Open Educational Resources | Pao Yue-kong Library, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Courseware

General Biology

On the 28th of April 2012 the contents of the English as well as German Wikibooks and Wikipedia projects were licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. An URI to this license is given in the list of figures on page 175. If this document is a derived work from the contents of one of these projects and the content was still licensed by the project under this license at the time of derivation this document has to be licensed under the same, a similar or a compatible license, as stated in section 4b of the license. The list of contributors is included in chapter Contributors on page 169. The licenses GPL, LGPL and GFDL are included in chapter Licenses on page 179, since this book and/or parts of it may or may not be licensed under one or more of these licenses, and thus require inclusion of these licenses. The licenses of the figures are given in the list of figures on page 175. This PDF was generated by the LATEX typesetting software. The LATEX source code is included as an attachment (source.7z.txt) in this PDF file. To extract the source from the PDF file, we recommend the use of http://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/ utility or clicking the paper clip attachment symbol on the lower left of your PDF Viewer, selecting Save Attachment. After extracting it from the PDF file you have to rename it to source.7z. To uncompress the resulting archive we recommend the use of http://www.7-zip.org/. The LATEX source itself was generated by a program written by Dirk Hünniger, which is freely available under an open source license from http://de.wikibooks.org/wiki/Benutzer:Dirk_Huenniger/wb2pdf. This distribution also contains a configured version of the pdflatex compiler with all necessary packages and fonts needed to compile the LATEX source included in this PDF file.

Subjects:: Biology
Keywords:: Biology
Resource Type:: Courseware

Courseware

Solid State Physics

This course is intended for students enrolling for BSc with Education and BEd degrees. Solid state physics forms the backborn of physics. The module has four units: Introduction to solid state physics; Crystal defects and mechanical properties ; Thermal and electrical properties; and Band theory & Optical properties.In the first unit/activity i.e. introduction to solid state physics. The student is expected to explain the atomic structure, describe the various atomic bonds such as ionic bonds and covalent bonds. The learning will also require students to distinguish between crystalline and amorphous solids; polycrystalline and amorphous solids and to explain the production and use of X-ray diffraction. In the second unit i.e. crystal defects and mechanical properties, the learning includes, differentiating between the different types of crystal defects: the point defects (vacancy, interstitials, and substitutional) and dislocations (screw and edge). Here, the student learns that point defects are very localised and are of atomic size, while dislocation is a disorder which extend beyond the volume of one or two atoms. The effects of the defects on mechanical, and electrical properties of these defects are also part of the learning that will take place. In unit three the learning outcomes include definitions of heat capacity, and explanations of variation of heat capacity with temperature based on the classical, Einstein and Debye models. The students will be required to use the free electron theory to explain high thermal and electrical conductivities of metals and also be able to derive and apply the Wiedermann-Frantz law. Finally, in activity four, the expected learning should enable the students to use the band theory to explain the differences between conductors, semiconductors and insulators; explain the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors in relation to the role of doping. At the end of it all, the students use the concepts of the interaction of electromagnetic waves (light) with materials to explain optical absorption, reflectivity and transmissivity.

Subjects:: Physics
Keywords:: Solid state physics
Resource Type:: Courseware

Courseware

College Physics I: BIIG problem-solving method

The BIIG problem-solving method is unique in that it forces us to concentrate on decoding a real-world word problem completely into meaningful parts and aids us in finding and applying the right formula to easily arrive at the correct solution. As desired, it places less emphasis on the memorization of factual detail and more emphasis on the understanding of concepts. Evidently, this method is beneficial in many ways as it aids students in honing skills in critical thinking, logical approach and attention to detail. As a method for organizing information it helps students avoid errors and sets them on a path to succeed. As long as the numbers are “buddied up” with their units, “identified” by the appropriate variables, “isolated” within the context, and the answer is presented “gourmet”, or explained in terms of the original question, finding a solution to any complex problem will become seamless, understandable and enjoyable. This innovation in science education fosters a passion for learning and serves as a foundation for a new paradigm for problem-solving in any discipline of science worldwide.