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OER's for Physical Science: Home

OER's for Physical Science Image by Pexels from Pixabay

OER Searching: Best Bets for Physical Science

Please note that there will be overlap amongst these OER repositories.

Earth Science/Geology Lab Manuals:
Astronomy Lab Manuals:
Labs Search Results in OER Repositories:

More Lab Resources
Some open textbooks include instructor materials like Powerpoint slides, lab manuals, assignments, simulations, etc, while in some cases, those who adopt an OER will create (and license as Open Access) ancillary materials to be used with the original text.

The list below includes online instructional videos that are FREE, though not necessarily open.

Library Resources as Affordable Option

Library resources might be one way to design a course that is affordable for students - these resources are not free, but the cost is already incorporated into student tuition. There are no extra out-of-pocket costs.



Open Textbooks for Physical Science

Explore open textbooks! The options below might be a good fit for some physical science courses.

PSC 1025

Astronomy

Astronomy

From Openstax, Astronomy is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of one- or two-semester introductory astronomy courses. The book begins with relevant scientific fundamentals and progresses through an exploration of the solar system, stars, galaxies and cosmology.
In use at 8+ NJ colleges & universities.
See reviews in Open Textbook Library.

Go to Astronomy

Alternatives:
Douglas College Astronomy Winter 2020 (adapted from Openstax Astronomy)
Life and the Universe: What If? (OER Commons)

PSC 1400

Earth Science

Physical Geology, 2nd ed.

From BCcampus, Physical Geology, 2nd ed. is a comprehensive introductory text on the physical aspects of geology, including rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciation, groundwater, streams, coasts, mass wasting, climate change, planetary geology and much more.
See reviews of first edition in Open Textbook Library.

Go to Physical Geology, 2nd ed

Alternatives:
Earth Science (Lumen Learning)
Geology (Lumen Learning)
Physical Geography (Lumen Learning)
An Introduction to Geology (Salt Lake Community College)

 

PSC 1500

Physical Science

Physics Problems for Nerds

From Open SUNY Textbooks, Physics Problems for Nerds: Analyzing "nerd" culture through physics 101 provides example/test problems for algebra-based physics. Covers topics such as kinematics, newton’s laws, conservation of momentum, conservation of energy, simple harmonic motion, and thermodynamics, through the lens of popular movies, comic books, video games, etc.

Go to Physics Problems for Nerds

Alternatives:
Openstax College Physics
Light and Matter

PSC 2000

Meteorology

Practical Meteorology

From BCCampus, Practical Meteorology: An Algebra-based Survey of Atmospheric Science is designed for students and professionals who want to understand and apply basic meteorological concepts, but who don’t need to derive equations. To make this book accessible to more people, the author converted the equations into algebra. Also available via LibreTexts

Go to Practical Meteorology

Alternatives:
Fundamentals of Atmospheric Science (LibreTexts)