41 Physics
Advanced Library Skills for Physics Research
Lauren Stieglitz (University of Alberta Library)
2020
Licence: CC BY
Literature searching and information evaluation for upper level undergraduates and Master’s students, from the University of Alberta Library.
Formats: Online, PDF
All Things Flow: Fluid Mechanics for the Natural Sciences
W.D. Smyth (Oregon State University)
2019
Licence: CC BY-NC
This book began as lecture notes for an Oregon State University course in fluid mechanics, designed for beginning graduate students in physical oceanography. Because of its fundamental nature, this course is often taken by students outside physical oceanography, e.g., atmospheric science, civil engineering, physics and mathematics.
Formats: PDF
Suggested for: PHYS 204, PHYS 205
Applications of Maxwell’s Equations
John F. Cochran and Bretislav Heinrich (Simon Fraser University)
2020
Licence: CC BY
This book was developed at Simon Fraser University for an upper-level physics course. Along with a careful exposition of electricity and magnetism, it devotes a chapter to ferromagnets.
Formats: PDF
BCIT Physics 0312 Textbook
Charles Hooge (BCIT)
Licence: CC BY
An adaptation of OpenStax’s College Physics for courses at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. College Physics is organized such that topics are introduced conceptually with a steady progression to precise definitions and analytical applications. The analytical aspect (problem solving) is tied back to the conceptual before moving on to another topic. Each introductory chapter, for example, opens with an engaging photograph relevant to the subject of the chapter and interesting applications that are easy for most students to visualize.
Formats: Online, PDF
Suggested for: PHYS 200, PHYS 201, PHYS 202
Body Physics: Motion to Metabolism
Lawrence Davis
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Body Physics sticks to the basic functioning of the human body, from motion to metabolism, as a common theme through which fundamental physics topics are introduced.
Formats: Online, PDF, EPUB, and more
BSc Optics
Sander Konijnenberg, Aurèle J.L. Adam, and H. Paul Urbach (Delft University of Technology)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This book treats optics at the level of students in the later stage of their bachelor or the beginning of their master. It is assumed that the student is familiar with Maxwell’s equations. Although the book takes account of the fact that optics is part of electromagnetism, special emphasis is put on the usefulness of approximate models of optics, their hierarchy and limits of validity. Approximate models such as geometrical optics and paraxial geometrical optics are treated extensively and applied to image formation by the human eye, the microscope and the telescope.
Format: PDF
College Physics
Paul Peter Urone (California State University), Roger Hinrichs (SUNY at Oswego), and Kim Dirks (University of Auckland) (OpenStax)
2012
Licence: CC BY
This introductory, algebra-based, two-semester college physics book is grounded with real-world examples, illustrations, and explanations to help students grasp key, fundamental physics concepts. This online, fully editable and customizable title includes ample practice opportunities to solve traditional physics application problems.
Formats: Online and PDF
Suggested for: PHYS 200, PHYS 201, PHYS 202
Detectors in Particle Physics
Georg Viehhauser and Tony Weidberg
2024
Licence: CC BY
This textbook provides an accessible yet comprehensive introduction to detectors in particle physics. It emphasises the core physics principles, enabling a deeper understanding of the subject for further and more advanced studies. In addition to the discussion of the underlying detector physics, another aspiration of this book is to introduce the reader to practically important aspects of particle detectors, like electronics, alignment, calibration and simulation of particle detectors. Case studies of the various applications of detectors in particle physics are provided. The primary audience is graduate students in particle or nuclear physics, in addition to advanced undergraduate students in physics.
Formats: PDF
Introduction to Electricity, Magnetism, and Circuits
Samuel J. Ling, Jeff Sanny, William Moebs, and Daryl Janzen (University of Saskatchewan)
2018
Licence: CC BY
This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigour inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Introductory Physics: Building Models to Describe Our World
Ryan D. Martin, Emma Neary, Joshua Rinaldo, and Olivia Woodman (Queen’s University)
Licence: CC BY-SA
This is an open ACCESS textbook for calculus-based introductory physics courses. The textbook is specifically intended for a flipped-classroom approach, wherein students complete readings at home and the material is then discussed in class.
Formats:
Suggested for: PHYS 200, PHYS 201, PHYS 202
Mechanics
Ben Crowell (Fullerton College)
2017
Licence: CC BY-SA
This is a calculus-based book meant for the first semester of a first-year survey course taken by engineering and physical science majors. It has a traditional order of topics whereby force is discussed before energy. It is divided into 17 chapters that cover a review of high school physics, scaling and estimation, vectors, velocity, acceleration, forces, circular motion, gravity, conservation of energy, work, conservation of momentum and angular momentum, vibrations, and resonance. A treatment of relativity is interspersed with the Newtonian mechanics, in optional sections.
Formats: Online and PDF
Physics 132: What is an Electron? What is Light?
Roger Hinrichs, Paul Peter Urone, Paul Flowers, Edward J. Neth, William R. Robinson, Klaus Theopold, Richard Langley, Julianne Zedalis, John Eggebrecht, and E.F. Redish (UMass Amherst)
2020
Licence: CC BY
A second-semester introductory physics course for life sciences students that looks to deepen students’ understanding of biology and chemistry through physics all through the lens of understanding two of the most fundamental particles in the Universe: electrons and photons. The book begins with exploring the quantum mechanical nature of these objects to expand on what students have learned in chemistry and then proceeds to geometric optics (using the human eye as a theme), electrostatics (using membrane potentials), circuits (using the neuron), and finally synthesizing everything in a unit exploring the meaning of “light is an electromagnetic wave.”
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, and HTML
Relativity Lite: A Pictorial Translation of Einstein’s Theories of Motion and Gravity
Jack C. Straton (Portland State University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC
Relativity Lite is designed for the General Astronomy sequence (PH 361-2U, SCI 315-6U) whose primary book glosses over Special Relativity and General Relativity while trying to explain the Cosmology that is based on those subjects. Relativity Lite translates the mathematical equations conventional relativity texts rely upon into pictures that are readily understood and contain within them the mathematical essentials. This book provides the comprehensive coverage needed to understand, in sufficient depth, these three linked areas of our reality. Readers seeking this knowledge on their own, and those in other courses for nonscientists, may also find it helpful.
Formats: Online and PDF
Spiral Physics
Paul D’Alessandris (Monroe Community College)
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Spiral Physics is a research-based introductory physics curriculum developed at Monroe Community College. It integrates text and workbook activities in a modular fashion, and arranges topics so that students receive repeated exposure to concepts with increased complexity.
Formats: Online, PDF
University Physics I: Classical Mechanics
Julio Gea-Banacloche (University of Arkansas)
2019
Licence: CC BY-NC
This is a “minimalist” textbook for a first semester of university, calculus-based physics, covering classical mechanics (including one chapter on mechanical waves, but excluding fluids), plus a brief introduction to thermodynamics.
Formats: PDF
Suggested for: PHYS 200, PHYS 201, PHYS 202
University Physics Volume 1
Jeff Sanny (Loyola Marymount University) and Samuel Ling (Truman State University) (OpenStax)
2016
Licence: CC BY
University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.
Formats: Online and PDF
Suggested for: PHYS 200, PHYS 201, PHYS 202
University Physics Volume 2
Jeff Sanny (Loyola Marymount University) and Samuel Ling (Truman State University) (OpenStax)
2016
Licence: CC BY
University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism. This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.
Formats: Online and PDF
Suggested for: PHYS 200, PHYS 201, PHYS 202
University Physics Volume 3
Jeff Sanny (Loyola Marymount University) and Samuel Ling (Truman State University) (OpenStax)
2016
Licence: CC BY
University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.
Formats: Online and PDF


2. Understanding the Big Picture
Types of Disabilities and Associated Barriers
The Sharp Clothing Company recently completed upgrading all of its premises to include wheelchair access ramps, accessible washrooms, wheelchair-height customer service desks, and so on. The management was confident everything was done to meet accessibility standards, so they were surprised to receive a customer complaint about the company’s online store being completely inaccessible by keyboard.
You have been asked to investigate the issue. After looking into the complaint you are surprised to find that there were many different types of disabilities and each one with its own accessibility challenges. You decide you need to learn more about how people with different disabilities use the web and digital information, since you see now there is more to accessibility than providing access for wheelchair users.
