Physics Education Tools & Research

Usage Requirements: Fairly strong internet connection, paid subscription.

Slooh is a powerful online platform that allows educators and amateur astronomers remotely access telescopes in Chile, the Canary Islands, and Australia. Simply select a target & telescope, queue a scheduling block, adjust preferences, and watch as your research-grade image is captured. It is a brilliant, interactive way to explore the cosmos. Slooh hosts a variety of educational events and more advanced research options (have your data exported as FITS files for more detailed examination) and a constant stream of observations is available to watch in real-time. While the service comes with a price, I helped use this platform for Purdue University's physics and astronomy outreach program and I can personally attest it is worth the investment if you're strongly interested in amateur astronomy but are overwhelmed with the mechanics/cost of a full personal telescope.

Contributor: Amelia Binau, Indiana University

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Usage Requirements: Internet Connection

W3Schools is a useful website to learn a huge variety of programming languages, ranging from Java, C, C++, html, css, SQL, Python and some of its commonly used libraries, and more.

Contributor: Akshith Karri, Purdue University

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Usage Requirements: Internet Connection

A classic, well-known platform hosting maintained projects in a variety of fields (often astrophysics and ecology) that require community participation to classify, organize, and analyze data. Each project features a game-like user interface that walks each participant through the scientific details of the project and how the user contributes/analyzes data. For example, in the ongoing Rubin Comet Catchers project, citizen scientists can review Vera Rubin Observatory images of small solar system objects to search for signs of comet activity! Zooniverse is a fun way to introduce the mechanisms of scientific research to new audiences and participate hands-on with publishable science!

Contributor: Amelia Binau, Indiana University - Bloomington

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Usage Requirements: Internet Connection

Created by researchers at Cambridge, DoITPoMS hosts a library of materials in fundemental-advanced material sciences. Browse learning/teaching resources, simulations, and a collection of micrographs.

Contributor: Amelia Binau, Indiana University - Bloomington

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Usage Requirements: Internet Connection

A simple, online interface for simulating simple circuits. Loads with a sample LCR circuit and displays plots of the voltage and current applied to each component as a function of time. Provides a sizable index of sample circuits to browse and learn from.

Contributor: Amelia Binau, Indiana University - Bloomington

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Usage Requirements: Internet Connection

Explore a glorious, complete collection of physics simulations for use in the classroom, self-studying, or even in the laboratory. Interactive simulations for topics ranging from electrodynamics, Fourier series, waveguides, acoustics, simple quantum models, wave dynamics, orbital dynamics, optics, semiconductors, molecular dynamics, and more.

Contributor: Amelia Binau, Indiana University - Bloomington

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Contributor: Could be you!

Contributor: Could be you!