paper-based books. Anyone can view, although a freely available account is required to edit the site modules.

It discusses the process of equation writing and balancing chemical equations in perspective of the chemical changes that take place during a reaction. This module is the third in a series on chemical reactions.

It introduces the concept of electron exchange and briefly explains exothermic and endothermic reactions. This is the first in a series of modules on chemical reactions.

This is a 10-day multimedia unit for grades 9-12 that explores the fundamentals of electric circuits in a web-based, interactive format. Students explore digital circuit simulators, animated tutorials, and problem-based labs where they are asked to solve real-life problems related to electricity. The web resources used in this module were all compiled from items cataloged in The Physics Front. Links are provided to background information, historical context, student reading, lesson plans, lab guides, and interactive tutorials for students needing additional help.

Students are challenged to design a method for separating steel from aluminum based on magnetic properties as is frequently done in recycling operations. To complicate the challenge, the magnet used to separate the steel must be able to be switched off to allow for the recollection of the steel. Students must ultimately design, test, and present an effective electromagnet.

This is the overview ppt for the workshop at the MIAAPT section meeting March 28, 2008

In Spring 2007, introductory mechanics students at Cabrillo College used Tracker to compare 2D particle models with videos of real-world motion. After doing a traditional motion video analysis lab, students used both analytic (position functions) and dynamic (force functions and initial conditions for numerical solvers) models to draw overlays directly on their captured videos. The video thus provided a "reality check" while students explored different models, parameters and algorithms. In addition to the visual overlays, the models generated "experimental data" for graphing and analysis just like experimental (student-marked) tracks. This paper will describe my own and my students' experiences with this first exposure to computational physics in the curriculum. Tracker is a JAVA video/image analysis tool developed by the Open Source Physics Project. The Open Source Physics project is supported in part by the National Science Foundation grants DUE-0126439 and DUE-0442481.

These worksheets provide student exercises in finding and evaluating web resources for physics classes. The activities include web searches on particular topics or questions that arise in class and careful evaluation of web resources identified by the instructors. Students are encouraged to consider issues such as the author, hosting organization, time of updates, and functionality of the web site. General questions about information reliability on the web are provided in the final assignment. An assignment on plagiarism is also included. These materials were developed for a class in Mechanics, but could easily be modified for any topic.

These worksheets provide student exercises in finding and evaluating web resources for physics classes. The activities include web searches on particular topics or questions that arise in class and careful evaluation of web resources identified by the instructors. Students are encouraged to consider issues such as the author, hosting organization, time of updates, and functionality of the web site. General questions about information reliability on the web are provided in the final assignment. These materials were developed for a class in Thermodynamics and Electrodynamics, but could easily be modified for any topic.

The Cornell Science Inquiry Partnerships (CSIP) fellowship program builds partnerships between Cornell University graduate students and secondary school teachers with the goals of enhancing inquiry-based learning and updating science and engineering content taught in rural and urban schools. Students work with partner teachers to design inquiry-based activities that will meet the needs of each participating class. These include open-ended research (original research projects designed by students); structured investigations (short-term investigations designed by the student-teacher team to teach specific concepts); and activities focusing on the nature of science and scientific research. The CSIP web site features curriculum resources developed by program participants, program publications, information on state and national education standards, and links to related programs.

This experiment explores the behavior of a pair of loosely coupled compass needles in air with weak damping. The needles are far enough apart that the magnetic interaction between their magnetic dipoles is much weaker than their interaction with the Earth's magnetic field. The resulting motion displays beats--when one compass is momentarily at rest, the other oscillates with maximum amplitude.

This lesson asks students to explore the motivation behind characters' actions in To Kill a Mockingbird. Students first engage in a freewrite activity. They then do research and creative thinking to design a poster and plan a presentation representing a psychological profile for a selected character, while determining what specific factors (such as family, career, environment, and so forth) have the greatest influence on the characters' decision making throughout the novel. The groups present their findings to the class by assuming the persona of their character and explaining the psychological factors influencing their behavior in the novel.

Students are introduced to the world of creative engineering product design. Through six activities, teams work through the steps of the engineering design process (or loop) by completing an actual design challenge presented in six steps. The project challenge is left up to the teacher or class to determine; it might be one decided by the teacher, brainstormed with the class, or the example provided (to design a prosthetic arm that can perform a mechanical function). As students begin by defining the problem, they learn to recognize the need, identify a target population, relate to the project, and identify its requirements and constraints. Then they conduct research, brainstorm alternative solutions, evaluate possible solutions, create and test prototypes, and consider issues for manufacturing. See the Unit Schedule section for a list of example design project topics.