To understand where accessibility issues can arise, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of a range of disabilities and the related barriers found in digital content. These include:
- people who are blind
- people with low vision
- people who are deaf or hard of hearing
- people with mobility-related disabilities
- people with learning or cognitive disabilities
Not all people with disabilities encounter barriers in digital content, and those with different types of disabilities encounter different types of barriers. For instance, if a person is in a wheelchair, they may encounter no barriers at all in digital content. A person who is blind will experience different barriers than a person with limited vision. Many of the barriers that people with disabilities encounter on the web are often barriers found in electronic documents and multimedia. Different types of disabilities and some of their commonly associated barriers are described here.
Watch the following video to see how students with disabilities experience the Internet.
Video: Experiences of Students with Disabilities
© Jared Smith. Released under the terms of a Standard YouTube License. All rights reserved.
In this video, David Berman talks about types of disabilities and their associated barriers.
Video: Web Accessibility Matters: Difficulties and Technologies: Avoiding Tradeoffs
© davidbermancom. Released under the terms of a Standard YouTube License. All rights reserved.
People who Are Blind
People who are blind tend to face the most barriers in digital content, given the visual nature of much digital content. They will often use a screen reader to access their computer or device, and may use a refreshable Braille display to convert text to Braille.
Common barriers for this group include:
- Visual content that has no text alternative
- Functional elements that cannot be controlled with a keyboard
- Overly complex or excessive amounts of content
- Inability to navigate within a page of content
- Content that is not structured (i.e., missing proper headings)
- Inconsistent navigation
- Time limits (insufficient time to complete tasks)
- Unexpected actions (e.g., redirect when an element receives focus)
- Multimedia without audio description
For a quick look at how a person who is blind might use a screen reader like JAWS to navigate the web, watch the following video.
Video: Accessing the web using screen reading software
© rscnescotland. Released under the terms of a Standard YouTube License. All rights reserved.
People with Low Vision
People with low vision are often able to see digital content if it is magnified. They may use a screen magnification program to increase the size and contrast of the content to make it more visible. They are less likely to use a screen reader than a person who is blind, though in some cases they will. People with low vision may rely on the magnification or text customization features in their web browser or word processor, or they may install other magnification or text reading software.
Common barriers for this group include:
- Content sized with non-resizable absolute measures
- Inconsistent navigation
- Images of text that degrade or pixelate when magnified
- Low contrast (inability to distinguish text from background)
- Time limits (insufficient time to complete tasks)
- Unexpected actions (e.g., redirect when an element receives focus)
See the following video for a description of some of the common barriers for people with low vision.
Video: Creating an accessible web (AD)
© Media Access Australia. Released under the terms of a Standard YouTube License. All rights reserved.
People who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Most people who are deaf tend to face barriers where audio content is presented without text-based alternatives, and encounter relatively few barriers in digital content otherwise. Those who are deaf and blind will face many more barriers, including those described for people who are blind. For those who communicate with American Sign Language (ASL) or other sign languages (e.g., langue de Signes Quebecoise or LSQ), the written language of a website may produce barriers similar to those faced when reading in a second language.
Common barriers for this group include:
- Audio without a transcript
- Multimedia without captions or transcript
- Lack of ASL interpretation (for ASL/Deaf community)
People with Mobility-Related Disabilities
Mobility-related disabilities are quite varied. As mentioned earlier, one could be limited to a wheelchair for getting around, and face no significant barriers in digital content. Those who have limited use of their hands or who have fine-motor impairments that limit their ability to target and click elements in digital content with a mouse pointer, may not use a mouse at all. Instead, they might rely on a keyboard or perhaps their voice to control movement (i.e., speech recognition) through digital content along with switches to control mouse clicks.
Common barriers for this group include:
- Clickable areas that are too small
- Functional elements that cannot be controlled with a keyboard
- Time limits (insufficient time to complete tasks)
People with Learning or Cognitive Disabilities
Learning and cognitive-related disabilities can be as varied as mobility-related disabilities, perhaps more so. These disabilities can range from a mild reading related disability, to very severe cognitive impairments that may result in limited use of language and difficulty processing complex information. For most of the disabilities in this range, there are some common barriers, and others that only affect those with more severe cognitive disabilities.
Common barriers for this group include:
- Use of overly complex/advanced language
- Inconsistent navigation
- Overly complex or excessive amounts of content
- Time limits (insufficient time to complete tasks)
- Unstructured content (no visible headings, sections, topics, etc.)
- Unexpected actions (e.g., redirect when an element receives focus)
More specific disability-related issues include:
- Reading: Text justification (inconsistent spacing between words)
- Reading: Images of text (not readable with a text reader)
- Visual: Visual content with no text description
- Math: Images of math equations (not readable with a math reader)
Everyone
While we generally think of barriers in terms of access for people with disabilities, there are some barriers that impact all types of users, though these are often thought of in terms of usability. Usability and accessibility go hand-in-hand. Adding accessibility features improves usability for others. Many people, including those who do not consider themselves to have a specific disability (such as those over the age of 50) may find themselves experiencing typical age-related loss of sight, hearing, or cognitive ability. Those with varying levels of colour blindness may also fall into this group.
Some of these usability issues include:
- Link text that does not describe the destination or function of the link
- Overly complex content
- Inconsistent navigation
- Low contrast
- Unstructured content


23 OER, CARE, Stewardship, and the Commons
Jim Luke
Lisa Petrides, Douglas Levin, and C. Edward Watson recently released the CARE Framework, but apparently some people, David Wiley in particular, don’t care for the framework. Stephen Downes has already I think responded in two brief posts here and here. Stephen’s posts are brief and I think pretty spot-on. Nonetheless, I’ll soldier on and try to use a couple thousand words to say the same thing.
I find the Framework both exciting and timely. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been making up for lost time studying the economics of the commons. In particular, I’ve been deep into Elinor and Vince Ostrom’s work, as well as David Bollier’s work. The Framework doesn’t explicitly state that it is about a “commons” but that’s what they are describing. A commons. A true commons as Elinor and Vince Ostrom would describe it.
People serving as OER stewards pursue a wide variety of strategies and tactics relevant to their specific context to improve access to education and opportunity over time. Yet, what all good OER stewards should have in common is a commitment to practices that serve to demonstrate their duty of care to the broader OER movement.
The Framework is a great start towards a community definition of our own Open Education Commons.
The CARE Framework emphasizes “membership” and “stewardship”. It uses words like contribute, attribute, release, and empower. These are verbs. The commons is a verb. A commons is all about governance, behavior, social norms, production, and usage. It is a social-economic system. It is not a pool of objects or nouns that a bunch of people share.
Wiley dismisses this. He makes a nod towards Elinor Ostrom and tries to cite her work on the commons as supporting his. He misses. It may be a compliment to Ostrom.
[Tweet by Jim Luke: “The mark of a legendary, brilliant economist is after their death they are widely cited or quoted by legions of ppl who neither read nor understood what they actually wrote. Adam Smith, Marx, Keynes. Elinor Ostrom has assumed that status now apparently.” ]
The CARE Framework attempt to define membership boundaries in what I’ll call the open education commons (I have good reason to say OE commons, not OER commons – bear with me). Wiley admits that defining group boundaries is Ostrom’s first principle of managing a commons. But he dismisses the Framework and any effort to define group membership, and thereby any behavioral norms, by denying that we should even consider OER as a commons. It’s here where he abandons Ostrom and returns to the old “tragedy of the commons” analogy. He invokes the idea that commons thinking and commons ideas only apply if we’re discussing physical, natural common pool resources. He asserts that rivalrous goods are necessary for such common pool resources and then asserts OER are not rivalrous goods.
Indeed, he sets up a straw man using the old Garrett Hardin story of the tragedy of the commons wherein a “commons” is defined to be = open, unlimited access to a scarce, limited natural resource. The analysis is static and he gets lost in the terminology.
