Students explore heat transfer and energy efficiency using the context of energy efficient houses. They gain a solid understanding of the three types of heat transfer: radiation, convection and conduction, which are explained in detail and related to the real world. They learn about the many ways solar energy is used as a renewable energy source to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and operating costs. Students also explore ways in which a device can capitalize on the methods of heat transfer to produce a beneficial result. They are given the tools to calculate the heat transferred between a system and its surroundings.

Students learn about some of the different climate zones in China and consider what would be appropriate design, construction and materials for houses in those areas. This prepares them to conduct the associated activity(ies) in which they design, build and test small model homes for three different climate zones.

Student teams follow the steps of the engineering design process to meet the challenge of getting their entire class from one location on the playground to the sidewalk without touching the ground between. The class develops a well thought-out plan while following the steps of the engineering design process. Then, they test their solution by going outside and trying it out. Through the post-activity assessment, they compare their problem-solving experience to real life engineering challenges, such as creating new forms of transportation or new product invention.

Students learn more about forces by examining the force of gravitational attraction. They observe how objects fall and measure the force of gravitational attraction upon objects.

Students investigate how mountains are formed. Concepts include the composition and structure of the Earth's tectonic plates and tectonic plate boundaries, with an emphasis on plate convergence as it relates to mountain formation. Students learn that geotechnical engineers design technologies to measure movement of tectonic plates and mountain formation, as well as design to alter the mountain environment to create safe and dependable roadways and tunnels.

Students keep track of their own water usage for one week, gaining an understanding of how much water is used for various everyday activities. They relate their own water usages to the average residents of imaginary Thirsty County, and calculate the necessary water capacity of a dam that would provide residential water to the community.

Astronomy students learn how to use the Hertsprung-Russel diagram by plotting stellar data. HR diagram then reveals evolutionary stage of stars.

Students learn what causes hurricanes and what engineers do to help protect people from destruction caused by hurricane winds and rain. Research and data collection vessels allow for scientists and engineers to model and predict weather patterns and provide forecasts and storm warnings to the public. Engineers are also involved in the design and building of flood-prevention systems, such as levees and floodwalls. During the 2005 hurricane season, levees failed in the greater New Orleans area, contributing to the vast flooding and destruction of the historic city. In the associated activity, students learn how levees work, and they build their own levees and put them to the test!

Students develop an understanding of air pressure by using candy or cookie wafers to model how it changes with altitude, by comparing its magnitude to gravitational force per unit area, and by observing its magnitude with an aluminum can crushing experiment.

Limiting the debilitating consequences of ageing is a major medical challenge of our time. Robust pharmacological interventions that promote healthy ageing across diverse genetic backgrounds may engage conserved longevity pathways. Here we report results from the Caenorhabditis Intervention Testing Program in assessing longevity variation across 22 Caenorhabditis strains spanning 3 species, using multiple replicates collected across three independent laboratories. Reproducibility between test sites is high, whereas individual trial reproducibility is relatively low. Of ten pro-longevity chemicals tested, six significantly extend lifespan in at least one strain. Three reported dietary restriction mimetics are mainly effective across C. elegans strains, indicating species and strain-specific responses. In contrast, the amyloid dye ThioflavinT is both potent and robust across the strains. Our results highlight promising pharmacological leads and demonstrate the importance of assessing lifespans of discrete cohorts across repeat studies to capture biological variation in the search for reproducible ageing interventions.

Peer-reviewed articles in this special issue:

- “Responsible AI Practice in Libraries and Archives: A Review of the Literature” by Sara Mannheimer, Natalie Bond, Scott W. H. Young, Hannah Scates Kettler, Addison Marcus, Sally K. Slipher, Jason A. Clark, Yasmeen Shorish, Doralyn Rossmann, and Bonnie Sheehey. The authors explore the existing literature to identify and summarize trends in how libraries have (or have not) considered AI’s ethical implications.
- “It Takes a Village: A Distributed Training Model for AI-based Chatbots” by Beth Twomey, Annie Johnson, and Colleen Estes, discusses the steps taken at their institution to develop and implement a library chatbot powered by a large language model, as well as lessons learned.
- “‘Gimme Some Truth’ AI Music and Implications for Copyright and Cataloging” by Adam Eric Berkowitz, details modern developments in AI-assisted music creation, and the resultant challenges that these surface regarding copyright and cataloging work.
- “Adapting Machine Translation Engines to the Needs of Cultural Heritage Metadata” by Konstantinos Chatzitheodorou, Eirini Kaldeli, Antoine Isaac, Paolo Scalia, Carmen Grau Lacal, and Mª Ángeles García Escrivá provides an overview of the process used to hone general-use machine translation engines to improve their outputs when translating cultural heritage metadata in the Europeana repository from one language to another.
- “Exploring the Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Higher Education Students' Utilization of Library Resources: A Critical Examination” by Lynsey Meakin applies the Technological Acceptance Model to higher education students’ perceptions and adoption of tools using generative AI models.

Recurring content:
- Public Libraries Leading the Way: “Activating Our Intelligence: A Common-Sense Approach to Artificial Intelligence” by Dorothy Stoltz

- ITAL &: “The Jack in the Black Box: Teaching College Students to Use ChatGPT Critically” by Shu Wan

This book is designed to guide students on the autism spectrum through a course which develops their interpersonal, academic, and professional skills. It was designed for autistic students at the College of DuPage.

This resource will be updated as needed. For the most recent version, visit: https://cod.pressbooks.pub/interpersonalskillsautism/

The humanitarian crisis in Syria poses major challenges to doctrines, legal frameworks, and institutional norms about the moral imperative to intervene on behalf of afflicted populations. At the heart of this challenge presented by Syria is the debate surrounding the Responsibility to Protect, or R2P, doctrine. This edited collection brings together some of the most important voices on R2P and humanitarian intervention to examine the doctrine’s validity in the context of Syria’s civil war.

Through an overview of some of the environmental challenges facing the growing and evolving country of China today, students learn about the effects of indoor and outdoor air pollution that China is struggling to curb with the help of engineers and scientists. This includes the sources of particulate matter 2.5 and carbon dioxide, and air pollution impacts on the health of people and the environment.

This presentation provides an introduction to the calculation and use of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). DALY is increasingly used as a measurement for disease burden when comparing the relative burden of specific diseases or a combination of diseases across or within populations.

This presentation provides an introduction to the principles of demographic and epidemiological transition with specific focus on how changes in life expectancy, socio-economic factors and life conditions will change the landscape of global disease burdens.

This presentation provides an overview of the major determinants and specific drivers of epidemiological transition and changes in disease burdens, including demographic factors, urbanisation, diet, economics, climate changes, disasters, health sector reforms, health care and health care technology.

This is a basic introductory online exercises that introduces students to tools and functions within Google Earth that will be utilized in subsequent exercises throughout the semester. Students use Google Earth to navigate to a location and between locations, incorporate data layers, create topographic profiles, and measure slope and distance.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This is a basic introductory online exercises that introduces students to digital topographic maps. Students download a geoPDF from the National Map and install the TerraGo geoPDF toolbar. They use the toolbar to conduct a series of measurements. Students then import the historical topographic map layer into Google Earth and use a variety of tools to conduct measurements.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)