Web Watch

Carl Mungan, United States Naval Academy
mungan@usna.edu

Physics Classroom at http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmedia has a large number of animations arranged by topic for the introductory course.

Smarter Every Day has a nifty video about learning to ride a bike rigged so that it turns left when the handlebar goes right. There’s a big lesson here about how people learn. Watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0&feature=youtu.be. On a humbler level, I recently learned how to better tie my shoelaces at http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknotanalyser.htm. Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks?

The National Academy has put together a website about Women’s Adventures in Sciences to showcase contemporary accomplishments in science and engineering at http://www.iwaswondering.org/. Another useful resource is http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/women-in-stem/ which is a guide for women interested in STEM fields.

The webpage at http://www.vox.com/2015/3/9/8144825/space-maps has 40 different maps about the solar system, earth, spacecraft, and the universe.

Colonial Academy emailed me the link to https://www.titlemax.com/resources/a-guide-to-simple-machines-used-in-cars/ about simple machines used in automobiles. Also see https://www.titlemax.com/resources/newtons-laws-of-motion-and-car-physics/ about how Newton’s laws relate to the physics of cars.

There has been some discussion in our department about the news feature by Science on active learning in science class at http://www.nature.com/news/why-we-are-teaching-science-wrong-and-how-to-make-it-right-1.17963.

Giving a talk at a conference or campus? The page at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jrs/speaking.html has some helpful suggestions.

Physics World has a great analysis (complete with videos) of the recent research resolution to the question of how boulders move along Racetrack Playa in Death Valley at http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/2015/jul/02/the-restless-rocks-of-racetrack-playa.

Practice makes perfect, right? Only if you clarify what should be practiced and for how long, according to psychologists at http://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2004/ask-cognitive-scientist.

Science Daily at http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/matter_energy/engineering/ has lots of regularly updated stories about practical developments in science and engineering. I also like Quanta Magazine online at https://www.quantamagazine.org/.

Interested in installing solar panels on your roof? A discussion of the merits of leasing versus buying can be found at http://www.expertise.com/home-and-garden/home-solar-panels-pros-cons-and-hidden-costs.

A great set of physics videos with an entertaining host is at http://physicsgirl.org/.

A lot of activities and materials for teaching about probability can found at http://www.transum.org/Software/SW/Starter_of_the_day/Similar.asp?ID_Topic=30.

A very well developed set of STEM resources tailored for teachers is online at http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/technology/.

If you don’t mind a plug for one of my own research interests, read about laser cooling of CdS nanoribbons at http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volume-49/issue-06/features/chillers-and-coolers–breakthrough-of-optical-refrigeration–las.html.

Drats, no radio station in my local area carries the weekly program of ambient music called Hearts of Space, but you can subscribe to online access at https://www.hos.com/.

A free tool to remove the background from an image or photograph is at https://burner.bonanza.com/.

Science magazine has put together an animated website giving an overview of general relativity at http://spark.sciencemag.org/generalrelativity/.

The PER group at University of Colorado Boulder has materials for physics courses at all undergraduate levels collected together at http://www.colorado.edu/per/resources/course-materials.

Finally, CERN has an educational page for middle and high school starting at http://education.web.cern.ch/education/Chapter2/Intro.html.

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Disclaimer – The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.