The first problem is that common pool resource(s) are not the same as a commons. That’s Ostrom 101. It’s difficult to read Ostrom or listen to her (fortunately there are many extant videos online of her lectures) and not discover the fatal flaw in Hardin’s “tragedy of the commons” story of over-grazing (or over-fishing or over-hunting). Hardin’s “tragedy” describes a common pool resource where there was no commons structure or social norms governing behavior. It did not describe real-life commons scenarios. Ostrom studied real-life cases. In the Hardin “tragedy” it’s unlimited access by strictly self-interested, socially-detached, profit-maximizing individuals that did not practice stewardship. Interestingly, Wiley denies there’s any possibility of “tragedy” of OER commons while he advocates for OER precisely the hypothetical regime of Hardin’s “tragedy”: unlimited use of CC licensed educational materials without consideration for community norms or commons governance or stewardship or recognition of being in a “community”.
The second problem is Wiley’s assertion that OER materials are “non-rivalrous”. Wiley supposes lack of rivalry in OER goods inoculates OER from any of the risks of unsustainabilty or failure of what I’ll call the OE commons. Here we’ve got three sub-issues: Are non-rivalrous goods exempt from concerns of sustainability? Are OER non-rivalrous and cost-free to reproduce? And finally, just what is the scarce resource jeapardizing sustainability?
Wiley is dead wrong in his assertion that non-rivalrous goods are the only subjects of common pool resource concerns or commons concerns. He implies that Ostrom and her work on the commons only applies to rivalrous goods like natural resources (even here, not all natural resources are rivalrous. Rivalry in goods is contextual and depends on demand, supply, and property regimes). It is true that knowledge and ideas are non-rivalrous. But even non-rivalrous goods can be managed quite successfully as a commons and can also face challenges of sustainability and governance. Ostrom co-authored and co-edited Understanding Knowledge as a Commons. Her work inspired theWorkshop on Governing Knowledge Commons. It’s a gross misrepresentation to suggest that Ostrom’s work on commons governance and membership applies only to natural resource pools that are rivalrous. Even non-rivalrous goods face challenges of sustainability that need to be addressed by commons stewardship.
But let’s look at Wiley’s assertion that OER materials are non-rivalrous. His evidence for this is based on the tired canard that making digital copies is virtually free and we can make unlimited copies. But even in an all digital document file world (and not all OER are digital document files) the cost of copying is not zero. Disks, networks, computers, software all have costs of both acquisition and maintenance. They also bring questions of privilege and access. The marginal cost of copying may be very, very small. But marginal cost isn’t the end all of the analysis as any good economist knows. OER reproduction is not cost-free. To have a very, very low marginal cost still requires substantial investment in infrastructure, fixed costs, and sunk costs. Further, just how does one costlessly copy a digital OER resource and avail themselves of all the 5 R’s when the source code files for the website aren’t provided or come in such a format that discourages it. Ask the many faculty who have tried to download, edit, and remix some OpenStax texts. Time is a cost too. Wiley himself sees this when elsewhere he argues that very few have the resources or luxury to contribute to the “hard, frequently painful, and seldom recognized work associated with stewardship.” Clearly OER materials are not cost-less to reproduce and that alone means we must be concerned with sustainability and behavioral norms of stewardship.
A great deal of confusion in thinking about OER sustainability – or what I prefer to think of as sustainability of the OE commons – comes from confusion in terms. In particular we’re confused about “resources”. We use the word resource in OER and then we encounter research about the commons and CPR’s, common pool resources, and confusion ensues. Economically, a resource is something that is necessary for the production of other more economically valued goods or experiences. Resources do not have to be physical objects. The traditional taxonomy is land, labor, and capital, although I think most economists today would not object to adding knowledge in some form to that mix. In economic terms, what we call OER’s are resources used as part of the teaching process that produces some learning.
Note: Please bear with me, my critical pedagogy folk. I’m applying economics to teaching here at a very abstract, general level. I am not embracing learning outcomes, learning analytics, or engineered corporate “learning” experiences. Teachers who engage pedagogies and activities that result in student agency or transformation can still be viewed as a production process in the abstract even if it’s artisanal, unpredictable, and unmeasurable.
Yes, teaching materials such as textbooks, quizzes, images, and software are resources in the teaching or educational process. They are one of the resources. If those materials are free to access, to use, to revise, to adapt, etc, then we call them OER. The use of the word “resource” is legit in this context. However, are these resources fit for purpose? And by fit for purpose, I mean do they synergistically amplify the most critical resource of the process, the labor and knowledge of the teacher? To make them truly fit for purpose requires engaging the 5 R’s. We must remix, revise, redistribute, and edit. It is not enough to have or use an OER with permissions for 5 R’s if we do not or cannot actually do them. I may have the right or permission to vote, but if I do not actually vote that right is meaningless. To actually revise, remix, redistribute, or edit OER’s requires additional resources.
The critical resources necessary for OER are people’s time and expertise. This is true for both the creation of those mass distribution OER’s such as general ed course textbooks and the materials as used in each class. I think of the textbooks as wholesale or bulk OER’s that need further processing and supplementation to be most effective in any particular course. And who provides these critical resources of time and expertise for creation, editing, remixing, revising, and redistribution? The most critical source is faculty. Is faculty time non-rivalrous? Hardly.
Accepting the economics definition of scarcity as “unlimited wants and limited resources”, we must conclude faculty time is scarce. It is valuable. Faculty make choices of how to use their time. They can choose to spend time creating, editing, revising, remixing, and sharing OER materials, or they can spend their time in a myriad of other ways.
While OER materials are indeed resources in the context of teaching, in the context of our discussions of sustainability, they are not. OER materials are not resources and not the commons or the CPR itself. OER are the fruits of the an open education commons that utilizes a common pool resource of faculty time and expertise to produce them. If we think of it this way, we see why stewardship, the CARE Framework, and Ostrom’s principles are so important.
OER materials are not some static, ever growing pool of materials that can endlessly and costlessly be copied, reproduced, and used. That OER textbook written two years ago? It might be out of date now. Who is going to edit and update it? Who cares if I can copy that text from a decade ago? Maybe OER’s cannot be over-used as David Wiley states, but they can certainly be under-produced. Under-production will lead to tragedy of the open education commons as surely as over-grazing might lead to failure of a pasture commons.
Why would faculty devote their scarce time to OER? Why should they take time to attribute (and trust me attribution takes time)? Is it only because of threats of legal action should they not comply with copyright licenses? Hardly. That’s never stopped faculty before. It’s because they are convinced that they are part of a community, a commons, wherein this is the norm. Attribution is what good people do. As Downes put it, they want to respect, protect, and further the collective enterprise in which they are a part.
Why would faculty devote scarce time to sharing and contributing their content or materials? All teachers have materials they’ve created for classes. Not all OER’s must be 300 page textbooks. There’s a wealth of unshared teaching materials sitting in faculty drawers in the form of handouts. Only a small portion get shared or contributed to others, partly because sharing and making available to others is not always easy. Time. Resources. Scarcity. Again, they share when it’s part of the social norm.
What might discourage faculty from attributing or contributing? Faculty will not share, will not contribute, and will not attribute when they see that their efforts and time get abused by others who don’t adhere to the social norms.
It’s not just over-use that can doom a commons. Enclosure and extraction can destroy a commons just as well.
Another Ostrom principle of commons management is fairness. Faculty and all members of the open education commons need to perceive that fairness reigns. There’s been a steady drumbeat that says CC-BY license is the “most free” (how is it more free than CC0, I wonder?). But when I’ve worked with faculty to help them create, share, publish, revise, or remix their OER materials, their gut preference is typically for CC-NC, CC-SA, or CC-NC-SA. Why? Because they perceive those licenses as more fair. The NC and SA licenses make statements about “I’m contributing to the OER community. I expect fair reciprocity. I expect you to be a good steward too.” Faculty react quite negatively to organizations who charge for access to CC-BY materials. Faculty perceive those organizations as using legal technicalities to abuse the good faith efforts of the community.
I haven’t yet presented the CARE Framework to faculty. My expectation is it will be warmly accepted and greeted with a kind of “well, of course”. I thank Petrides, Levin, and Watson for their work on it. While in many ways the framework simply captures what I think most faculty think and feel already, making the framework and its emphasis on stewardship explicit is a major step forward for the open education commons.
