All Contents
| Topic | Description | Author | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analysing class performance on tests: gray swans | Using robust measures to analyse test performance (2017) | David M. Harrison | |
| The axis of rotation for rolling motion | Analysing and teaching about the actual axis of rotation for a rolling object. June 2015). (524k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Antimatter html pdf | Course notes from a one-hour class on antimatter for upper-year liberal arts students. (172k/203k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Ballistocardiogram | A small application of Newton's Laws to the measurment of the acceleration of the blood. (52k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Basal Metabolism | A small introduction to the basal metabolism and allometry. | David M. Harrison | html |
| Bell's Theorem html pdf | A derivation of the theorem and a discussion of the consequences. A somewhat subtle topic, but here it is treated in a non-technical fashion. It assumes knowledge of wave-particle duality such as can be found in the Double Slit or the Wave-Particle Duality documents; also assumed is considerable knowledge of the Stern-Gerlach Experiment, for which there is also a document here. (150k/ 151k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Barometer | An introduction to using a Mercury Barometer, also known as a Fortin Barometer. Requires Flash; uses videos in RealMedia, QuickTime or mpeg format. (137k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Big Bang Cosmology html pdf | A brief discussion of the Standard Hot Big Bang Model of cosmology. (70k/90k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Birth of Physics in the Rennaisance | A brief summary of the birth of physics from Bacon through Young, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (152k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Black Holes html pdf | Course notes from a one-hour class on black holes for upper-year liberal arts students. (78k/90k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Black Hole Thermodynamics html pdf | Course notes from a one-hour class on black hole thermodynamics for upper-year liberal arts students. (25k/47k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Blackboards, PowerPoint, and Tablet PCs in the Classroom | Three case studies of the delivery of visual information in the classroom. Much of the discussion is guided by the results of research into the study of eye movements when subjects are reading. December 2005. (390k) | Jason Harlow, David M. Harrison and Ruxandra Serbanescu | |
| The Bohr Model of the Atom | A very brief introduction, originally designed for upper-year liberal arts students. (30k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Classroom Examples and Precious Class Time | Using a Tablet PC to deliver examples and problem solutions on the web as an alternative to doing them in class. | David M. Harrison | |
| Clickers: A study of Classroom Response System use at the University of Toronto | An examination of the use of classrom response systems in various lecture-based course at the University of Toronto. Over 30 U of T instructors were interviewed about their use of clickers in classes with a total enrolment of over 5,000 students. Students in these classes were also surveyed about their perception of the value of this technology. | Jason Harlow, Lena Paulo Kushnir, Charly Bank, Scott Browning, Jim Clarke, Anne Cordon, David Harrison, Karen Ing, Cecilia Kutas, and Ruxandra Serbanescu | |
| Chaos html pdf | A non-technical introduction to chaotic systems, based on a one-hour class given to undergraduate students at a variety of levels. (164k/115k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Cognitive reflection and physics student performance | Issues of intuitive versus reflective cognitition and the relation to physics student performance. (2016, 2.2M) | David M. Harrison | |
| Complementarity & Copenhagen Interpretation html pdf | A discussion of Bohr's Principle of Complementarity and its extension to the Copenhagen Interpreation of Quantum Mechnics. Based on a discussion for an upper-year liberal arts course in modern physics without mathematics. (89k/115k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Compressed-Format Compared to Regular-Format In a First Year University Physics Course | Comparing a 6-week summer version to a 12-week fall version of a first year physics course for life science students. (2013, 512k) | Jason J.B. Harlow, David M. Harrison, and Eli Honig | |
| Correlating student interest and high school preparation with learning and performance in an introductory university physics course | We studied the correlation of student performance in a large 1st year university physics course with motivation for taking the course and whether or not the student took a senior-level high-school physics course. Performance was measured both by the Force Concept Inventory and by the marks on the Final Examination. | Jason J.B. Harlow, David M. Harrison, and Andrew Meyertholen | |
| The development of a laboratory data analysis curriculum for physics and engineering students. | Techniques from physics education research are used to design, implement, and evaluate a curriculum module for data analysis in a third and fourth year undergraduate physics laboratory. (408k) | David F. Wong | |
