01 - Introductions: Why Does the Civil War era have a hold on American Historical Imagination?
Professor Blight offers an introduction to the course. He summarizes some of the course readings, and discusses the organization of the course. Professor Blight offers some thoughts on the nature of history and the study of history, before moving into a discussion of the reasons for Americans' enduring fascination with the Civil War. The reasons include: the human passion for epics, Americans' fondness for redemption narratives, the Civil War as a moment of "racial reckoning," the fascination wi
Digital Durham
For many years scholars have recognized that late nineteenth-century Durham, North Carolina makes an ideal case study for examining emancipation, industrialization, immigration, and urbanization in the context of the New South. "With its tobacco factories, textile mills, black entrepreneurs, and new college," the historian Syd Nathans observes, "Durham was a hub of enterprise and hope." By the early twentieth century, Durham became renowned for its vibrant entrepreneurial spirit. Both W.E.B. Du
Culturally Engaged Instruction (CEI): Putting theory into practice
As an English teacher at a rural all-Black high school in the Mississippi Delta, Renee Moore enjoyed a genuine fellowship with her students, many of whom she worked with outside of school in church and community activities. Lessons in literature and writing went reasonably well (for a beginning teacher), but when she started to teach grammar, her students seemed to 'hit a brick wall.' She had two simultaneous responses to the wall. She immediately started searching for and experimenting with mor
An Alternative Approach to General Chemistry: Addressing the Needs of At-Risk Students with Cooperat
This site presents a study on the impact of incorporating cooperative learning activities in a large section (>200 'at-risk' students) of General Chemistry. It includes data documenting students' performance in the course and in more advanced science courses, course materials, and videotapes illustrating cooperative problem solving in small groups. Jacobs' website provides graphic representations of his results, a site library with access to his methods and analyses and video clips showing stude
Data Collection and Organization
The Data Collection and Organization (DC&O) text module provides background on useful, general-purpose software tools. The aim is to discuss types of generic software that virtually every well-equipped scientist uses. This includes: spreadsheets, database programs, statistics packages, graphics programs, and word processors.
DC&O includes several examples of the use of these tools in biology. These include 'An Embryological Example with Tips and Tricks' and the complete text and dataset of a cl
Environmental Decision Making
Using the Extend 'connect-the-components' visual programming, students can model and simulate ecosystems including social and economic forces as well as study parameter variations to develop an understanding of ecosystem function and productivity.
By making 'what if...' changes in the model, the effects of various proposed decisions about the environment can then be shown.
EDM includes three ecological systems: Ponds, Grasslands, and Logging. Students can predict results of changes in the mode
Introduction to Groups, Invariants and Particles
Introduction to Groups, Invariants & Particles is a book for Seniors and advanced Juniors who are majoring in the Physical Sciences or Mathematics. The book places the subject matter in its historical context with discussions of Galois groups, algebraic invariants, Lie groups and differential equations, presented at a level that is not the standard fare for students majoring in the Physical Sciences. A sound mathematical basis is thereby provided for the study of special unitary groups and their
Social Psychology - Spring 2008
Social Psychology - Spring 2007. The course will begin with a historical introduction to social psychology, focusing on the intellectual contribution of Kurt Lewin and the integration of
evolutionary and cultural approaches to human nature. The course will then focus on the major topics of social psychology (group dynamics, social influence, attitudes and attitude
change, social perception) as well as more specific areas of research (altruism, emotion, justice) and recent developments in the fie
Geography: Natural Resources and Population Spring 2008
Natural Resources and Population – Spring 2008. Ever since publication of Thomas Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798, the English-speaking world has equated population growth with apocalypse, even though Malthus’s theory was debunked well before his own demise in 1834. This course begins from the proposition that human-environment relations are always social relations: how natural resources are produced, distributed, valued, consumed, conserved and degraded are historica
Studying to Succeed: Planning your career
Students progress through a program which requires them to manage their own learning and establish their own future goals through a process of self development. Career planning is a key component of the program. Effective study skills and attitudes will be developed and applied to areas of communication studies to prepare the student for entry into a tertiary undergraduate course. The language content is provided in a broad context to best enable students to continue in the career of their choic