About the Author
Jim Luke has been Professor of Economics at Lansing Community College since 2002. He is also Open Learning Faculty Fellow in the LCC Center for Teaching Excellence. Prior to LCC, he was a business strategy and technology consultant for 25 years. At LCC, Jim has championed OER and open learning, both by modeling it in his own courses and by founding the school’s Open Learning Lab. His current research interests pull together open learning and OER with economic analysis of higher education as a commons. He writes on the Web at https://econproph.com and on Twitter as @econproph.
Other works:
Attribution


9.2 Dental Assistant
Brandon Censon MPH, CPH, RRT-NPS, CPFT, CPT
Dental assistants play an integral role in dental care. Their daily duties and skills vary, but they often work directly with and support dentists and dental hygienists during procedures such as fillings. Some technical duties of a dental assistant may include:
- Taking and pouring impressions (molds of the patient’s mouth)
- Preparing patients for surgical procedures
- Operating dental equipment and patient monitoring systems
- Preparing the examination room
- Sterilizing equipment
Depending on their work setting, dental assistants may also:
- Polish the surfaces of teeth
- Apply sealants and fluoride
- Place topical anesthetics before procedures
- Take X-rays
- Obtain patients’ vital signs
- Educate patients on proper dental hygiene
Additionally, dental assistants are involved in maintaining and updating patient records. They may be asked to record measurements or scalings, as well as document any medical or dental changes reported by the patient.
Dental assistants also often handle administrative duties, such as scheduling appointments, submitting billing and insurance claims, ordering supplies and equipment for the dental office, and managing other office tasks, including computer-based work.
Much of what dental assistants do on a day-to-day basis involves assisting the dentist with a variety of procedures and interventions, such as fillings, tooth extractions, crowns, and root canals. Therefore, it is important for dental assistants to have a firm understanding of various dental procedures, the order in which they must be performed, and the equipment and dental instruments used.
An essential skill for dental assistants is the ability to work with diverse patient groups. Since the dental assistant is often the first person a patient encounters during their office visit, it is important for them to be friendly and caring. Other key qualities for dental assistants include being a good listener, as they play a vital role in helping patients share their questions and concerns with the dental team, and demonstrating compassion. Many patients arrive at their appointments feeling anxious or scared, so having a calming presence can help them feel more comfortable.
Being organized and detail-oriented is also an important quality for dental assistants. They need to be prepared for anything, as they may be asked to perform multiple tasks in a short amount of time. Strong organizational skills are essential to handling these duties efficiently.
Dental assistants can apply their skills in a variety of settings and roles. Some of the settings where a dental assistant may work include:
- Independent dental practices
- Hospital-based dental clinics
- Dental school clinics
- Correctional institutions
- Public-health clinics
- Specialty practices
The roles may include:
- Orthodontic assistant
- Oral surgery assistant
- Surgical dental assistant
Academic Requirements and Career Pathway
The academic requirements and regulations for dental assistants vary by state. In Washington State, dental assistants must be registered to practice. To be eligible for registration, an individual must complete 200 hours of employment by a Washington state-licensed dentist, as well as receive both theoretical and clinical training in the application of dental sealants and fluoride varnish treatments (Dental Assisting National Board, n.d.).
Working as a dental assistant can be very rewarding, especially when seeing improvements in patients’ oral health throughout their care. It is also important to consider the various career advancement opportunities available. Dental assistants can advance their career by becoming dental hygienists, dental lab technicians, dental office managers, or dental assisting instructors. These advancements may require additional education, training, and experience. The Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) is the nationally recognized certification organization for dental assistants.
Attributions
- Figure 9.2: image released under the Pexels License
A sticky material that is used to fill cavities or replace a part of a tooth.


Main Body
Multi-Winding Transformers
Many transformers contain more than one primary winding, more than one secondary winding, or both:
- Each winding on the high-voltage side has a maximum voltage of the lower of the two voltages.
-
Each winding on the low-voltage side has a maximum voltage of the lower of the two secondary voltages.
- Any voltage higher than these ratings could damage the insulation.
-
Each winding can handle half the rated kVA that the transformer is rated for.
-
We can connect either side in series or parallel to get the voltage we want.
Multi-Coil Distribution Transformer
-
The transformer below is rated 50 kVA, 2400/4800 V – 120/240 V. This means that each winding of the high-voltage side is rated for a maximum voltage of 2400 V (always the lower of the two voltages). Each winding of the low-voltage side is rated for a maximum voltage of 120 V. Remember that any voltage higher than these ratings could damage the insulation.
-
To connect the high-voltage side of this transformer to a 4800 V bus, the two windings are connected in series so that the bus voltage is divided equally (2400 V and 2400 V) across each of the two windings.
-
To connect the high-voltage side of this transformer to a 2400 V bus, the two windings are connected in parallel so that each winding sees 2400 V.
-
To connect the low-voltage side of this transformer to a 240 V bus, the two windings must be connected in series so that the bus voltage is divided equally (120 V and 120 V) across each of the two windings.
-
To connect the low-voltage side of the transformer to a 120 V bus, the two windings must be connected in parallel so that each winding sees 120 V.
Series and Parallel Low-Voltage Connections
Each coil of this transformer can handle only half of the total kVA. So each of the high-voltage windings and each of the low-voltage windings are rated at 25 kVA.
To find the maximum current rating of each winding in the above drawing, simply divide the volt-amperes by the rated voltage:
25 KVA/2400 = 10.4 Amps (Primary)
25 KVA/120 = 208.3 Amps (Secondary)
Notice that we get the same value for current whether we use a single coil and half the VA or both coils and the full VA:
50 KVA/4800 = 10.4 Amps (Primary)
50 KVA/ 240 = 208.3 Amps (Secondary)
Observing Proper Polarity on the Supply Side
The video below goes into detail as to how and why it is important to connect your multi-winding transformers properly. At best, if a transformer is connected incorrectly you will see zero volts on the secondary. At worse, you will experience kablazalflam (Dutch for melt your face off) or a dead short.
Video Alert!
The video below discusses how to properly connect a multi-winding transformer without blowing yourself up.
Three-Wire Connections
-
By tapping off the center connection, we can get 120 V, or by tapping off both lines we can get the full 240 V.
-
With three-wire secondary connections (120/240 V), the transformer is capable of supplying the full kVA only if the load is perfectly balanced.
-
If the full kVA is supplied with an unbalanced load, one of the windings will be overloaded. (That is, its current rating will be exceeded.)
-
Each winding would only be able to handle half the rated kVA.
Video Alert!
This video describes the danger of overloading one of the windings and how to avoid it.
Video Alert!
This video explains how a transformer can still work if one of the primary windings has burned out. This is the concept of flux linkage. The main point to take away is that if you lose a winding then you have only half of the KVA (Power) available.
Attribution
How to connect a transformer properly video by The Electric Academy is under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
How to determine the minimum KVA in a transformer video by The Electric Academy is under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Flux linkage video by The Electric Academy is under a Creative Commons Attribution License.


90 James Baldwin (1924 – 1987)
Amy Berke; Robert Bleil; Jordan Cofer; and Doug Davis
James Baldwin was born in Harlem, the oldest of nine children. Although he did not know his biological father, Baldwin’s rocky relationship with his stepfather, a lay preacher who shared his name of James Baldwin, was a major influence in both Baldwin’s writings and life. At the age of fourteen, a young Baldwin tried to follow in his stepfather’s footsteps as a preacher, but his interest was short lived. In high school, Baldwin joined the school’s literary magazine and began making trips to Greenwich Village. These trips only further sparked his interests in the arts and befriended many professional artists, including Beauford Delaney, an African-American painter who found fame during the Harlem Renaissance. As he recounts in his essay, “Notes on a Native Son,” Baldwin’s stepfather died in 1943 and was buried on Baldwin’s nineteenth birthday, which was, subsequently, both the day his youngest brother was born as well as the day of the Harlem Riot.
In 1944, after the death of his stepfather, Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village, to focus on becoming a writer. It was here that Baldwin found an artistic community, forming friendships with artists such as Marlon Brando and his literary hero, Richard Wright. With Wright’s help, Baldwin was awarded the Eugene Saxton fellowship (1945). Baldwin began to publish essays in influential magazines, such as The Nation and Partisan Review; however, in 1948, due to his disillusionment as a black, gay man in America, Baldwin followed in the path of other expatriates, including Wright, by moving to Paris. Although he would live in both Switzerland and Turkey, Baldwin eventually settled in Saint-Paul de Vence, South of France.
