Sonoma State University
Department of Physics and Astronomy

Some Educational Resources in Physics, Astronomy, and Related Fields

From research scientists

• Amazing Space
  Lesson plans based on Hubble Space Telescope images, at all levels.
• Ask the Space Scientist
  Ask Sten Odenwald about anything astronomical.
• Basics of Radio Astronomy
  A book which you can download and print.
• Education and Public Outreach group at Sonoma State University
  Information from NASA’s GLAST and Swift missions, Space Mysteries, and more.
• Fermilab Education Office
  A tremendous resource for teachers and students at all levels from elementary school to graduate school.
• Fusion Energy
  Slide shows, classroom activities, a teacher notebook, and links to more sites provided by the Fusion Group staff of General Atomics in San Diego, the US Department of Energy's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, and teachers from San Diego County.
• Imagine the Universe
  A service of the High-Energy Astrophysics Learning Center. Practically a 3-ring circus with flashing lights, multimedia, and more. You can learn a lot here.
• The Internet Plasma Physics Educational Experience
  Includes interactive pages on electricity, magnetism, energy, and fusion. You can even play with a virtual Tokamak.
• Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Educational Programs
  Includes an interactive high school magazine, “Hands-on Universe,” “The Particle Adventure,” “ABC's of Nuclear Science,” and much more.
• The Mad Scientists Network
  “A collective crania of scientists from around the world, fielding questions from as many people in as many places.”
• NOAO K-12 Educational Outreach
  Astronomy from the National Optical Astronomy Observatories.
• Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics: Outreach
  Includes public lectures by leading experts in particle physics and cosmology.
• Planetary Science Research Discoveries
  Illustrated accounts of recent developments.
• POETRY
  Public Outreach, Education, Teaching and Reaching Youth -- the education and public outreach effort of the NASA IMAGE satellite project.
• SETI Institute
  Now privately funded, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence goes on.
• Virtual Trips to Black Holes and Neutron Stars
  Movies by Robert Nemiroff.
• WWW Chemistry Guide
  Provides links to more than 200 sites with information about all things chemical.

For secondary schools and colleges

• About Temperature
  Prepared for middle school teachers, very well done.
• Agilent Educator’s Corner
  Experiments, lab exercises, engineering reference tools, computer-based training, links to online newsletters and tutorials, and more.
• Astronomical Pseudo-science: A Skeptic's Resource List
  List of books, articles, and websites to refute astrology, UFOs, the "face" on Mars, creationism, etc., by Andrew Fraknoi.
• Astronomy: Contemporary Lab Experiences (CLEA)
  A complete astronomy lab course on a computer.
• Atmospheric Optics
  All about rays, rainbows, ice halos, sundogs, and more.
• Bad Astronomy
  by Philip Plait.
• Bad Physics
  by Mikolaj Sawicki of John A. Logan College.
• Binary Stars
  free astronomy software for Macintosh computers teaches binary star concepts.
• ChemiCool
  Includes a periodic table with much information about each element, also a chemistry dictionary.
• The Constellations and Their Stars
  by Chris Dolan at the University of Wisconsin.
• Cosmology Books and Links
  From a course at Sonoma State University.
• Help for Physics Students
  
• How Stuff Works
  “an amazing, award-winning, online destination for anyone who wants to know how anything works.”
• Just in Time Teaching
  Material for teachers
• LCD Optics 101
  A short course in how Liquid Crystal Devices work, from 3M’ Vikuiti division.
• Moon Phases
  Nice demo, even though it has phase = 0 at full moon.
• nano media finder
  a professional resource guide to nano-related media, from the Museum of Sc ience, Boston.
• The Natures of the Stars
  By James Kaler of the University of Illinois.
• NOVA
  The Teachers' section of the website of the public television series provides lesson plans, activities, and other resources intended to build on NOVA installments and give teachers ideas for using NOVA in the classroom.
• Orrery: The Solar System in Action
  Primarily an ad for software, this site includes a concise reference section on solar system objects with good links.
• Physics 24/7 Physics Homework Help
  Primarily a pay site to help students with high school and introductory college physics, this site includes some free tutorials and links to simulations and quizzes elsewhere.
• Physics Academic Software
  A place to purchase programs produced by the physics teaching community.
• Physics of Music and Musical Instruments
  A complete textbook (4.7 MB pdf) by David Lapp of Tamalpais High School, Mill Valley, CA.
• Physics Learning Laboratories from the Physics Instructional Resource Association, which has many other resources as well, including lecture demonstrations.
• plus magazine
  This excellent online British magazine, designed to promote mathematics, contains a great deal of astronomy and some physics.
• Relativity Visualized: Space Time Travel
  Online papers, images, movies and paper models by Ute Kraus’s physics education group at the University of Tübingen, in German and English.
• The Solid State Simulation Project
  Software from Cornell for a senior or graduate level course. Demo available online.
• Teaching Innovations in Physics
  Help for physics teachers and students from Prentice Hall.
• Textbook Revolution
  Links to and reviews of a number of physics textbooks available free online. There is another list at The Assayer.
• Transistorized: The History of the Invention of the Transistor
  Designed to accompany a November 1999 PBS documentary. Educational materials for grades 9-12 are available.
• Web Resources for Introductory Physics
  For students: downloadable programs, simulations, study hints, and more for the calculus-based and algebra and trig-based introductory courses.
• Physics Songs
  Have fun while you learn physics by singing about it.