Studying to Succeed: Planning your study program day by day
Students progress through a program which requires them to manage their own learning and establish their own future goals through a process of self development. Career planning is a key component of the program. Effective study skills and attitudes will be developed and applied to areas of communication studies to prepare the student for entry into a tertiary undergraduate course. The language content is provided in a broad context to best enable students to continue in the career of their choic
Stratigraphic Framework of Lower and Upper Cretaceous Rocks in Central and Eastern Montana
This USGS report focuses on Cretaceous rocks in Montana with respect to natural gas and coalbed methane. The study includes the stratigraphy from the top of the Mowry Shale to the base of the Judith River Formation. The project integrates geologic, structural, hydrologic and engineering studies with known and new geochemical data on the gas and co-produced water. The report also facilitates an understanding of the controls on the spatial distribution of potential gas accumulations. Figures, tabl
Entrepreneurship: The Real-Time Case Study
As you read this, the managers of a new high-tech company, (to be announced), are striving to achieve the entrepreneurial dream. On a special website you will follow that company, and see their progress week by week. But you will do more than just watch. You will be actively engaged with the company, analyzing its problems, and making input. You will be participating in an in-depth, real-time case study. Unlike traditional case studies, this real-time case will dig deeply into one company during
Venture Capital
Entrepreneurship is the "pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled". This definition implies that successful entrepreneurs are able to utilize resources that they do not personally own or control. They must go beyond opportunity recognition and the creation of great business concepts and find creative methods for acquiring a variety of resources. Especially critical is their ability to find money for venture start-up and then to obtain money for ongoing venture grow
Textbook of Bacteriology
This textbook has evolved from online and live-in-person lectures presented in my bacteriology courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its contents are suitable for reading or presentation in courses or course modules concerning general microbiology and medical bacteriology at the college and advanced high school levels of education. For teachers, instructional materials are available that accompany many chapters and topics. These include lecture outlines, notes, powerpoint presentations
Distance Learning Material
The materials provided are taken from three postgraduate modules which students study as part of the School's distance learning MA degree programmes in 'Literary Linguistics', 'Applied Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching' and 'Modern English Language'.
Our courses generally consist of 10 units which cover the key areas of study within particular disciplines, in conjunction with material documenting the latest developments within each field. The 'Descriptive Linguisti
Basic Analysis: Introduction to Real Analysis
This free online textbook is a one semester course in basic analysis. These were my lecture notes for teaching Math 444 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in fall 2009. The course is a first course in mathematical analysis aimed at students who do not necessarily wish to continue a graduate study in mathematics. A Sample Darboux sums prerequisite for the course is a basic proof course. The course does not cover topics such as metric spaces, which a more advanced course woul
Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean World
This is a collection of digitized material from the Ancient Near East collection at the University of Chicago. The project focused on materials published between 1850 - 1950, drawn from two of the Library's complimentary collections, the Ancient Near East and Classics Collections. Preserved materials relate to the study of the ancient Near East and cover such topics as the archeology, art, history, language, law, and religions of Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Nubia, Persia, and other ancient
Introduction to Climate - Background Material
Climate is generally defined as average weather over a long period of time. A place or region's climate is determined by both natural and human-induced factors. Students can read an overview of Earth's climate and participate in activities which explain the following concepts: distinctions between weather and climate, variability of daily weather measurements compared to long-term climate data, how significant annual variability affects long-term climate averages, how Earth's climatic changes oc
Calculus I, Summer 2007
This course is an introduction to differential and integral calculus. It begins with a short review of basic concepts surrounding the notion of a function. Then it introduces the important concept of the limit of a function, and use it to study continuity and the tangent problem. The solution to the tangent problem leads to the study of derivatives and their applications. Then it considers the area problem and its solution, the definite integral. The course concludes with the calculus of element
