Directory of Education Resources

Science/Physics/Education is for EDUCATIONAL web sites of interest to educators, parents, students and professionals emphasizing the teaching or learning of various aspects of physics or physical science. The best sites will try to teach or instruct about physics or physical science, though clear, easy-to-follow explanations of topics are useful as well. There are both a Science/Chemistry/Education and a Science/Biology/Education category here at ODP, and they may be more appropriate for some site submissions. This category is not for software or selling of products.

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Resources in This Category

A Prelude to the Study of Physics

http://mysite.verizon.net/res12merh/prelude.html
A paper by Robert J. Sciamanda, first published in Quantum Vol 7 No 2, pg. 45, Nov/Dec 1996.
Andes Physics Tutor

http://www.andestutor.org/
Andes is an intelligent tutoring system which teaches students how to solve physics problems. It provides a complete set of homework problems for an introductory college physics course or a high school AP physics course.
Animations of Wave Motion

http://physics.usask.ca/~hirose/ep225/anim.htm
Animated GIFs and a discussion of some of the math involved.
APS - Division of Physics of Beams

http://bt.pa.msu.edu/brochure/
History of beam physics research, and current information on the topic.
Art Ludwig's Sound Page

http://www.silcom.com/~aludwig/
Various explorations of sound, sound detection and sound measurement. Includes a section on physics of sound.
Astrophysics Science Project Integrating Research and Education (ASPIRE)

http://outreach.physics.utah.edu/
Site dedicated to helping teachers with lessons in physics and astrophysics by giving computer activities that help show how physical models work.
Bicycle Physics

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~fajans/Teaching/bicycles.html
The physics of how to steer a bicycle, and how stop signs interfere with bicycle commuting.
Cartoons and Movies

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~fajans/Teaching/cartoons/
Some diagrams and movies illustrating some otherwise abstract electrical principles.
Challenges In Teaching and Learning Introductory Physics

http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~airboy/challenge.html
Addresses the troubles presented in introductory physics courses taken by students in their first two years of college.
Common Errors in Undergraduate Mathematics

http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/commerrs/
This page describes the errors seen most frequently in undergraduate mathematics, the likely causes of those errors, and their remedies. Avoid these errors in order to improve in any math-intensive course, including physics.
Communities for Physics and Astronomy Digital Resources in Education (comPADRE)

http://www.compadre.org/
A project to create well organized, digital collections of high quality educational materials in physics and astronomy. ComPADRE consists of focused collections of materials for specific courses or serving specific constituencies, with connections to a wide range of online digital resources including curricular materials, digital libraries, and online journals, user communities that participate in the development and operation of these collections.
Contemporary Physics Education Project (CPEP)

http://www.cpepweb.org/
A non-profit organization of teachers, educators, and physicists; at Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
CosmoLearning Physics

http://www.cosmolearning.com/physics/
Educational website offering thousands of courses, books and video lectures by the world's top scholars.
Engineering Encounters - Bridge Design Contest

https://bridgecontest.org/
Bridge design contest (using specialized software). U.S. students age 13 through grade 12 are eligible for prizes. Anyone else may enter the Open Competition. Overview, rules, resources, software download and FAQ.
Exploring Physics in Cyberspace

http://epic.physics.missouri.edu/html/aboutprgm.htm
This site describes several tested extracurricular programs geared to introducing hands-on interactive physics activities for K-12 students. Supported by the National Science Foundation.
Fundamental Physical Constants from NIST

http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/
The values of the fundamental physical constants provided at this site are recommended for international use by CODATA and are the latest available.
FYKOS - Physical Correspondence Seminary

http://fykos.cz/
Worldwide competition in physics for grammar school (under age 19) students with an interest in physics.
GRE Physics Prep

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/physicsgre/
Yahoo group for people preparing for GRE Physics.
Henry Greenside's Duke Physics Challenges

http://www.phy.duke.edu/~hsg/physics-challenges/challenges.html
Physics-related word-problem puzzles.
How Atoms Work

http://www.howstuffworks.com/atom.htm
Shows how man determined the structure of the atom and learned how atoms interacted with each other.
How Everything Works

http://www.howeverythingworks.org/
A service providing answers to questions about physics, science, and how things in the world around us work. Companion to the book by Louis Bloomfield called How Things Work.
How Things Work

http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/
A service providing answers to questions about physics, science, and how things in the world around us work. Companion to the book by the same name.
How to Study Physics

http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/chapman.htm
A University of Texas classic, written before the web was around, but now revised and web-ready.
HyperPhysics Concepts

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html
A concept map of physics showing relationships between topics while giving explanations and references.
International Physics Olympiads

http://www.jyu.fi/ipho/
Regional and international physics olympiads. Information, mailing lists, and links to all the IPhO problems available on the web.
Intuitor - Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics

http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/
Reviews and rates Hollywood movies for bad physics content.
Kenny Felder's Math and Physics Help Page

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/kenny/home.html
A collection of papers written to explain various concepts in math and physics, as well as papers generously donated by other people.
Mathematical Thinking in Physics

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/Numbers/Math/Mathematical_Thinking/index.htm
Articles, essays, and problems designed for students to learn more about the importance of math in the study and application of physics.
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)

http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.htm?category=2736
Peer-reviewed online teaching and learning materials for physics.
NSTA - Position Statement on Laboratory Science

http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/laboratory.aspx
Since the laboratory experience is of critical importance in the process of enhancing students' cognitive and affective understanding of science, the National Science Teachers Association makes the following recommendations.
Open Source Physics

http://www.compadre.org/osp/
The OSP project seeks to create and distribute curricular material for physics computation and physics education at all levels.
Physclips

http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/
Provides physics animations, learning and reference tools for students and resources for teachers. The level is approximately that of introductory university or advanced high school.
Physical Science for Nonscientists - Physics 1020 (2nd Semester)

