In this 3½-hour workshop, learners assess the reliability and credibility of online resources. They explore how misinformation and fake news can distort our biases and perspectives, ultimately making it difficult for us to be objective in the selection of resources as aids to both effective learning and informed civic action and decision-making.

Students will:
 Define misinformation and fake news and how it can affect personal biases and perspectives.
 Discover how to mitigate bias when searching for and surfing information online.
 Use best practices to authenticate sources of credible and reliable information:
o Find and verify the original source
o Check other sources
o Use fact-checking tools

Suitable for Grades 11 and 12

In Tocqueville's discussion of how the majority in America constrains freedom of thought, he makes some of the most extreme criticisms against democracy. For example, he says "I do not know any country where, in general, less independence of mind and genuine freedom of discussion reign than in America"; and, "there is no freedom of mind in America."

In this activity students analyze Theodor Kaufmann's 1867 painting On to Liberty. Students practice finding information and making inferences based on the painting by completing a graphic organizer. Then students read a descriptive paragraph of the painting, noting where the author has cited information from the painting and where the author has made inferences and drawn conclusions. Then students analyze another painting of a similar theme, Eastman Johnson's A Ride for Liberty. The activity concludes by asking students to synthesize what they have learned about the Civil War based on the painting. The activity may make a good culminating lesson about the Civil War or an introductory lesson on Reconstruction.

A freshman composition textbook used by the English Department of Virginia Western Community College (VWCC) in Roanoke, Virginia. It aligns with ENG 111, the standard first-year composition course in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The ten chapter headings are:

1. Chapter 1 - Critical Reading
2. Chapter 2 - Rhetorical Analysis
3. Chapter 3 - Argument
4. Chapter 4 - The Writing Process
5. Chapter 5 - Rhetorical Modes
6. Chapter 6 - Finding and Using Outside Sources
7. Chapter 7 - How and Why to Cite
8. Chapter 8 - Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?
9. Chapter 9 - Punctuation
10. Chapter 10 - Working With Words: Which Word is Right?

This book was created by the English faculty and librarians of VWCC using Creative Commons -licensed materials and original contributions.

Students learn about one-axis rotations, and specifically how to rotate objects both physically and mentally to understand the concept. They practice drawing one-axis rotations through a group exercise using cube blocks to create shapes and then drawing those shapes from various x-, y- and z-axis rotation perspectives on triangle-dot paper (isometric paper). They learn the right-hand rule to explore rotations of objects. A worksheet is provided. This activity is part of a multi-activity series towards improving spatial visualization skills.

Freedom of religion or belief is an increasingly relevant topic in human society. Lifting the Spirit: Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief provides comprehensive and thought-provoking lessons about the human right to freedom of religion or belief without surveying world religions or endorsing any particular belief. Lifting the Spirit relates the worship, observances, practices, and teachings of all religions and beliefs to fundamental human rights principles. It provides background information, ideas for taking action, and interactive exercises to help people learn about the freedom of religion or belief: a right that is guaranteed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Designed for use in secondary classrooms, religious institutions, and youth advocacy organizations around the world, both the content and organization of Lifting the Spirit aim to be adaptable to many different national and cultural settings.

Students examine the collection of letters sent to President Abraham Lincoln from citizens. The students read and analyze the letters to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by President Lincoln separate from the ongoing Civil War. Across a series of activities and tasks, students develop an argument on the importance of politics and favors in the Lincoln administration and culminate the lesson by creating an essay summarizing their evidence and argument. Letters used in the lesson are from the Wayne State University Digital Collection, The Lincoln Letters.

This 12-day unit focuses on the various experiences of immigrants traveling to the United States. Students will identify a variety of reasons people choose to move to the United States by analyzing a range of texts that detail the individual experiences of immigrants from various parts of the world. Texts and conversation will encompass themes common to the immigrant experience: hope, hardship, and adaptation.

In order to give students a real world application and view of the immigrant experience, they will learn the skills of interview questioning in order to conduct their own interview. Students will use the texts explored in the unit to inform the questions they craft for their interview.

This lesson leads students to reflect on and respond to literature by creating an online scrapbook. Students view a sample electronic scrapbook and use the project rubric to evaluate it, becoming familiar with the project requirements in the process. They use an online tool to evaluate resources on a topic related to a piece of literature and post their evaluations for class reference. Students then use online resources to capture "scraps" of information about their assigned topic and create a scrapbook using PowerPoint or another presentation software, making sure to cite all their sources. They share their online scrapbook with the class, defending their choice of scrapbook entries: why is the entry important to the understanding of the topic?