| The Development of Quantum Mechanics html pdf | A brief survey of the development of Quantum Mechanics in the 1920's by Schrödinger and Heisenberg. Some of the material is non-traditional. Based on a discussion in an upper year liberal arts course in physics without mathematics. (13k/16k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Diffraction | A small little document discussing some qualitative aspects of diffraction. (200k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Dimension html pdf | A brief non-technical discussion of measuring dimensionality, including non-integer dimensionality. Also linked to from the Chaos document. (26k/45k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Double Slit: html pdf | A discussion of the "Feynman double slit," which forms the basis of many discussions of Quantum Mechanics. The topic is quite subtle, but the document is equally accessible to students at all levels. (183k/216k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Education | How Does the Delivery of Information Help Students to Learn?, a discussion of the delivery of information both via the web and in the classroom. (63k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Education | The Personal Fonemate & Other Cautionary Tales, a discussion of appropriate and inapproriate uses of computers in teaching. This is the text of a paper delivered to the 22nd International Conference on Improving University Learning and Teaching, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 1997. (43k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Education | The Physical Pendulum in an Advanced Undergraduate Course in Mechanics, a paper that appeared in the journal Computers in Physics 8, 416-419 (1995). It discusses studies of the pendulum and computer algorithms to solve the equations of the pendulum. (69k) | Solomon C. Douglas, David M. Harrison and Theodore G. Shepherd | |
| Education | Test Design, a small document of opinion and observation relating to tests and exams. (11k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Effective Teams for Collaborative Learning in an Introductory University Physics Course | We compared teams sorted by student ability to teams with students of mixed ability, comparted teams with 3 students to teams with 4 students, and examined female students in teams with only one female student and the rest male. (1.6M) | Jason. J.B. Harlow, David M. Harrison, and Andrew Meyertholen | |
| Electricity and Magnetism | A brief overview of electricity, magnetism and electromagnetic waves, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (5k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Electricity and Magnetism: History | A brief summary of the history of electricity and magnetism from the Greeks through Maxwell, from a first year physics course using minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (131k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Energy | A brief introduction to the concept of energy. It includes a small discussion of whether the energy is real. (37k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Energy, Entropy, and the Village Witch | Various forms of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, and their implications. (510k, 2018) | David M. Harrison | |
| Entanglement | A handout that accompanied a talk on Entanglement to the Canadian Association of Natural Philosophers, a group of amateurs interested in science. | David M. Harrison | |
| Entropy html pdf | Course notes from a one-hour class on entropy for upper-year liberal arts students. (44k/92k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Entropy and the Number of Sentient Beings in the Universe | A paper from 1982 attempting to calculate the number of sentient beings in the universe from the Second Law of Thermodynamics (186k) | David Harrison | |
| Error Analysis:html pdf | A series of documents on error analysis in the experimental physical sciences. The discussion is at a beginning University level. (The first document size is 4.5k, the full set of documents in pdf format is a single file of size 440k). This series of documents was written in 2001. A new series of documents written in 2013 is based on the GUM and is available below under the title Uncertainty in Physical Measurements. | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Error Propagation | Propagation of errors of precision using Mathematica and the Experimental Data Analyst package. This brief discussion is suitable for students at all levels who need to do a fair amount of error propagation calculations. (8k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| The Extended Mind | Subtitled "Understanding Language and Thought in Terms of Complexity and Chaos Theory", this document shows that the origins of speech and the human mind have emerged simultaneously as the bifurcation from percepts to concepts. (42k) | Robert K. Logan | html |
| We examined correlations in student performance on Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning with factors related to the students, their background, and their reason for taking an introductory university physics course. June 2014 (777k) | David M. Harrison | ||
| Fitting Techniques | A brief introduction to fitting data to models. The emphasis is on least-squares techniques. The level is somewhat beyond what we expect from a typical first year student. (43k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Flash Animations for Physics | An index to various Flash animations for physics. (12k). | David M. Harrison | html |
