This OER explores the basic operations of a Telescope. It contains both an activity as well as resources for further exploration. It is a product of the OU Academy of the Lynx, developed in conjunction with the Galileo's World Exhibition at the University of Oklahoma.

This video segment, adapted from NOVA, chronicles the education of leading chemist Percy Julian. Although Julian began his elementary school years in the Deep South under Jim Crow laws, he became one of the few African Americans of his time to earn a Ph.D.

Learners will use a variety of resources to conduct research to try to find answers to the questions they generated in previous activities. They continue to work the way scientists do by communicating what they learned from their research about Mars and present questions they still have and that others might want to think about researching in the future. This is activity 8 of 9 in Mars and Earth: Science Learning Activities for After School.

In this problem-based learning activity, students learn about global precipitation patterns. They assume the role of climatologists and teach a newspaper reporter about the scientific method, explore how rainfall patterns impact society using TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite data, and brainstorm needed weather instruments to be built in the future. The resource includes teacher notes, student worksheet, glossary and an appendix introducing problem-based learning. This resource is the third of the 3-part learning module, Investigating the Climate System:Precipitation.

In this lesson about cosmic rays, students will describe why cosmic rays are dangerous to astronauts. Includes information about student preconceptions. This is activity 3 of 4 from "The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER)."

In this problem-based learning activity, students learn about weather forecasting and the role of the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite in data collection. Assuming the role of climatologists, students assist a reporter in determining the accuracy of weather predictions published in The Old Farmer's Almanac. The lesson requires a street map of the local community, acetate sheets to cover the map, materials needed to build a homemade rain gauge, and sample pages of the almanac. Teacher notes, student worksheet, glossary and an appendix introducing problem-based learning are included. This resource is the first of the 3-part learning module, Investigating the Climate System: Precipitation.

In this 2-part inquiry-based lesson, students conduct a literature search to determine the characteristics of the atmospheres of different planets (Venus, Mercury, Mars and Earth). After collecting and analyzing data, student teams design and conduct a controlled physical experiment using a lab apparatus to learn about the interaction of becomes CO², air, and temperature. The resource includes student worksheets, a design proposal, and student questions. Connections to contemporary climate change are addressed. This lesson is the first of four in Topic 4, "How do Atmospheres Affect Planetary Temperatures?" within the resource, Earth Climate Course: What Determines a Planet's Climate?

This is a lesson about crystal growth. Leaners will grow a sugar crystal and learn how this relates to growing protein crystals in space. The lack of gravity allows scientists on the space station to grow big, almost perfect crystals, which are used to help design new medicines. This is science activity 2 of 2 found in the ISS L.A.B.S. Educator Resource Guide.

This ChemMatters article provides a brief background on smog, then examines the causes of it, efforts to reduce it, and methods used to measure it. ChemMatters is an educational magazine for high school students.

This OER explores the basic organization of the Constellations. It contains both an activity as well as resources for further exploration. It is a product of the OU Academy of the Lynx, developed in conjunction with the Galileo's World Exhibition at the University of Oklahoma.

This OER explores the basic operations of a Celestial Globe. It contains both an activity as well as resources for further exploration. It is a product of the OU Academy of the Lynx, developed in conjunction with the Galileo's World Exhibition at the University of Oklahoma.

This OER explores the basic organization of the Constellations. It contains both an activity as well as resources for further exploration. It is a product of the OU Academy of the Lynx, developed in conjunction with the Galileo's World Exhibition at the University of Oklahoma.

This article describes key aspects of the nature of science by comparing the reactions to a sensational story between scientists and non-scientists. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

ZOOM guest Amy wants to be a meteorologist and volunteers at a weather observatory. In this adapted video segment, she shows us instruments used to predict the weather and describes how air pressure affects weather patterns.

The purpose of the resource is to investigate changes in the major land cover types of Study Sites by examining Landsat satellite images acquired years apart.

This is a lesson about geologic history. Learners will work together to create models of volcanic lava flows and analyze the layers that form on a planet's surface. They will sequence lava flows produced by multiple eruptions. Students will be asked to observe where the flows travel, make a model, and interpret the stratigraphy. Students will use their volcanic layering model to demonstrate the relative dating and geologic mapping principles to later be applied to satellite imagery. The lesson models scientific inquiry using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes and vocabulary.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientist Mike Garcia draws lava samples at the foot of the active Kilauea volcano to see if it is related to its neighboring volcano, Mauna Loa.

The purpose of this resource is to develop a classification system for a set of objects and learn about hierarchical classification systems. Any set of objects, such as insects or rocks, may be used as well.

This class explores the creation (and creativity) of the modern scientific and cultural world through study of western Europe in the 17th century, the age of Descartes and Newton, Shakespeare, Milton and Ford. It compares period thinking to present-day debates about the scientific method, art, religion, and society. This team-taught, interdisciplinary subject draws on a wide range of literary, dramatic, historical, and scientific texts and images, and involves theatrical experimentation as well as reading, writing, researching and conversing.
The primary theme of the class is to explore how England in the mid-seventeenth century became “a world turned upside down” by the new ideas and upheavals in religion, politics, and philosophy, ideas that would shape our modern world. Paying special attention to the “theatricality” of the new models and perspectives afforded by scientific experimentation, the class will read plays by Shakespeare, Tate, Brecht, Ford, Churchill, and Kushner, as well as primary and secondary texts from a wide range of disciplines. Students will also compose and perform in scenes based on that material.

Guest lecture with Professor David S. Jones, Harvard, held at IGS, University of Bergen, January 25, 2019. Organized with support from the research group Health-, welfare and history of science, AHKR. Abstract: Coronary artery disease became the leading cause of death worldwide in the twentieth century. In the 1950s, however, CAD mortality began to fall, first in California, and then throughout the United States and in other high income countries from New Zealand to Norway. Mortality rates fell 50 percent in many countries, one of the great accomplishments of modern public health and medicine. In the 1990s, however, disease surveillance programs began to detect signs that the decline of CAD had slowed or plateaued. In some populations the decline has reversed. Life expectancy in the United States has now decreased for the first time in over a century. Health officials similarly fear an impending epidemic of dementia, despite evidence that the incidence of that disease has recently begun to decline. How should these public health fears be assessed? How should health policy priorities be set? I will trace the history of disease decline and resurgence to identify patterns in how public health officials create data and craft them into powerful narratives of progress or pessimism. This perspective can help us to interpret the narratives that circulate today. About the lecturer: Trained in psychiatry and history of science, David Jones is the Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine at Harvard University. His research has focused on the causes and meanings of health inequalities (Rationalizing Epidemics: Meanings and Uses of American Indian Mortality since 1600) and the history of decision making in cardiac therapeutics (Broken Hearts: The Tangled History of Cardiac Care, 2013). He is currently at work on three other histories, of the evolution of coronary artery surgery, of heart disease and cardiac therapeutics in India, and of the threat of air pollution to health. His teaching at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School explores the history of medicine, medical ethics, and social medicine. Filming and editing by Magnus Vollset (who apologizes for the poor light)