Baldwin’s first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), was a major critical and commercial success. Despite being fiction, the biographical similarities in the novel about a young man, John Grimes who questions the hypocrisy of the church, his own religious upbringing, his own sexuality, and his frustrations with being an African-American were quite transparent. In 1955, he released his first collection of essays, the influential Notes on a Native Son, but it was his follow up novel, Giovanni’s Room (1956), which was the subject of international controversy for its homoerotic content. The novel follows David who, after his girlfriend leaves him, has an affair with an Italian bartender, Giovanni.
The debut of Baldwin’s book of essays The Fire Next Time (1963) only further cemented his reputation as one of the most famous and influential American writers of the twentieth century. Baldwin, despite living in France, was an extremely influential figure during the American Civil Rights movement, aligning himself with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), making several trips to the American South, working with figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. In 1963, he was featured on the cover of Time magazine for his work on the Civil Rights movement.
In his famous short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin deals with the conflict between two brothers, one a math teacher and the other, Sonny, a musician recently released from jail. Throughout the story, it becomes clear that the two brothers do not know each other very well and that, although Sonny’s troubles are explicit, the narrator’s troubles are more implicit.
Content Advisory
Literature involves language, descriptions, and/or topics that may be emotionally disturbing, graphic, or otherwise sensitive in nature. These topics (or materials) are important to the course as these words, attitudes, and biases are part of American literature and provide us with opportunities to better understand our history and society.
“Sonny’s Blues”
Or try the link below:
The opposite of implicit, the term explicit refers to things that are clearly and directly stated.
The opposite of explicit, the term implicit refers to things that are implied but not directly expressed.


KPIs for Sustainable Communities
Air Pollution Community KPIs (Adapted from Hemment et al., 2016)
This community project has an overall goal of improving citizen well-being by having fewer people exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution.
One of the activities to help achieve this goal involves installing sensors in street amenities (e.g., lamp posts) in the community to monitor air quality at different heights and locations. Readings from these installations will be communicated via a web application to those with health conditions related to poor air quality, as well as made generally available for the public to support walking route options.
Some possible KPIs to track for a project such as this one might include the following:
- Number of citizen affected by respiratory illness in the defined community.
- Number of times the air quality application was downloaded.
- Frequency of visits to the emergency room related to respiratory illness before and after the intervention.
Trail KPIs (Adapted from Witkowski et al., accepted)
This project takes place in a protected park, which has an overall goal of providing rich visitor experiences while also maintaining the ecological integrity of the nature trails.
One activity to help achieve this goal includes increasing visitor education about trail safety and proper behaviour. Updated signage was installed at key points along the main trail, which provided information on the “Leave No Trace” principles. A QR code was also printed on the sign so that trail users could scan the code and always have the information with them. After their hike, they are able to use the code to take a knowledge quiz about the principles.
Some possible KPIs to track for a project such as this one might include the following:
- Number of times the QR code was scanned.
- Number of litter items on trail with updated signage vs trails without signage.
- Visitor knowledge of trail safety.


March 24, 2001: Shakespeare, King Henry IV Parts 1 and 2
Barbican. Matinee and evening. Royal Shakespeare Company. 3 hours each (including intervals)
I had been looking forward to seeing this pair of plays after having seen the RSC Henry V last Monday night. It’s a very unusual opportunity, seeing three of the four plays of the second tetralogy, if not entirely in historical sequence. Were I to be in London for a few more weeks, I would be able to see, not only Richard II, but the four plays of the first tetralogy as well. Lucky Londoners!
The four principal characters of Part 1 lose one of their number at the Battle of Shrewsbury. That leaves Henry, Hal, and Falstaff to be played in Part 2 by the same actors who had the roles in Part 1: William Houghton (Hal), David Troughton (Henry), and Desmond Barritt (Falstaff). They form a wonderful ensemble, these three, augmented by Adam Levy as a hugely energetic Hotspur, who possesses the ability to go off like a powder keg at the least provocation. Hotspur’s is not so difficult a role as that of Hal — or not so complex, at any rate. The actor’s challenge is to give us a character with enough charm, enough attractiveness, to make it plausible for Henry to wish him his own son instead of the truant to chivalry, his actual son Hal, while at the same time giving us a man who finally doesn’t know himself sufficiently well and so doesn’t reflect on his complex preoccupation with — chivalry, to draw the ironic parallel with Hal. So the keynote of Hotspur’s character is its single-mindedness, whereas the keynote of Hal’s is his inclination for risk-taking, coupled with a mental habit of nice calculation and an exquisite sense of timing. Underlying all of these attributes is a deep need to be taken as his own man, even though it gets him into great trouble with his father, who upbraids him for lowering himself by exposing himself to public view. Hal sees the big picture — as he unapologetically explains in his early soliloquy, whereas Hotspur has no perspective beyond his ambition, fueled partly by his sense of personal grievance with the king. The ironic parallels between the two young men have been pointed out repeatedly by commentators on the play. A good example: when Worcester upbraids his nephew for the second time over his hasty, ill-judged behavior, Hotspur’s only response is a surly “Well, I am schooled.” Nothing makes a dent in him. Whereas, in the scene between Henry and Hal (rehearsed in the tavern in Eastcheap), Hal’s response to Henry’s severe criticism of his behavior is to promise that henceforth he will be “more myself” — a promise he keeps.
This ironic parallel is carried out in the casting. William Houghton’s whole face is alive to the implications of all that meets his eye. We see his intelligence, his craftiness, his cunning, but also his moral probity. This is a man who will, finally, pay the debt he never promised. Houghton is a man of medium height, red-haired; not good looking. And when he smiles, there is a preponderance of the upper lip and a high turning up of the corners of the mouth that make him seem calculating even when he is clearly enjoying himself. Houghton’s Hal is like an expert actor, alive to all the nuances of the scene in which he participates, completely immersed in the “reality” of the moment and yet simultaneously ready and waiting for the cue to his next speech or movement. I can’t quite tell whether this is Houghton’s characterization of Hal or his manner as an actor. Whatever it is, it is just right for Hal. We don’t love him, of course; Shakespeare’s Hal can be likable, at best, but not lovable. But when he is on we watch him. Great presence, in fact, Houghton has.
David Houghton’s Henry is good to begin with and gets better as it goes. It’s a tough role because Henry’s troubles begin at the beginning and remain constant until his death in Part 2. And over this span of time it seems he is forever in poor health, and a complete stranger to a good night’s sleep. His lament, in Part 2 — “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” — is the keynote of the character, and it is sounded in the very opening line of Part 1: “So shaken as we are, so wan with care…”. Shakespeare’s audience may well have understood Henry’s malaise as evidence of a vindictive God’s punishment for Henry’s usurpation of Richard’s crown; Henry tends to feel that way himself (and Hal, as Henry V, prays that God will not visit on him, the next generation, the retribution he might well invoke for a crime of that magnitude). It’s little wonder that Hal is reluctant to follow in his father’s footsteps. Houghton plays this dominant note of guilt and worry in its many variations.
We see it first in the first scene, where Hotspur throws a temper tantrum, refusing still to release to Henry the prisoners he has taken supposedly in Henry’s name. This is the scene in which Henry, in a rage, tells Worcester “Get thee gone.” He sees insolence and disobedience in Worcester’s eye — who could miss it? But he hasn’t quite made the connection with Worcester’s nephew Hotspur. Finally, all Henry can do is walk out in high dudgeon, having given Hotspur an ultimatum, not once, but twice. First: “Send me your prisoners”; then again, reverting to the monarchical plural, “Send us your prisoners, or you shall hear of it.” Houghton gets this exchange just right: we see him attempting to exert his power and realizing that he is not as powerful as he wishes he could be.