| The Force Concept Inventory and Adult Learners html pdf | A small report on the performance of a small group of adult learners on the Force Concept Inventory diagnostic instrument. (html 10k, pdf 21k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Fourier Transform, A Brief Introduction | A brief introduction to Fourier series, Fourier transforms, discrete Fourier transforms of time series, and the Fourier transform package in the Python programming langauge. (174k) | David M. Harrison | |
| General Theory of Relativity: html pdf | Similar to the two Special Relativity documents, there are two General Relativity documents in the bookshelf. This one concentrates more on the worldview demanded by the theory, while Professor Key's concentrates more on the effects predicted by the theory. (121k/170k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| General Theory of Relativity | A discussion of the general theory of relativity, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (216k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Gravitational Time Dilation, a Derivation html pdf | A non-mathematical derivation of the fact that clocks in gravitational fields run slow. (23k/37k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Heat Equation | Solving partial differential equations (PDEs) by computer, particularly the heat equation. The emphasis is on the explicit, implicit, and Crank-Nicholson algorithms. Other types of PDE's are discussed, including the Schrödinger equation. Used by upper-year physics majors and specialists. (45k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Hip Forces html pdf | A small document analysing the forces acting on the hip. (89k/55k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Horsepower of an Engine | The relationship between the horsepower and torque of an engine, focusing on car and motorcycle engines. The level is intended to be suitable for first year Physics courses. Requires Flash 5 or better. (316k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| High Energy Physics html pdf | An overview of high energy physics at a non-technical level. Some of the material is non-traditional. (172k/161k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| An Introduction to Physics Education Research | A very brief introduction to Physics Education Research and how the results of the research are used in physics teaching. January 2010. (24k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Inertial Frames of Reference html pdf | A brief summary of the concept of Inertial Frames of Reference in Newtonian and Einsteinian Physics. (25k/35k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Innovative Teaching Techniques and U.S.-Developed Materials | A report on using U.S.-developed materials for innovative teaching techniques in introductory Physics courses. January 2005. (52k) | David M. Harrison and Stephen W. Morris | |
| Laboratory Experiments, On Good and Bad Ones | An analysis of a survey of first year Physics lab students asking about the best and worst experiments they performed (34k) | David M. Harrison and Ruxandra M. Serbanescu | |
| The Laboratory Notebook | Extracts of a top-quality laboratory notebook. (3k) | Richard E. Azuma and David M. Harrison | html |
| LabVIEW Tutorials | LabVIEW is a software tool from National Instruments for data acquisition and process control. The link to the left provides access to a 10-part tutorial in using LabVIEW and a one-page summary document. | James R. Drummond | |
| Learning UNIX-GNU/Linux | The link to the left provides access to five Modules on the UNIX-GNU/Linux computing environment. Each Module has been used as class notes for a 2 hour discussion on this computing environment. | David M. Harrison | html |
| Least-Squares Fitting | A discussion of the design principles for a least-squares fitter suitable for use in analysing data from the physical sciences and engineering. (228k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Life, Emerging Structures, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics | A discussion of issues of life and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Includes a section on cellular automata, and a section on sustainable energy sources. (255k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Locality and Quantum Mechanics html pdf | A brief introduction to the conflict between local cause and effect and Quantum Mechanics. Based on a discussion in an upper year liberal arts course in physics without mathematics. (24k/39k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| The Mach-Zehnder Interferometer | A detailed description of the phase shifts of the Mach-Zehnder interfereometer. (11k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Magic Through Two Millenia | The Dept. of Physics offers a first year course with minimal mathematics, titled The Magic of Physics. Documents from that course appear throughout this virtual bookshelf. The link to the left gives access to these 14 documents in a more coherent order. | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Maple Libraries html pdf | A tutorial on library creation and maintenance for the Maple programming language. (70k/39k). | David M. Harrison and Solomon R.C. Douglas | html and pdf |
