Teaching & Learning

Teaching is more a conversation than it is a presentation. It is a conversation not just with the learner, but with all the teachers who have come before. My teaching materials are hardly unique as they borrow from, remix, and reinterpret all the material that I have come across in my educational career. What I can share, I do so below.

Please contact me if you are interesting in trading ideas, collaborating, or remixing together. Although my site content is generally under full copyright, original teaching materials are typically shared with a Creative Commons License.

Astronomy 101

A red-lit observatory at night with students using small telescopes and binoculars

This is the “bread and butter” course for any astronomer in academia. Designed as a one-semester course with a laboratory, this is potentially the very last science course that many of my students will ever take. Topics include light and spectra, orbital motions, stars and galaxies, and cosmology.

See previous course syllabi for a full semester and for a six week online course.

Powerpoint lecture series from 2020

Lecture series from 2018 – videos and powerpoints

Labs for outdoor sessions using the Orion SkyQuest 8XT (inspired by labs taught at the University of Virginia)

Presentations about this course’s development:

“Elevating the Introductory Astronomy Course in a Time of Crisis” in Dec 2020 at the Virtual Meeting of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (pdf)
“Cloudy Night? Astronomy Labs Using Physics Demonstrations and a Videogame” in January 2021 at the Virtual Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (pdf, video)

Life Beyond Earth

The spectrum of a fluorescent lamp as seen through a handheld spectrometer

I had the distinct pleasure of adopting this course as a summer version with the help of Professors Rood and Murphy at the University of Virginia. It has evolved into my own favorite course to teach that also has a writing-intensive component.

See the most recent syllabus

Science for Elementary Educators

Hands of students manipulating a "mystery tube" made of rope and PVC.

This unique course brings together fundamental ideas from across the physical, biological, and earth sciences for pre-service elementary educators. It is largely driven by the NextGenPET Curriculum.

See the syllabus for this course and a list of useful resources for teachers.

I gave an invited talk about the implementation of the NextGenPET Curriculum in an integrated science course at the 2022 Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Writing a Senior Thesis in Physics

This was developed for senior physics majors doing research with a faculty advisor. It serves as an introduction to writing a full scientific paper.

View the syllabus, description of sections, peer review activities, and grading rubrics.

Communication for Engineers

Developed as a weekly seminar for undergraduate engineers, this workshop gets students familiar with giving scientific talks at several levels.

View the archived Google Site