The scene — let’s call it the confrontation scene — between the King and Hal is a very well-written scene, all the more so for coming second after the anticipatory parody of it by Falstaff and Hal in the tavern — a brilliantly written scene in itself. Desmond Barritt’s Falstaff is the Falstaff we have all seen in our fantasies. A mountain of a man, addicted to sack, to lying — and to the pleasures of the Prince’s company. If we don’t get the sense that both Falstaff and Hal delight in their mutual company, all is lost — for the scenes in which they appear together and for the play itself. Oh, the voice, the twinkling eyes, the ruined face, the keen intelligence that is a match for the Prince’s — they are the two smartest (Britishers would say “cleverest’) persons in the play. The scene foregrounds Falstaff’s insecurity, born of the fear that it will somehow not last: all of that, and more, resides in this Falstaff. The two parts of the rehearsal scene for Hal’s encounter with the king: they get them just right. It starts out in a light, bantering tone, a delicious parody on the Lyly-brand euphuistic style, and then dead-ends. Hal, sensing it, then calls for the reversal of roles, and the tone departs from Lyly and King Cambyses’ vein and turns unexpectedly — for us, perhaps, and for Falstaff as well — quite serious.  He starts the sequence as “Hal,” but as it becomes ever more portentous he becomes ever more his own, much worried self, now openly afraid of being banished his Harry’s company; and at the same time he is clear-sighted about what that will mean: “Banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.” The longest pause I have heard in a Shakespeare play follows, but meanwhile we can read what comes next in the Prince’s face and eyes. And when he says it, he says it in a deep, hoarse whisper, almost as if it doesn’t bear being said out loud — just yet: “I do … I will.”
Seeing both parts of this brilliant pair of plays in a single afternoon and evening makes it possible for us to prepare for the actual experience of plump Jack’s banishment, at the end of Part 2. And we are not disappointed. Part 2 is evidence of the great originality of the author of Part 1. It would seem as if Shakespeare is responding, in part, to requests to show us again Prince Hal and Falstaff in the tavern. But the bloom is off the rose; in fact, the canker is swiftly eating it up. The play is built on ironic surprise as an operating principle; reversal of expectations is the dominant dramaturgical mechanism. We can’t go back to the tavern of Part 1. Yes, Mistress Quickly is still there, along with a new character, Doll Tearsheet, a superannuated whore and a sad case, cast in this production unaccountably by a thirty-year-old actress (if that) in a risqué strapless gown. By rights she should be every bit as old as Falstaff, and as close to the grave. A false note in what is otherwise a well-played scene, with a reprise of the “Anon, Anon, Sir” practical joke at the expense of the drawer, Francis, in Part 1. But the fun isn’t half so great. Falstaff is “old, old,” by his own admission.
Aging is a dominant theme in the play. Henry is old and dying, and the new old character, Justice Shallow (and his even more aged crony, Shadow) are introduced to liven up the general gloom. Shallow is one of the greatest comic characterizations of Shakespeare. “Jesu, Jesu, the mad days we have had,” he recalls, his memory a busy generator of things that never happened. Shallow and Falstaff were, it seems, at the Inns of Court together, as Shallow insists on reminding him. “We have heard the chimes at midnight,” a forlorn and distinctly uncomfortable Falstaff grudgingly acknowledges. Desmond Barritt’s Falstaff is a morose contrast to the chipper, energetic, mile-a-minute talker of Benjamin Whitrow; busy, busy, always, cheerful, even when he discusses with Shadow the demise of so many of their friends. “Dead?” “Dead.” Well, there is a time for every man, and so be it. But Falstaff, unlike Shallow, is deeply troubled by his mortality. In Part 2 Barritt’s face has become even ruddier, and we see two dangerous-looking carbuncles on his forehead and jaw.
And so it comes as no surprise when the death of the king is announced, and the ascent of Hal as Henry V, and Falstaff finds himself summoned to London. Falstaff, despite his promises of preferment to all his cronies, doesn’t quite believe this bodes well for him. Even so, when a stony-faced Henry V summarily rejects him — “I know thee not, old man. Look to thy prayers. How ill white hairs become a fool and jester” — Barritt’s Falstaff is stricken, in deep shock at what is happening to him. The Lord Chief Justice’s arrest of him seems an even crueler blow. Yet the director, Michael Attenborough, doesn’t emphasize the cruelty of Hal’s banishment of Falstaff; instead, he plays it simply and straightforwardly as the inevitable event it is. [Account broken off for lack of time.]


14 Blood Supply
Think of the digestive system like a busy city, with different areas connected by highways, which in this case are blood vessels. these highways carry nutrients and waste through blood supplied by the aorta, which branches off into the celiac trunk. The celiac trunk then splits into three main arteries, each going to different parts of the digestive system.
Figure 24 Anterior view of the digestive system’s arteries
The left gastric artery is the smallest of these branches and supplies blood to the stomach and esophagus.
The splenic artery is the largest and supplies blood to the pancreas and spleen. It also branches into smaller arteries which supply the stomach and pancreas.
The common hepatic artery comes from the right side and splits into three arteries:
Table 16 Segments of the common hepatic artery from right to left
| Branch | Description: |
| Right gastric artery | Supplies blood to the stomach |
| Gastroduodenal artery | Supplies blood to the stomach, duodenum, pancreas, and greater omentum (a fatty tissue near the stomach) |
| Hepatic artery (left and right) | Supplies blood to the liver, gallbladder and stomach |


1 Introduction
Goals
Over several years of teaching legal research, our law librarian instructors have listened to students who express a need for more hands-on practice with legal research because they lack confidence in the thoroughness of their research, and they lack the level of efficiency necessary for effective professional legal practice. This text targets those concerns by posing a client scenario involving major sources of law and legal information (state and federal): secondary sources, enacted law, case law, administrative regulations, and legislative history. This text will provide background on the sources of law, supplement text with video demonstrations, and suggest group and individual activities that emphasize formative self-assessment and simulate practice experiences so that students have many opportunities to develop and improve research skills.
What is missing?
The problem used in this text does not cover every legal research topic. Two important topics missing from this problem are tribal law and foreign and international law. These two areas of legal research warrant entire courses. For information on tribal law research, please consult several excellent research guides: Indian Law Research Guides, National Indian Law Library; American Indian Law, Harvard University Law Library; Native American Law Guide: Federal Indian Law and Tribal Law Materials, UCLA Law Library; Indian and Tribal Law, University of Washington Gallagher Law Library.
You can also find research guides for foreign and international law research: Foreign, Comparative and International Law, University of Washington Gallagher Law Library; Foreign and International Law, Georgetown Law Library.
Process and practice-based approach
The client scenario provides an opportunity for you to explore your own research process, develop methods of documenting and organizing research, communicate research results to the simulated client or supervising attorney, and keep time records of research tasks to track efficiency. This text does not aim to be a comprehensive explanation of all sources of law. Rather, it focuses on practicing the research process: how to find and analyze legal information sources in an efficient, thorough way. The client scenario presents few specific facts. This is intentional. You will be investing time and energy exploring and reflecting on the research process and finding sources, rather than making complex factual arguments in a legal memorandum.
organization and content
Part I
This book begins with an overview of the research process and analysis. Next, it introduces a client scenario that can be used as a semester-long research problem or for practice examples throughout a course. Then, it offers some contextual material for the client scenario that could be used for diversity and inclusion discussions.
Part II
The next part of the book offers sample assignments and assessments that could be used for an advanced legal research course. Or, the samples could inspire ideas for different assignments and assessments. Throughout this book, you will have opportunities to contribute ideas, questions, and samples, toward the goal of making research learning collaborative and inclusive.
Part III
The next section of the book outlines and discusses steps in the legal research process: (1) preparing to research; (2) finding and using secondary sources; (3) finding and using enacted law; (4) finding and using case law; (5) finding and using administrative law; (6) finding and using legislative history; and (7) updating, reading and organizing sources. For each step of the research process, the text will explain sources of information, suggest search techniques, provide practice examples and short demonstration videos, and offer discussion and reflection questions.