| Manometers | A small document on using a manometer to measure a pressure. (64k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Mass-Energy Equivalence html pdf | A "small" document discussing how E = mc2 arises in the Special Theory of Relativity. |
David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Mass-Energy Equivalence - technical | This document discusses much of the same material as the previous one, but is written for physicists. (66k) | Jason Harlow and David M. Harrison | |
| Micrometer | Using a Micrometer. Requires Flash. (86k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Microprocessor Interfacing Techniques | The link to the left provides access to a thirteen-part set of lecture notes from a course in microprocessor interfacing; the course is taken by upper year students and by graduate students. | James R. Drummond | |
| Mirror Symmetry html pdf | Course notes from a one-hour class on mirror symmetry for upper-year liberal arts students. (399k/148k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Monte Carlo Simulation | Discusses the computer generation of events obeying some statistical model using Monte Carlo simulation. Brief reviews of Special Relativity and High Energy physics are also provided, and a small discussion of the generation of pseudo-random numbers is included. Used by upper year physics majors and specialists. (47k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Newtonian Mechanics | A brief summary of Newtonian mechanics, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (5k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Nuclei and Particles | Course notes, problems sets with answers, and tests from an introductory 3rd year course. (2k) | David Bailey | html |
| On Resistance to Implementing Physics Education Research Results in Physics Courses | A brief note of personal observation and opinion on the resistance of many physics teachers to implementing research-based pedagogy in their classes. (2013, 150k) | David M. Harrison | |
| The Oscilloscope | An introduction to the basic use of an oscilloscope to measure voltages as a function of time. Requires Flash. (42k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Personality types and student performance in an introductory physics course | A study of the correlation between personality types as measured by the True Colors test instrument and student performance in a large introductory physics course primarily of life science majors. (2017, 2.6M) | J.J.B. Harlow, D.M. Harrison, M. Justason, A. Meyertholen, and B. Wilson | |
| Personality types and student performance in an introductory physics course: part 2 | This is part 2 of the personality study that begins with the initial paper just above this one. (2018, 2.8M0 | J.J.B. Harlow, D.M. Harrison, M. Justason, A. Meyertholen, C. Sealfon, and B. Wilson | pef |
| Perspectives on modern reformed pedagogy from the history of science, psychology, and the performing arts | A "screed" attempting to tie together some diverse and unusual elements and the implications for pedagogy. (2016, 285k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Physics Education Research - A Comprehensive Study | An overview of PER and a small study of first year students. May 2005. (515k) | Jonathan Hillel | |
| Physics Practicals | A progress report on the development of new Physics Practicals for 1st Year Physics instruction (350k) | David M. Harrison | |
| The Poetry of Physics | This is a 20 chapter book on the ideas of physics, explained without mathematics. It also examines the role of physics in shaping both our thinking and the structure of our society. (671k in total, but the link to the left provides an index to pairs of chapters; each pair has a total filesize of about 66k.) | Robert K. Logan | html |
| Polarisation | A very brief and simple introduction to the polarisation of light. This document is also linked to from the Stern-Gerlach one. (17k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Predicting the Future Using Physics | Course notes for a brief discussion of predicting the future with physics. Used in an introductory physics course. Chaos dominates the discussion. | David M. Harrison | |
| Quantum Interference | A brief summary of quantum interference and the uncertainty principle, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (39k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Quantum Mechanics: a Poor Person's Guide | An overview of quantum mechanics, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (13k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Quantum Mechanics: Interpretation | An overview of quantum mechanics, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (10k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Quantum Teleportation | A discussion of Quantum Teleportation, Information, and Cryptography. Based on a presentation to an upper-year course in modern physics without mathematics. (41k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Deterministic Quantum Teleportation | A report of a measurement of quantum teleportation. One of the authors, D.F.V. James, is now at the University of Toronto. | M. Reibe et al. | |
| Schrödinger's Cat html pdf | A very brief introduction, originally designed for upper-year liberal arts students. (31k/34k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Science as a Language | A linguisitic analysis and a formal mathematical proof is presented to show that science can not prove the truth of a proposition but can only formulate hypotheses that continually require empirical verification for every new domain of observation. (27k) | Robert K. Logan | html |
