The transit of Venus is a rare astronomical event that has been well documented throughout history. The most recent transit occurred in June of 2004, and the one before that took place more than 100 years earlier in 1882. This site from the South African Astronomical Observatory provides information and first-hand observations of the 1882 event from Wellington, South Africa. Just prior to the event, an observatory was erected at the Huguenot Seminary for girls, and some of the historical observations made from that site in 1882 are provided here for your perusal.

Created by David Lane of Rice University, this applet simulates experiments using 2 x 2 contingency tables. You specify the population proportions and the sample size and examine the effects on the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis. The author provides instructions and then five different exercises to practice these concepts. Overall, this is a nice interactive resource that allows users a more hands-on approach to statistics.

These zipped documents from MatEd provide information on designing a course on 3 Dimensional Digital Laser Scanning Fundamentals. At the end of the course, students will be able to identify applications for 3 dimensional digital laser scanning, operate a NextEngine brand 3 dimensional digital laser scanner, and have proposed a project to reinforce these concepts. The documents include a draft syllabus, contact information for the author of the course, a sample new course proposal form, and a course outline.

In 1953, Gottfried Moellenstedt invented the electron biprism, more or less by accident, with the serendipity characteristic to him: Aiming at dark-field imaging in an electron microscope, he stretched a thin tungsten wire across the objective aperture to block off the zero beam. However, instead of a dark field image, because of inadvertent charging of the wire under the beam, he found two images of the ZnO-needles serving as an object. Instead of trying the dark field imaging over and over again, he asked what the effect would be if the obtained two images were superimposed. Is coherence given? Moellenstedt, educated by Walther Kossel in diffraction of electron waves, had a vision: Together with his PhD-student Heinrich Dueker, he developed the electron biprism, consisting of a 1 micron m thin wire deliberately chargeable by means of a voltage source, as a beam splitter for coherent superposition of the electron waves passing the filament on the right and on the left. In 1955 they published the first results showing biprism interference fringes [G. Moellenstedt and H. Dueker, Naturwiss. 42, 41 (1955)], which, since then, gave access to the understanding of electron waves and their use for analysis of object structures up to atomic dimensions. Target Audience: 2-4 Year College Faculty/Administrators

9th Grade Math Practice Questions to test addition, multiplication, word-problem skills, and basic algebraic skills. Includes answers and explanations. From the Proficiency Building Activities of the NASA Lewis Research Center K-12 Program.

Provided by the American Dental Hygienists' Association, this site's resources are valuable for both dental patients and hygienists to help understand "the importance of oral health to total health." Patients will find informative fact sheets describing potential oral health problems as well as tips for preventing them. Hygienists will find the free posters useful as well as the instructions included for proper brushing and flossing techniques in order to educate and support their patients. The site underscores dental hygienists' roles in tobacco cessation efforts, a major topic of concern in the allied health professions. Providing free "life-saving advice", the ADHA hopes to promote overall heath beginning with oral care.

This site, created by Michelle Lacey of Yale University, gives an explanation, a definition and an example of ANOVA for regression. Topics include analysis of variance calculations for simple and multiple regression, and F-statistics. This is a great overview of this topic.

This curriculum guide, from the American Radio Relay League, is "a resource that will help you do what you do best...teach, and teach in a refreshing, captivating way that will bring your students into the world of wireless technology, a journey that will enrich their lives, and our lives." From this site, visitors can either download the basic document or browse the various units and activities listed here. Topics covered include Ohm's Law, Oscillators, Wireless Technology in Robotics, and an Introduction to Ham Radio, among many others.

ATE Central is a freely available online portal and collection of materials and services that highlight the work of the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) projects and centers. These National Science Foundation funded initiatives work with educators from two-year colleges to develop and implement ideas for improving the skills of technicians and the educators who teach them. ATE Central is designed to help educators, students, and the general public to learn about, and use materials from, the entire depth and breadth of the Advanced Technological Education program.ATE Central helps direct users to a full range of high-impact ATE resources available online, including curricula, learning objects, and podcasts. The portal aggregates information about the materials developed by ATE centers and projects, and organizes them using subject taxonomies, context appropriate keywords, and other digital cataloging techniques.