This lesson focuses on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, but any piece of literature could be used for the basis of an online scrapbook.

The Lost in the Amazon curricular unit is a series of minds-on and hands-on engineering activities based on an adventure scenario set in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Students imagine themselves to be a team of EnviroTech engineers returning to the U.S. from a conference in Brasilia, Brazil. When their plane crashes deep in the Amazon forest, they work in groups to overcome various obstacles in their quest to survive and reach the nearest city as quickly and safely as possible. Motivated by this adventurous theme, students discover, learn and apply the following: 1) classification of plants and insects; 2) general categorizing skills; 3) process skills: problem solving and critical thinking; 4) scientific testing and experimentation; 5) materials properties.

Open Educational Resources (OER)
OERs are openly licensed materials that are useful for instructors and students. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, and other materials used to support access to knowledge.
Overview of Open Educational Resources
OER Textbooks Used at MVCC
OER Textbook Collections
Open Courses
OER Images
Other OER materials
Copyright and Creative Commons
Research on OER
OER by Discipline
Art & Music
Business
Criminal Justice
Developmental Reading & Writing
English
History
Math
Political Science
Psychology
Science
Sociology
Technology
Anatomy & Physiology
Lumen Learning A&P open course
Anatomy & Physiology - OpenStax
WISC-Online Health Science Learning Objects
Open Learning Initiative: A&P I & II
Applied Science, Engineering
AC Electrical Circuits Workbook
Embedded Controllers Using C and Arduino Lab Manual 2e
This lab manual introduces embedded controller systems using the Arduino hardware platform and the C programming language. It is intended for students in Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Technology programs at the Associate and Baccalaureate levels.
Embedded Controllers Using C and Arduino Textbook 2e
Lab Manual for AC Electrical Circuits
This is a laboratory manual covering AC electrical circuits, typically a first year course for students in an Electrical Engineering Technology program (AAS or BS). It begins with basic RL and RC circuits and progresses through phasors to AC series, parallel and series-parallel circuits. Includes exercises involving Superposition, Thevenin's Theorem, Maximum Power Transfer Theorem, and series and parallel resonance.
Lab Manual for Computer Programming with Python and Multisim 3e
Lab Manual for DC Electrical Circuits
It begins with basic lab introduction and progresses through Ohm's Law to series, parallel and series-parallel circuits. Includes exercises involving Superposition, Thevenin's Theorem, Mesh and Nodal Analysis, Maximum Power Transfer and concludes with an introduction to capacitors and inductors.
Lab Manual for Operational Amplifiers & linear Integrated Circuits 3e
Lab Manual for Semiconductor Devices: Theory and Application
Operational Amplifiers and Linear Integrated Circuits Textbook 3e
Topics include negative feedback, comparators, voltage amplifiers, summing and differencing amplifiers, high speed and high power devices, non-linear circuit applications, regulators, oscillators, integrators and differentiators, active filters and AD/DA conversion
Semiconductor Devices: Theory and Application Textbook
Wisc Online: Manufacturing & Engineering Learning Objects
Biology
Lumen Learning Open Biology I
Lumen Learning Biology I Lab Manual
Biology - OpenStax
Concepts in Biology - OpenStax
Biofundamentals - online course through the University of Colorado
Intro to Biology lectures - MIT
Khan Academy - Biology
Phet Simulations
PLOS Biology Publications
Summer learning activity student example
Summer learning activity rubric
Summer learning activity student and instructor instructions
WISC-Online Biology Learning Objects
Chemistry
The Basics of General, Organic and Biological Chemistry
Chem 101 - Saylor
ChemCollective
Introductory Chemistry
David W. Ball of Cleveland State University brings his new survey of general chemistry text, Introductory Chemistry. This book is intended for a one-semester introductory or preparatory chemistry course. Throughout the chapters, David presents two features that reinforce the theme of the textbook, that chemistry is everywhere.
Khan Academy - Chemistry
Lumen Learning Chemistry open course
Lumen Learning Chemister Lab Manual
OpenChemistry Lectures - UC Irvine
OpenChemistry features a series of video lectures spanning courses including Preparation for General Chemistry, Organic, Physical, and Graduate level Chemistry among others. These videos are well organized with the topics covered in each listed beside their titles.
Organic Chemistry - MIT
Organic Chemistry - MIT
Phet Simulations
Principles of Chemical Science - MIT Lectures
This course provides an introduction to the chemistry of biological, inorganic, and organic molecules. The emphasis is on basic principles of atomic and molecular electronic structure, thermodynamics, acid-base and redox equilibria, chemical kinetics, and catalysis.
Thermodynamics and Chemistry
Thermodynamics and Chemistry is designed primarily as a textbook for a one-semester course in classical chemical thermodynamics at the graduate or undergraduate level. It can also serve as a supplementary text and thermodynamics reference source.
WISC-Online Chemitry Learning Objects
Earth Sciences
Lumen Learning Earth Sciences
Courses include: Geology, Earth Science, & Geography
Phet Simulations
WISC-Online Earth Science Learning Objects
Health and Nutrition
Lifetime Fitness and Wellness - SUNY OER course
Disease Prevention and Healthy Lifestyles
Contemporary Healthy Issues
Physics
Khan Academy - Physics
Intro to Mechanics - Saylor
Intro to Electromagnetism - Saylor
PH151 & PH152: General Physics
Phet Simulations
WISC Online Physics Learning Objects