| The Science of Hawking | An overview of Stephen Hawking's contributions to black hole thermodynamics and cosmology. Originally written for a non-technical audience, it also includes a Primer on General Relativity and Cosmology. (32k) | Pekka K. Sinervo | html |
| Special Theory of Relativity: html pdf | The Special Relativity document by Professor Key that is the next listing largely concentrates on the effects predicted by the theory, such as time dilation, length contraction, etc. This document is considerably longer than Professor Key's, and tends to concentrate more on the worldview suggested by the theory. (157k/310k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Special Theory of Relativity | A discussion of the postulates of special relativity and their consequences, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (119k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Spectra | A very brief introduction, originally designed for upper-year liberal arts students. (107k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Standing Waves html pdf | Vibrations on strings and drum heads, plus a brief discussion of Fourier analysis. The document is course notes from an upper-year liberal arts course. (189k/195k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Stern-Gerlach Experiment html pdf | This classic experiment introduces the notion of quantum spin; it is a vital introduction to many treatments of the "Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen" paradox and to Bell's theorem. This document is equally accessible to students at all levels. (76k/106k) | David M. Harrison | html and pdf |
| Studying Physics | Advice to first year University students on studying Physics. (300k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Subatomic Physics | Lecture notes, problem sets (including answers), and tests for an introductory course on nuclear and particle physics for 3rd year students. The link to the left provides access to the 86 documents in this set. | David C. Bailey | html |
| Team Teaching | A report of a survey of 50 courses at the University of Toronto that have more than one instructor. | Melody Neumann et al. | |
| Team Teaching Survey | A followup on the Team Teaching document just above, this report includes surveys of students on their attitudes towards Team Teaching. | Melody Neumann et al. | |
| Textbook Use in the Sciences and Its Relation to Course Performance | A study of how students use their textbook and how that correlates with performance in the course in 12 undergraduate science courses. | Michelle French et al. | |
| Threshold Concepts in Physics | A discussion of threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge in undergraduate physics courses. | David. M Harrison and Ruxandra Serbanescu | |
| Time Series Analysis | The link to the left provides access to a series of lecture notes on time series analysis from a course taken by upper year students. | David M. Harrison | |
| Two analogies to Bell's Theorem html pdf | Two analogies to Bell's Theorem. They are both somwhat simpler than the Bell's Theorem docuement that appears above on this list.(62k/74k) | Daivd M. Harrison |
html and pdf |
| Tutorial Attendance and Student Performance | A study of the correlation between tutorial attendance and final marks for two Physics courses. May, 2006. (24k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Uncertainty in Physical Measurements | The link to the left provides access to a series of documents on uncertainty in physical measurements. They are intended for beginning university students in the physical sciences, and are based on the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM). They were written in 2013. An earlier effort at teaching this material is the Error Analysislink above. | David M. Harrison | html |
| The Uncertainty of Grades in Physics Courses Is Surprisingly Large | A study of the uncertainty in test, final exam, and course marks. (2013, 201k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Vernier, Reading a | A small document on reading a Vernier scale. (56k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Visualisation and Transformation of Data | A brief discussion of techniques for exploration of data with visualisation and transformation. Not terribly technical, but does examine techniques often considered to be advanced. (51k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Waves and Wave Motion | A brief summary of waves, from a first year physics course using minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (27k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Wave-Particle Duality | A brief summary of wave-particle duality, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (14k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| What is the Universe Made Of? | A discussion of the role of elementary particle physics in the study of cosmology. This are slides of a talk given to University of Toronto summer research undergraduate students in 1999. (2.5M) | Robert S. Orr | |
| Why Science? | Course notes used for student motivation in an introductory physics course. (2018, 1.1M) | David M. Harrison |
This page was last revised on $Date: 2019/07/03 14:16:02 $ (y/m/d UTC)
Copyright © 2000 David M. Harrison