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys1020/phys1020_sp05/
Course website at University of Colorado. Includes lecture notes in pdf format.
Physical Science Resource Center (PSRC)

http://www.compadre.org/psrc/
This site has plenty of resources for physics and physical science teachers K-16.
Physics at Merton College

http://www.lokon.demon.co.uk/
Matters related to the AS-level and A-level physics courses. The material covers topics in physics and its related mathematics and will supplement one's normal classwork.
Physics Central

http://www.physicscentral.org/
The outreach site of the members of The American Physical Society. Find out how physics is part of your world, ask questions on how things work, see physics in pictures, get updates on physics in the news, read about research and the people who are doing it and, if you want more, recommended links.
Physics Comics

http://tiffanyweb.bmts.com/~stoeckli/
Comics-style lessons in physics fundamentals. Topics include motion, forces, vectors, work and energy, and impulse and momentum.
Physics for Idiots

http://www.physicsforidiots.com/
Provides simple explanations for a number of physics, space and maths concepts, trying to break them down into stuff that actually makes sense.
Physics Handbook.com

http://www.physicshandbook.com/
Provides an easy to use online physics textbook including laws, tables, experiments, a quiz and videos.
Physics Reference

http://www.alcyone.com/max/reference/physics/index.html
Physics symbols, constants, and SI units, prefixes and rules.
Physics Teacher Education Program

http://www.phy.ilstu.edu/pte/
Information on a BSc degree in physics teaching from Illinois State University.
Physics Virtual Bookshelf

http://www.upscale.utoronto.ca/GeneralInterest/All.html
A collection mostly of University of Toronto physics professor David M. Harrison's various presentations and course materials.
Physics, the Neglected Science

http://www.intuitor.com/physics/
Pages to help increase awareness about the value of physics and to lend support to high school physics students, teachers, and parents.
Practical Physics

http://www.practicalphysics.org/
Enables teachers of physics to share their skills and experience of making experiments work in the classroom.
Professor Stephen Hawking Online

http://www.hawking.org.uk/
Biographical, educational, and scholarly. Also includes a bit of fun (did you know he was on The Simpsons TV show?)
Science Animations

http://www.science-animations.com/
Provides a number of Flash animations to supplement handbooks in physics, maths and technology.
Science-Pseudoscience

http://www.chem1.com/chemed/flimflam.shtml
Science, non-science and pseudoscience: a set of lessons to teach students to define and differentiate the three.
Select Physics Topics

http://www.science-ebooks.com/phy/select_physics_topics.htm
This physics online ebook covers basic physics from Newton's laws to electricity and magnetism. Lots of applets and animation included.
Simple Electric Motors

http://www.simplemotor.com/
Summary of science projects by Stan Pozmantir, a junior secondary student. Easy-to-build and inexpensive electric motors utilizing many physics principles.
Society of Physics Students (SPS)

http://www.spsnational.org/
Complete set of information for members of any level of SPS. Scholarships and awards, news, activities, staff, structure, online forms, student resources, and links to significant physics sites.
Spacetime Wrinkles

http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/NumRelHome.html
Major advances in computation are only now enabling scientists to simulate how black holes form, evolve, and interact. Learn about relativity and its predictions through text and video files at this site.
Static Electricity

http://www.electrostatics.com/page2.html
Scientific explanation of the phenomenon of static electricity.
Teralab

http://www.rhunt.f9.co.uk/
Descriptions and photographs of electrostatics, electron bombardment and wave experiments done with home equipment.
The Elements of Machines

http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InventorsToolbox.html
Some simple machines, explained, described and illustrated.
The Physics Encyclopedia

http://members.tripod.com/~IgorIvanov/physics/
This site provides exhaustive, comprehensive, carefully selected and structured lists on Internet physics resources.
The Quantum Exchange

http://www.thequantumexchange.org/
A collection of information and resources for teachers of quantum physics.
The Sound of Solitary Waves

http://focus.aps.org/story/v4/st24
Physicists have demonstrated the first acoustic solitary waves in air--waves that can travel long distances without changing shape.
Thermal and Statistical Physics Curriculum Development Project

http://stp.clarku.edu/
Includes an introduction to the project and its conferences, related papers and links, and some Java applets.
Todd's Quantum Intro

http://www.hi.is/~hj/QuantumMechanics/quantum.html
A brief overview of quantum mechanics.
TYC Physics Workshops

http://tycphysics.org/
Information about workshops provided for two-year or community college physics teachers and the products of this project.
UMPERG: Minds-On Physics (MOP)

http://srri.umass.edu/mop
A one-year curriculum for high-school physics. It is the result of a materials-development project supported by the National Science Foundation, and its design was guided by educational research findings.
Web Physics Project

http://webphysics.davidson.edu/
A flexible low budget outlet for small volume, high quality, HTML-based curricular material. It provides a forum for physics educators to exchange curriculum ideas and resources that make use of web technology (primarily public domain material), and provides a medium for the dissemination of student work.
World Science U

http://www.worldscienceu.com/
Video clips and lectures about cosmology, particle physics, relativity and quantum mechanics presented by string theorist, Brian Greene. Requires free registration.

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