For elementary and secondary schools

• Chem4Kids
  Also the home of Biology4Kids.
• Colour Perception
  Some amazing optical illusions.
• Department of Education Teachers' Guide
  A guide to centers and labs, clearinghouses, and programs supported by the U.S. Department of Education. Read on-line or download it.
• Discovery Channel School
  Includes a calendar of programming on the Discovery and Learning channels; access to video archives, video previews of "Assignment Discovery" episodes; and an electronic bulletin board for teachers.
• Educational Guide to Space & Astronomy
  Presented by Leicester University in England.
• Energy Quest
  Energy Education from the California Department of Energy
• Holoworld
  Extensive source includes gallery of holograms and how to make them.
• JASON Project VIII: Journey from the Center of the Earth
  Use "telepresence" to take students to geothermal hot spots at Yellowstone National Park and Iceland. Get lesson plans early.
• K-12 Science Education Resources
  Bill Beatty's enormous list. He answers questions, too.
• The USGS and Science Education
  The United States Geological Survey presents lists of resources for teaching and learning the earth sciences at primary, secondary, and undergraduate levels, and much more.
• Modeling Workshop Project
  Four-week workshops for two consecutive summers are open to 140 exceptionally motivated high school teachers who wish to contribute to physics teaching reform. A stipend plus travel, housing, and meal allowance are awarded to each participant.
• NASA Space Place
  Games, animations, projects, and fun facts.
• NASA Space Science Education Resource Directory
  Materials at all levels.
• Posters
  How to get beautiful posters for the classroom.
• The Science Spot: Kid Zone
  What do you want to explore?
• The Space Educator's Handbook
  Includes information about NASA, space history, space technology, and pictures and narratives. You can download movies from the space program's archives.
• Space Explorers
  A NASA site for bringing space into the classroom.
• Space.com
  Fun and a bit of education provided by a commercial site.
• Starchild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers
  A service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
• A Teacher's Guide to Superconductivity for High School Students
  Including demonstrations, student problems, and classroom experiments, from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
• The Why Files: Science behind the News

Communications with other teachers

• E-Mail Discussion Groups (Listservs) in Physics and Astronomy
  PHYS-L, for example, is a worldwide group of high school and college physics teachers.
• Online Physics Demonstration Manuals at several universities.
• Socratic Dialog-Inducing (SDI) Labs
• Teachers Helping Teachers
  Lesson plans and much more, all of it free.

Newsletters

• Astronomy Education Review
  An online journal featuring new ideas and resources for teaching and outreach in astronomy and space sciences.
• American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics
• American Physical Society Forum on Education
• American Physical Society Forum on Physics and Society
• American Physical Society Forum on the History of Physics
• Astronomical Society of the Pacific Teachers' Newsletter
• Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
  The publishers of Skeptical Inquirer  and debunkers of pseudoscience.
• Currents
  A weekly newsletter from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
• Electronic Newsletter for the History of Astronomy
  Download English translation or the German original.
• FYI - American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
• Jonathan's Space Report
  A weekly description of all space launches, including both piloted missions and automated satellites.
• Physics News Update
  An excellent weekly account of new discoveries. Browse or search through several years' worth of these.
• What's New by Bob Park
  Doings in the nation’s capital — one physicist’s viewpoint.

Organizations

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)
• AAPT Northern Calif/Nevada Section
• American Physical Society Education and Outreach Programs
• American Physical Society Forum on the History of Physics
• Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP)
  A good source of educational materials and a free teachers’ newsletter.
• Contemporary Physics Education Project
  A place to order charts, posters, software, and other resources.
• International Astronomical Union Commission #46: Astronomy Education
• National Science Teachers Association

Institutions

• The Exploratorium
  Electronic exhibits and resources for teachers, students and science enthusiasts!
• The Lawrence Hall of Science
  Lots of resources for teachers and a great list of "Hot Links."
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Observatories
  All kinds, many with educational materials.
• Planetaria
• Science Learning Network
  Hands-on science museums in Philadelphia, Portland, Boston, St. Paul, San Francisco, and Miami.
• The Smithsonian Institution
• University Physics and Astronomy Departments
  More than 1600 of them in nearly 100 countries.

Gateways to more sites

• Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Astronomy Links
• Catalog of National Astronomy Education Projects
  A catalog of projects in astronomy education, including workshops, curriculum, computer and audio-visual materials, newsletters, student programs, planetarium and amateur astronomy projects, awards and grants.
• Nano, Quantum & Statistical Mechanics & Thermodynamics Educational Sites
• The Cornell Theory Center Science & Arts Gateway
  Links to many excellent resources for grades 9-12.
• EDU2
  Links to thousands of educational pages in all subjects.
• Science Education
  An extensive list at Yahoo.
• Physical Science Resource Center
  Very extensive site sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers.
• Pedagogical Resources on the Web for Teaching Physics
  A lengthy list by the University of Maryland Physics Education Research Group.
• Physics On-Line
  Includes many links to Canadian sources.
• Schoolzone
  40,000 educational sites at all levels recommended and annotated by teachers in Britain.
• Frank Potter's Science Gems
  More than 14,000 of them, sorted by category, subcategory, and grade level.
• Space Education
  A good list from the Apollo Society.
• Web Sites for Instructors of Introductory Astronomy Courses
  Excellent list by Andrew Fraknoi.