This case study provides an introduction to HIV, including the life cycle of the disease, its treatment, and problems associated with different treatment options. The case would be useful in an upper level high school or lower level undergraduate class studying health and biology. The case study and teaching notes may be downloaded in PDF format. The site also includes a section for instructor feedback where general comments may be read and contributed.

This tutorial is comprised of 10 modules that offer information, instructional techniques, and practice labs on how to make the most common needs in distance education accessible for individuals with disabilities, and enhance the usability of online materials for all students. The modules center around topics such as making video, flash, word , PDF and many other documents accessible for students with disabilities.

This post on the AmericaView Blog describes accessing Landsat data and using it in the ArcGIS program. The post includes a link to an instructional video which will show you how to access freely available Landsat satellite imagery and data and then work with it in ArcGIS. Running time for the video is 8:01.

This learning activity from the Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC) provides students with the opportunity to use analytical meters and instruments and perform acid deposition sampling. Students will collect samples from various sources over a period of time, then measure pH and develop graphs or charts. Users must download this resource for viewing, which requires a free log-in. There is no cost to download the item.

Acid precipitation will be defined. At different points in the lesson students will write balanced reactions for the formation acid precipitation from atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen oxides and the neutralization of acids by limestone. Students will determine which states are most at risk from acid precipitation and assess how that risk has changed from 1996 to 2006. Sources of atmospheric sulfur (burning of high-sulfur coal) and nitrogen oxides (automobile exhaust) will be listed. The buffering effect of limestone soils and its mitigating effect on acid precipitation will be discussed. Students will correlate these areas with sulfur and nitrogen oxide production, population, composition of coal fields, and soil composition. This resource includes both a teaching guide and student worksheets.

The Acoustic Monitoring Project at NOAA is observing the ocean through underwater acoustics. At this site, visitors can learn about NOAA's studies in Bioacoustics, Ocean Seismicity, and Environmental Noise. The site also offers many animations dealing with Axial eruption, Atlantic Seismicity, and much more.

About 150 common acronyms in organic chemistry are listed along with their full names and structures.

In this professional development video from Getting Results, Dr. John Bransford, professor of education at the University of Washington School of Education, and an instructor talk about how to engage students. Bransford says engagement involves getting students interested in working on problems they have some knowledge about, followed by reflection on different learning strategies. The instructor is shown facilitating a physics experiment. His students try to predict the outcome of the experiment, and then discuss their findings as a group. Bransford concludes by saying that classroom activities connecting theory with practice help students to value what they learn. The 3:54 video is accompanied by a background essay and discussion questions. Users who sign up for a free account can download the video as well.

This collection of student activities contains problems dealing with waves and oscillations. Specific topics include masses on springs, pendulums, sound, and waves on a string. The activities include pictures and diagrams for clarification, but solutions to the problems are not included.

Created and presented by Vincente D'Ingianni, Director of Professional Services at Binary Systems, Inc., this PowerPoint demonstration covers how to adapt a Legacy phone system to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP). In the demonstration, D'Ingianni covers VoIP gateways, Bandwidth, Softswitches, and carriers.

Adaptive learning refers to the use of what is known about learners, a priori or through interactions, to alter how a learning experience unfolds, with the aim of improving each learner's success and satisfaction. Blended learning refers to the use of learning activities of differing kinds and venues to synergistically achieve overarching learning objectives. We have developed a technology infrastructure that supports online learning, where activities can be designed to adapt in response to an individual learner's situation. Recognizing that what is learned about learners from these activities could subsequently be used to adapt classroom-based learning, we have begun introducing technology features that support coordination between these venues. These same capabilities enable human interventions in adaptive online learning activities, thereby extending their responsiveness. From these beginnings, we anticipate the prospect of adaptive blended learning environments, where what comes to be known about learners from activities performed in any venue can be used adaptively by subsequent activities. This paper presents and discusses some opportunities and issues related to this prospect, both technologically and pedagogically. Target Audience: 2-4 Year College Faculty/Administrators