X-Ray Vision, Crystallography
This site features a tutorial designed to allow students to gain an appreciation of how X-ray crystallography works. Using X-ray diffraction patterns to determine the arrangement of atoms in a molecule requires sophisticated mathematics. This activity depends only on light from an overhead projector passing through a ball-and-stick molecular model placed on the stage of the projector, making it an ideal introduction to x-ray diffraction.
Turbidity Currents
Nonlinear physics is a catch-all term for the study of the dynamics of driven, open, non-equilibrium systems. Our group is mainly concerned with the phenomenon of pattern formation. When a nonlinear, dissipative system ( that is, one with friction ) is driven hard enough, it will often undergo a symmetry-breaking instability which takes it to a regular pattern state. The pattern is a dynamical state sustained by the driving forces which can have a high degree of periodic order and symmetry, even
Living Between Two Worlds
In this lesson, students will explore issues common to all families. They will examine school, work and conflict in their lives and the lives of the family profiled in the film. They will have an opportunity to role-play solutions to school conflicts based on a series of vignettes.
Urban Renewal
Urban renewal policies enacted in San Francisco's Fillmore district in the 1950s-60s provide a vivid case study in public policy, federal and local government, and citizen activism. This important history sheds light on present-day urban renewal policies, such as empowerment zones and welfare-to-work.
The Olympic Region Harmful Algal Blooms
This is the website of the Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom (ORHAB) partnership, which was organized to develop collaboration and cooperation among federal, state and local management agencies, coastal Indian tribes, marine resource-based businesses, public interest groups, and academic institutions. The ORHAB partnership investigates the origins of blooms of toxic algae, monitors where and when the blooms occur, assesses the environmental conditions conducive to blooms and toxification of int
The Goldilocks Zone
This is an article from "Teachable Moments in the News," a newsletter that takes recent Earth and space science related news stories and places them in a context relevant to the science curriculum. This particular edition describes the Goldilocks Zone, a range of environmental conditions that can support life. Teachers are provided a brief introduction, relevant news links, and developed lesson plans. Some lessons are in PDF format. Activity themes include: exploration of environmental condition
Building your own support network
How to take charge of your own professional development and break through the isolation of the classroom.
Decoding the Past: The Work of Archaeologists
This site introduces students to archeology -- the study of material remains to learn about past human experiences. This lesson (Grades 3-8) discusses various challenges of an archaeologist: locating a site that will yield clues about the people who once lived there, conducting excavations, and more. Students identify artifacts from a contemporary setting, describe the function of each artifact, identify methods for dating soil layers, and interpret soil profiles.
Marine Bioluminescence
This classroom activity is part of the Smithsonian's Giant Squid Curriculum. It uses flashlights to teach students about luminescence, counterillumination, and photophores. In the scope of this activity, students will identify luminescence and brainstorm possible reasons for its biological purpose and function. The activity includes a detailed procedure accompanied with questions teachers can ask in order to promote inquiry and classroom discussion. A link directs teachers to background content
Survival of the Fittest Microbes: Examining the Conditions of One River and the Microbes that Thrive
In this lesson, created for grades 6 - 12, students learn about the harsh conditions of Spain's Rio Tinto River and research the microbes that nonetheless manage to thrive there. They then synthesize their knowledge by creating a reality television program set in the Rio Tinto in which the microbes are the "contestants." The lesson includes an article about the Rio Tinto with accompanying questions, a detailed classroom activity, vocabulary list, discussion questions, extension activities, inter
Kõrv loodusesse - loodushelid ja helid looduses
Loodushelid ja helid looduses. Veebilehed info ja illustratsioonidega vastavatest liikidest, võimalik kuulata helindeid. Kõrv loodusesse kasutab kahte erinevat kokkusurutud helifaili formaati: mp3 ja real audio. Üldjuhul võimaldab mp3-formaat paremat kvaliteeti, kuid faili maht on suur. Real audio on väiksema failimahuga, kuid sellega kaasneb kehvem kvaliteet. Aeglase ühenduse korral on seetõttu otstarbekam valida real audio helindid. Kiirema ühenduse korral tasub kuulata parema kvalitee
Doctors in a Divided Society: The Profession and Education of Medical Practitioners in South Africa
Many of the goals of South Africa's new democracy depend on the production of professionals who have not only the knowledge and skills to make our country globally competitive but also a commitment to working and living here. Despite numerous reforms, the South African health system, ten years into democracy, remains divided with first world private care that ranks with middle income countries internationally at the one end and at the other extreme in the rural public sector in particular condit
Black Adam: End of the White Guy?
This website features video material that can be used by educators and facilitators to generate discussion of whiteness in Post-Apartheid South Africa and the postcolonial world, in general.
Understanding management: I'm managing thank you!
This unit provides you with a set of ideas for developing your approach to managing your own work – what we might call ‘self-management’. In order to do this, we will examine some of the key processes of management decision making – allocating time, staff, physical and financial resources: prioritising and problem solving and monitoring performance.
Why maps are made
Cars have sat nav systems, mobile phones use GPS: maps are important in everyday life whether captured by aerial photography, satellite imagery or simply drawn. This unit looks at how we read and evaluate the information in maps and assesses the values embedded within them. From mental maps to public transport and street maps: how do they affect your life?
Choosing a human resources consultant
Human resources consultancies have become invaluable to businesses looking for improvements and efficiencies in their operations. This unit explores the issues surrounding how you might go about selecting and using a consultant, examining the risks involved in the venture, fitting the consultant to the task, setting fees and evaluating work. If you are in business and looking to hire a consultant, are a consultant yourself or are studying business at masters level this unit will be useful to you
Hume
This unit examines Hume's reasons for being complacent in the face of death, as these are laid out in his suppressed essay of 1755, 'Of the immortality of the soul'. More generally, they examine some of the shifts in attitude concerning death and religious belief that were taking place in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century, through examination of this and other short essays.
History as commemoration
Commemoration - remembering and marking your past - makes an important contribution to our sense of community. Written texts, memorials, letters and photographs can all serve to commemorate events, people and values we wise to remember from our past.
Studying the arts and humanities
This unit is an introduction to studying the arts and humanities. It takes you through a series of exercises designed to develop your approach to study and learning at a distance and improve your confidence as an independent learner.
Safari 2000 Tropospheric Ozone
The fires that raged across southern Africa in August and September of 2000 produced a thick river of smoke that observers compared with the aftermath of the Kuwaiti oil fires in 1991. NASA-supported studies currently underway on the event will contribute to improved air pollution policies in the region and a better understanding of its impact on climate change.