Through eight lessons, students are introduced to many facets of dams, including their basic components, the common types (all designed to resist strong forces), their primary benefits (electricity generation, water supply, flood control, irrigation, recreation), and their importance (historically, currently and globally). Through an introduction to kinetic and potential energy, students come to understand how dams generate electricity. They learn about the structure, function and purpose of locks, which involves an introduction to Pascal's law, water pressure and gravity. Other lessons introduce students to common environmental impacts of dams and the engineering approaches to address them. They learn about the life cycle of salmon and the many engineered dam structures that aid in their river passage, as they think of their own methods and devices that could help fish migrate past dams. Students learn how dams and reservoirs become part of the Earth's hydrologic cycle, focusing on the role of evaporation. To conclude, students learn that dams do not last forever; they require ongoing maintenance, occasionally fail or succumb to "old age," or are no longer needed, and are sometimes removed. Through associated hands-on activities, students track their personal water usage; use clay and plastic containers to model and test four types of dam structures; use paper cups and water to learn about water pressure and Pascal's Law; explore kinetic energy by creating their own experimental waterwheel from two-liter plastic bottles; collect and count a stream's insects to gauge its health; play an animated PowerPoint game to quiz their understanding of the salmon life cycle and fish ladders; run a weeklong experiment to measure water evaporation and graph their data; and research eight dams to find out and compare their original purposes, current status, reservoir capacity and lifespan. Woven throughout the unit is a continuing hypothetical scenario in which students act as consulting engineers with a Splash Engineering firm, assisting Thirsty County in designing a dam for Birdseye River.

This webpage features a STEM investigation developed by teachers Carrie Lewis and Kelly Steele to strengthen understanding of patterns with grade 5 students. After observing and analyzing dance videos, teams of students create their own routines based on numerical patterns. The page includes a downloadable (pdf) lesson plan, student handouts, and teacher tools, and features a 9-minute video describing the project and demonstrating students at work.

This module focuses on the solar wind information obtained by NASA-s Genesis spacecraft. Genesis collects pristine solar wind material -ionic particles from the Sun- that will provide clues about the elemental composition of the original solar nebula.

This television program, intended to increase students' awareness of and interest in engineering, takes the form of a competition in which teams of contestants work together to design and build solutions to various engineering problems. In the final episode of the season, the top scorers compete for the grand prize, a college scholarship. The program's website features information on the design challenges the contestants address, cast biographies, instructions on how to build some of the projects designed by the cast, games, and videos. The parents and educators page features information on the website, activities based on the program's design challenges, an educator's guide with curriculum materials, and links to printable resources to be used with the activities.

This module isderived from thecourse "Intro to Mechatronics" at Lawrence Technological University and was developed through seed funding from theCAAT. This module contains a PowerPoint presentation and LabVIEW simulation file. In the presentation the following concepts are discussed: wheel/tire-terrain interactive dynamics (wheel loads, effective rolling radius, and power balance),inverse dynamics-based control (changing rolling conditions and angular velocity control),control strategies (loops and algorithms), andcontrol algorithms in the LabVIEW environment.

Geographic information systems (GIS), once used predominantly by experts in cartography and computer programming, have become pervasive in everyday business and consumer use. This unit explores GIS in general as a technology about which much more can be learned, and it also explores applications of that technology. Students experience GIS technology through the use of Google Earth on the environmental topic of plastics in the ocean in an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The use of this topic in GIS makes the unit multidisciplinary, incorporating the physics of ocean currents, the chemistry associated with pollutant degradation and chemical sorption to organic-rich plastics, and ecological impact to aquatic biota.

This subset of the Black Box Software Testing collection includes resources to teach Domain Testing: The Most Widely Used Test Technique. Resources include lecture videos, slides, activities, suggested readings, and study guide materials.

This module focuses on the launch and propulsion of the Genesis spacecraft. Students will become familiar with how rockets are launched, learn how and why specific rockets are chosen for varying payloads, learn about the history of rocketry, and work with variables that might affect the performance of a launch vehicle. They will work in teams to test a single variable involved in launching a rocket and learn the variables involved with constructing and launching a water rocket. Each activity includes a teacher's guide and students handouts. Video and audio clips are provided.

The EarthLabs project provides a national model for rigorous and engaging Earth and environmental science labs. The activities in each EarthLabs topic represent a lab sequence for an integrated instructional unit. Six topics are available: corals, cryosphere, drought, earth system science, fisheries and hurricanes. There are six to nine labs within each topic with complete directions.

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 module explores the composition of the earth's atmosphere, how temperature and pressure vary in the atmosphere, and the scientific developments that led to an understanding of these basic concepts.

This monograph examines the major economic and policy issues that surround the development and use of new technologies. Examples from a wide variety of technologies and industries are used to illustrate the issues involved, many of which are drawn from other monographs in the NLA monograph series. In addition, the monograph is self-contained in that all of the economic concepts that are utilized are first introduced and explained. The monograph is therefore well-suited for undergraduate economics courses that include an examination of the economics of technical change. Among the topics covered are. decisions by firms to utilize existing technologies, consequences of government intervention in the process of technical change, implications of technical innovation for the economic welfare of different groups in society, the extent of direct government support and subsidies for research and development in the U.S., the usefulness of benefit cost analysis and technology assessment, and examination of the question of whether or not the recent world wide slowdown in the rate of economic and productivity growth has been caused by a slowdown in the rate of technical change. This volume makes a lot of use of summation notation and reading and interpretation of graphs of algebraic relationships. Discussion questions are included with each chapter, although most are not of a quantitative nature.