Students measure the relative intensity of a magnetic field as a function of distance. They place a permanent magnet selected distances from a compass, measure the deflection, and use the gathered data to compute the relative magnetic field strength. Based on their findings, students create mathematical models and use the models to calculate the field strength at the edge of the magnet. They use the periodic table to predict magnetism. Finally, students create posters to communicate the details their findings. This activity guides students to think more deeply about magnetism and the modeling of fields while practicing data collection and analysis. An equations handout and two grading rubrics are provided.

Students will have a blast as they use descriptive language to write about an explosive and dramatic moment in their lives.

Spark the engagement of English-language learners or reluctant readers with the graphic novel "Maus". The visual information provided by the genre serves as a support for reading and critical engagement.

The Nature of Geographic Information is an orientation to the properties of geographic data and the practice of distance learning. The purpose of this course is to promote understanding of the Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIS&T) enterprise. GIS&T is the intersection of professions, institutions, and technologies that produce geographic data and render information from it. It is a rapidly growing and evolving field. Learning is a way of life for all GIS&T professionals. With this in mind, I hope that this text may contribute to your lifelong exploration of how geospatial technologies can be used to improve the quality of life-yours and your neighbors', locally and globally, now and in the future.

Microbiology for Allied Health Students is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements for the single semester Microbiology course for non-majors and allied health students. The book presents the core concepts of microbiology with a focus on applications for careers in allied health. The pedagogical features of Microbiology for Allied Health Students make the material interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the career-application focus and scientific rigor inherent in the subject matter.

The scope and sequence of Microbiology for Allied Health Students has been developed and vetted with input from numerous instructors at institutions across the U.S. It is designed to meet the needs of most microbiology courses allied health students.

With these objectives in mind, the content of this textbook has been arranged in a logical progression from fundamental to more advanced concepts. The opening chapters present an overview of the discipline, with individual chapters focusing on cellular biology as well as each of the different types of microorganisms and the various means by which we can control and combat microbial growth. The focus turns to microbial pathogenicity, emphasizing how interactions between microbes and the human immune system contribute to human health and disease. The last several chapters of the text provide a survey of medical microbiology, presenting the characteristics of microbial diseases organized by body system.

In this mini-unit, high school students examine the question, “What is the migrant experience?” with the intention of demonstrating how international policies feed migration patterns that have a global effect.

“The Migrant Experience” mini-unit contains three (3) lessons. Each lesson is designed for approximately 90-minute class periods to be taught over a period of two or three weeks using 7 Step Lesson Plans - Do Now, Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, Independent Practice, Closure, Exit Ticket, and Homework - as well as media literacy resources and technological educational tools. The unit has been devised to be implemented in the traditional classroom setting or with the virtual classroom in mind.

Students learn about the remote sensing radio occultation technique and how engineers use it with GPS satellites to monitor and study the Earth's atmospheric activity. Students may be familiar with some everyday uses of GPS, but not as familiar with how GPS technology contributes to our ongoing need for great amounts of ever-changing global atmospheric data for accurate weather forecasting, storm tracking and climate change monitoring. GPS occultations are when GPS signals sent from one satellite to another are altered (delayed, refracted) by the atmosphere passed though, such that they can be analyzed to remotely learn about the planet's atmospheric conditions.

Students create mental images while reading using a three-pronged approach: developing schemata and visual awareness; Watch-Read-Watch-Read (W-R-W-R), using video clips; and a strategy similar to the think-aloud approach.

In this Assessment Routine, students use a Mind Pie chart to express how comfortable and confident they feel about certain topics and activities they will encounter during the field experience. The chart provides the instructor with some information about the group, which they can use to inform their instruction. It also gives students an idea of what to expect from the field experience. This activity does not explicitly illuminate student misconceptions, rather, it serves as an opportunity for students to access and reflect on their prior knowledge and experience.