In keeping with the spirit of open and accessible education, this book will emphasize freely available legal information resources, rather than focusing mostly on commercial research platforms such as Westlaw and Lexis. Commercial platforms are important tools for the practice of law, so texts used in first year research and writing instruction necessarily focus on how to use Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law. But for many entering the profession, the expense of these platforms makes them unattainable. Even for new attorneys who have access to commercial platforms, they must learn to use them in a limited, fiscally responsible way, so knowing how to find information on freely available websites is an essential professional skill.
reflection and collaboration
There are many ways to structure a legal research course for effective learning. Law librarians and legal research and writing faculty tend to be creative, energetic, engaged teachers who care deeply about student learning. I have learned as much from talking to my colleagues and watching them teach as I have from being in the classroom myself. Equally important is what I learn from you, the students: your questions, reflections, observations, and commitment to excellent professional skills continuously inspire and inform instructional design choices and teaching methods. This book provides one approach to teaching a second/third year legal research course: it uses one complex scenario for the whole semester so you can see the interplay of different types of sources, experience the iterative nature of legal research, and have time to reflect deeply on the effectiveness of your research process. The collaborative approach of this book allows you to develop teamwork skills that are essential in professional practice, as well as appreciate and learn from different approaches and perspectives of your colleagues. Throughout this resource, you will have opportunities to share discussion and reflection questions, as well as your ideas for research logs.
Course design
This text offers some suggestions for exercises, activities, assignments, and assessments. It also provides an opportunity for collaborators to contribute other ideas for course materials. In addition to content, instructors and students should think about course design and delivery. Student learning is best when the course materials, course design, and instructional approaches are as inclusive and accessible as possible. Many articles and books on inclusive and accessible course design and instruction are available; some suggestions for further reading are listed below. As a short summary, here are some important considerations for designing and teaching a legal research course:
- Transparency: Have an in-class discussion about the purpose and goals underlying course exercises, activities, assessments, and course design. Reflect on whether the purpose and goals were achieved. Transparency allows students to see the relevancy of their coursework to their larger professional goals, and requires instructors to be able to articulate clearly how course work is aligned with those learning goals.
- Predictability: The course should be designed and structured with a predictable rhythm to each class session, each week, and the semester. Predictability is enhanced by consistent due dates; clearly communicated class agendas; consistent and organized weekly modules in the learning management system; overviews and recaps during each class session; and a clear syllabus that lists overviews and learning goals for each class session, as well as due dates for every assignment and assessment.
- Flexibility: The concept of flexibility might seem opposite to predictability. However, within the predictable structure of the course, students should have some flexibility in how to complete activities, exercises, and assessments. For example, if a weekly research journal is assigned, then students could have some flexibility in either creating a written journal entry, sound recording, or short video. Similarly, allowing some flexibility in the medium for final projects will allow students to communicate what they have learned in the most effective way for them. Creating frequent opportunities for formative feedback also promotes flexibility, as instructors will be able to address students’ unique challenges and strengths, and supplement classroom sessions to address any common questions that arise in real time.
- Timely and frequent feedback: Adult learners seek frequent feedback so they can improve their skills and achieve professional goals. Courses should be designed so that feedback from instructors is provided in a predictable and timely manner. For example, if students submit a weekly research journal entry on Friday afternoon, feedback should be consistently provided by Monday afternoon so that students can use that feedback in their work for the week. Set due dates for instructor feedback and stick to them. Feedback should be provided in multiple forms: answering common questions or addressing common challenges during a class session; personalized feedback to individual students on assignments; responding to questions during office hours; responding in a timely way to student emails; and providing substantive, formal feedback on summative assessments.
- Formative assessments: Provide multiple opportunities for students to practice skills and receive feedback before they have a higher stakes summative assessment. Formative assessments decrease student stress and emphasize growth and skills development, rather than focusing on grading and ranking students. Using multiple formative assessments also allows for variety in media (written documents, oral presentations, video or audio projects, visual charts or tables) which promotes inclusivity in the different ways that students communicate their learning.
- Universal Design for Learning principles: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is one way of approaching inclusive course design and teaching. UDL, based on neurological science, provides guidelines for engaging all students in effective learning. Course design should address the affective network (student engagement, motivation, and persistence), recognition network (ways in which students take in information), and strategic network (ways that students demonstrate mastery of the course material).
- Transparency, predictability, and frequent feedback address the affective network by communicating relevancy of course materials, aligning activities and assessments to learning goals, and providing an organized, step by step approach to achieving professional goals.
- Varied course materials (demonstrations, readings, discussions, written outlines, clear class session overviews and recaps, and substantive videos) address the recognition network by providing multiple means by which students can take in information, given individual challenges such as ADHD, other neurological challenges, visual or auditory processing difficulties, mental health concerns, as well as family situations.
- Varied and multiple formative assessments, predictable weekly assignments, and flexibility in media for assignments and projects address the strategic network. Students will be able to demonstrate mastery of the material most effectively if they can plan their time, have multiple opportunities to show their growth, and have some flexibility in how they communicate their knowledge and skills.
- Backward Design: There are many instructional design models. Backward design is one model that facilitates thoughtful, methodical planning of a course so that it is as inclusive and student-centered as possible. Backward design begins with determining the end result of the course: what students should know or be able to do at the end of the course. This is another way of saying “what are the learning outcomes of the course?” The next step is to create assessments that will measure if the learning outcomes are being achieved. Then, create class activities and materials that will allow students to practice and prepare for those assessments. The goal is to align course activities, materials, and assessments with the learning outcomes. Student engagement, motivation and persistence wanes if a class activity or assessment is unrelated to a desired outcome. For example, if a learning outcome is for students to practice using multiple platforms to find secondary sources, a multiple choice test or quiz on terminology would not align with the learning outcome and students might perceive it to be busy work, or a needless source of stress and unrelated to professional goals. Many instructors use backward design charts or tables to help with effective course design.
Backward Design sample chart.pdf
Suggested Reading
Dyane L. O’Leary, Flipped out, Plugged in, and Wired up: Fostering Success for Students with ADHD in the New Digital Law School, 45 Cap. U. L. Rev. 289 (2016);
Rebecca Flanagan, Anthrogogy: Towards Inclusive Law School Learning, 19 Conn. Pub. Int. L. J. 93 (2019).
Mary Cheney, (2023) A More Inclusive Classroom: Considerations for the Legal Research Professor Teaching Neurodivergent Students, Legal Reference Services Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/0270319X.2023.2264689
Sean Darling-Hammond and Kristen Holmquist, Creating Wise Classrooms to Empower Diverse Law Students: Lessons in Pedagogy from Transformative Law Professors, 25 La Raza L.J. (2015).
Tessa L. Dysart and Tracy L. M. Norton, eds. Law Teaching Strategies for a New Era: Beyond the Physical Classroom (Carolina Academic Press 2021).
Next Generation Bar Exam
Law students entering law school in 2023 may be taking the NextGen Bar Exam in 2026. The NextGen Bar Exam will be the first version of the bar exam to require test takers to demonstrate legal research proficiency. In May 2023, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) issued its “Bar Exam Content Scope” identifying the foundational skills, concepts, and principles to be tested in the new bar exam. The following excerpt from the NCBE Bar Exam Content Scope outlines the legal research skills to be tested in the NextGen Bar:
Foundational Skills Group C: Legal Research
The purpose of Foundational Skills Group C is to test the extent to which an examine can identify and implement legal research strategies, including preliminary issue-spotting, working with provided resources, developing and refining a theory of the case, and reaching closure on research questions.
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In a matter that requires legal research, identify the research questions that need to be answered.
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Identify ambiguities in the language, standards, elements, or factors of a provided resource (such as a statute, contract, or judicial opinion).
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Identify efficient legal research strategies (including appropriate search terms) that are likely to uncover other legal sources to assist in the interpretation of a provided resource (such as a statute, contract, or judicial opinion).
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Given a collection of legal sources, identify the roles and characteristics of the sources, including their authoritative weight.
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Given one or more judicial opinions, identify the facts in a matter that are analogous to and/or distinct from the dispositive facts in the opinions.
Note: Depending on the context of the question, a question assessing Task 19 may be classified as either an Issue Spotting and Analysis question (Group A) or a Legal Research question (Group C).
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Given a collection of legal sources, identify other sources, search terms, or research strategies that might be used to update sources or find additional sources.
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Given a collection of legal sources, identify which sources are relevant to or dispositive of a legal issue in the matter.
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Given a collection of legal sources, identify whether the sources are sufficient to complete an assigned research or other lawyering task. (NCBE Bar Exam Content Scope Outline, May 2023).
While test takers will not be tasked with an open-ended research question that requires searching for online legal sources, they will be required to identify legal research questions; analyze legal sources; develop effective research plans, including identifying search terms; apply knowledge of different types of legal sources and their authoritative weight; update sources; and determine when their research is complete. You will be practicing and reflecting on all of these skills throughout this text. You are encouraged to add reflection and discussion questions at the end of sections and chapters that focus on the crucial analytical and legal information literacy skills that go hand-in-hand with actual searching for and finding legal sources, so that you can begin your skills practice for the NextGen Bar Exam. You will find that the following student learning outcomes for this text reflect the skills that you will need for success on the new bar exam and law practice.
learning outcomes
After using this resource, you will be able to:
- Read and analyze a set of facts; identify and articulate initial legal issues and associated areas of substantive law; formulate a research plan that identifies relevant primary and secondary legal authorities; and document and communicate that plan to a colleague or senior partner.
- Locate, retrieve and search within legal resources, using indexes, tables of contents and keyword searching; recognize the terminology associated with legal resources; and assess the relevance and authority of federal, state, and local legal systems that may impact a given research issue.
- Read, evaluate, analyze and organize research findings (considering authority/credibility, current-ness, and authenticity) and communicate them through a research summary, log, letter, video presentation or other work product.
- Reflect on the research findings and how they apply to the research issues; determine the accuracy and thoroughness of results; critically evaluate the efficiency of the research process; and determine strategies to modify the research process if necessary.


Unit 2: Exploring the Nature of Thermal Phenomena
XI. Exploring Physical Phenomena: Summary of Equipment and Supplies for Unit 2
| Exploring Physical Phenomena: Summary of Equipment and Supplies for Unit 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| When used | For instructor and demonstrations | For each group of 3 | For each student |
|
Unit 2 Week 4 Day 7 Q2.1 – Q2.5 Exploring the difference between heat and temperature |
4 blocks (aluminum, steel, wood, paper pad or Styrofoam), or kitchen items made of these materials; Regular bulb and tube liquid thermometer that reads between 0 and 100 degrees C |
U2H2. Diagnostic Question about Temperature | |
|
Begin Day 7, Q2.6 – Q2.18 Exploring energy transfer in the context of mixing hot and cold water
|
If in a room without a sink:
Big pot with cold water from tap Big pot with hot water from tap or on hot plate Dippers, hot pot holder Big bucket for waste water |
Qualitative exploration:
2 digital temperature probes and related software (We use vernier.com probes and Logger lite software) or 2 bulb and tube thermometers); cup for hot water (ceramic or Styrofoam), Plastic cup for cold water, 1 clear plastic cup marked with 1,2,3,4 equal divisions, 2 quart containers for hot and cold water, 2 trays. (laptop computer, perhaps brought to class by group member if using digital temperature probes) U2H1 Exit Ticket |
U2H3 Table.II.1 |
|
Day 8 Continue exploration of thermal phenomena (Additional time would be helpful for students needing to build skill with algebra) Question 2.16 NGSS crosscutting concepts used in Units 1 & 2 |
Same equipment as Day 7 | Quantitative Exploration:
Same equipment as Day 7 (Group creates Table II.2)
U2H1 Exit ticket |
U2H5 Graph Templates
U2H6 Table II.1 continued) U2H7 Table.II.3 U2H8 Solving Thermal Math Problems
U2H9 NGSS Crosscutting Concepts |


 Successful managers are those who willing to create a more welcoming work environment for all employees, given the wide array of sexual orientations and identities evident today.
 Discrimination may also be based on an individual’s association with someone of a different sexual orientation. Forms that such discrimination may take in the workplace include denial of opportunities, termination, and sexual assault, as well as the use of offensive terms, stereotyping, and other harassment.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Windsor (2013) that Section 3 of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (which had restricted the federal interpretations of “marriage” and “spouse” to opposite-sex unions) was unconstitutional, and guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015),
marital status has little or no direct applicability to the circumstances of someone’s employment. In terms of legal protections at work, the LGBTQ community is at a disadvantage because Title VII of the CRA does not address sexual orientation and federal law does not prohibit discrimination based on this characteristic. As of January 2018, twenty states prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in private and public workplaces and five more states prohibit sexual orientation discrimination only in public workplaces, not private ((Figure)).
In those states that do not have applicable state laws, employees risk adverse employment action simply for their LGBTQ status or for being married to a same-sex partner. Although legislation to address these circumstances has been introduced in Congress in previous sessions, none of the bills has yet passed. For example, a proposed law named the Equality Act is a federal LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill that would provide protections for LGBTQ individuals in employment, housing, credit, and education. But unless and until it passes, it remains up to the business community to provide protections consistent with those provided under federal law for other employees or applicants.
Ethical Considerations
In the absence of a specific law, LGBTQ issues present a unique opportunity for ethical leadership. Many companies choose to do the ethically and socially responsible thing and treat all workers equally, for example, by extending the same benefits to same-sex partners that they extend to heterosexual spouses. Ethical leaders are also willing to listen and be considerate when dealing with employees who may still be coming to an understanding of their sexual identification.
Financial and performance-related considerations come into play as well. Denver Investments recently analyzed the stock performance of companies before and after their adoption of LGBTQ-inclusive workplace policies.
The number of companies outperforming their peers in various industries increased after companies adopted LGBTQ-inclusive workplace policies. Once again, being ethical does not mean losing money or performing poorly.
In fact, states that have passed legislation considered anti-LGBTQ by the wider U.S. community, such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana or North Carolina’s H.B. 2, the infamous “bathroom bill” that would require transgender individuals to use the restroom corresponding with their birth certificate, have experienced significant economic pushback. These states have seen statewide and targeted boycotts by consumers, major corporations, national organizations such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and even other cities and states.
In 2016, in response to H.B. 2, nearly seventy large U.S. companies, including American Airlines, Apple, DuPont, General Electric, IBM, Morgan Stanley, and Wal-Mart, signed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in opposition to the unpopular North Carolina bill.
Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act evoked a similar backlash in 2015 and public criticism from U.S. businesses.
To assess LGBTQ equality policies at a corporate level, the Human Rights Campaign foundation publishes an annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI) of approximately one thousand large U.S. companies and scores each on a scale of 0 to 100 on the basis of how LGBTW-friendly its benefits and employment policies are ((Figure)). More than six hundred companies recently earned a perfect score in the 2018 CEI, including such household names as AT&T, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Gap Inc., General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg, United Parcel Service, and Xerox.
Read the Human Rights Campaign’s 2018 report for more on the Human Rights Campaign’s CEI and its criteria.
Another organization tracking LGBTQ equality and inclusion in the workplace is the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, which issues third-party certification for businesses that are majority-owned by LGBT individuals. There are currently more than one thousand LGBT-certified business enterprises across the country, although California, New York, Texas, Florida, and Georgia account for approximately 50 percent of them. Although these are all top-ranked states for new business startups in general, they are also home to multiple Fortune 500 companies whose diversity programs encourage LGBT-certified businesses to become part of their supply chains. Examples of large LGBT-friendly companies with headquarters in these states are American Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, SunTrust Bank, and Pacific Gas & Electric.
Summary
Although about half the states prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in private and public workplaces and a few do so in public workplaces only, federal law does not. Successful companies will not only follow the applicable law but also develop ethical policies to send a clear message that they are interested in job skills and abilities, not sexual orientation or personal life choices.
Assessment Questions
Are individual states allowed to have laws protecting LGBTQ applicant or employee rights?
- Yes, but it is not really necessary because federal law already protects them.
- No, because it would violate federal law, which prohibits it.
- Yes, some states extend this protection because there is no law at the federal level.
- No, because the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges now protects these rights.
C
True or false? Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
False. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does not address sexual orientation and federal law does not prohibit discrimination based on this characteristic.
Federal law does not currently protect LGBTQ applicants from discrimination in hiring. Are there any applicable state laws that do so?
Yes. Approximately half of U.S. states have local laws that provide protection even though federal law does not; however, some of those states prohibit sexual orientation discrimination only in public workplaces, not private ones.
Though federal law does not mandate it, do some companies nevertheless allow LGBTQ employees to extend insurance coverage to partners?
Yes. The law does not mandate or prohibit extending benefits to LGBTQ partners; it is up to the company.