Resources - Course Materials

Our introductory materials were inspired from and originated with Eric Mazur's Peer Instruction book, and expanded at CU by Michael Dubson, Steven Pollock, and many others. NOTE: Please seek appropriate permission if you want to use those in any public or commercial forum.

Calc-based Mechanics course materials (35 Meg, zipped folder containing subfolders with concept tests, Tutorial information, syllabus, and more). 
Update: Here is a link to Prof. Dubson's typed up course lecture notes in pdf 
Algebra based: Here is a link to Prof. Dubson's lecture notes in pdf

Calc based Electricity and Magnetism materials (120 Meg, zipped folder containing subfolders with concept tests, Tutorial information, syllabus, and more) 
Update: Here is a link to Prof. Dubson's lecture notes in pdf
Algebra based: Here is a link to Prof. Dubson's  lecture notes in pdf 

Energy and the Environment materials. (1.0 Meg, zipped folder containing sub-folders with concept tests, class activities, pre/post tests, and more). (Thanks to Tom Murphy at UC San Diego for contributions. This collection is from Steven Pollock.)

Physics of Sound and Music for non-majors materials. (36 Meg zipped folder containing sub-folders with concept tests, class activities, pre/post tests, sound files and much more). This collection is from Steven Pollock. It is very old, caveat emptor. 

Physics of Light and Color for non-majors (1.3 GB zipped folder containing syllabus, lecture notes, preflight quizzes, project, readings, and resources.) These materials are quite old - we are working on a significant update of these materials from Prof. Wilcox, stay tuned for those. 

PER-based materials

The collections below are missing sensitive materials (exams and homework solutions).
Please see "CU Materials (password protected for faculty)" further down this page if you are a physics faculty member and want access to these additional materials. 

For more information, visit our CU Science Education Initiative page:  https://www.colorado.edu/sei/departments/physics 

Modern Physics (sophomore level)   If that leads you to broken links, here is a zip file with the materials  (224 MB) 

Classical Mechanics/Math Methods 1 (sophomore level) If that leads you to broken links, here is a zip file with the materials  (267 MB)
Note:  The above link is an older collection from the Science Education Initiative at CU Boulder, following Taylor's textbook. 
For more updated materials and new Tutorials, use this zip file with updated materials   (1.6 GB)
Please note that our Classical Mechanics course is split into 2 semesters with an emphasis on associated mathematical methods. 
All the above links are for the first semester only (so, e.g. materials do NOT get to Lagrangian/Hamiltonian formalism, nor e.g. rigid-body rotations, etc.)

Quantum Mechanics 1 (junior level) If that leads you to broken links, here is a zip file with the materials (68 MB) 
Note:  The above link is our older collection, following a wave-functions first approach (we used Griffiths' text)
For more updated QM materials following a spins-first approach (following McIntyre's text), please visit our collections at Physport: 
 https://www.physport.org/curricula/ACEQM/ 
For quantum-information (quantum computing) related topics:  https://www.physport.org/curricula/ACEQIS/

Electricity and Magnetism 1 (junior level, electrostatics)  If that link is broken, here is a zip file with the materials  (341 MB)

Electricity and Magnetism 2 (junior level, electrodynamics)   If that link is broken, here is a zip file with the materials  (75 MB)

Teaching and Learning Physics (200 Meg, zipped folder containing many course materials) Upper division/graduate course. Materials developed by Noah Finkelstein, with some supplements from Steven Pollock. The folder contains many references and materials from other authors.
 

Some of this material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1023028 and 0737118. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Non PER-based materials

Classical Mechanics 2 (134 MB) This is a set of materials developed by Prof. Ethan Neil. (Not associated with a PER project, but a comprehensive followup to the Class Mech 1 materials found above) Secure materials (including exams and solutions) are available through our "secure" page. Contact steven.pollock at colorado.edu for password.

Thermodynamics/statistical mechanics  (269 MB) Materials from M. Dubson, B. Wilcox and other faculty, with concept tests and in-class activities, homeworks, etc. 

Quantum Mechanics 2 (463 MB) Materials from S. Pollock, B. Wilcox and other faculty, with concept tests, lecture notes, homeworks, a few in-class activities. 

PER-based materials

For more information, visit our CU Science Education Initiative page:  https://www.colorado.edu/sei/departments/physics 

Modern Physics (sophomore  = 2nd year level)   If that leads you to broken links, here is a zip file with the materials  (282 MB) 

Classical Mechanics/Math Methods 1 (sophomore = 2nd year level) If that leads you to any broken links, here is a zip file with the materials (406 MB)
Note:  The above link is an older collection from the Science Education Initiative at CU Boulder, following Taylor's textbook. 
For some updated materials with newly added in-class Tutorials, here is a zip file with the materials (1.74 GB)
(NOTE: our Classical Mechanics course is split into 2 semesters with an emphasis on associated mathematical methods. 
The above links are for the first semester course only. So, e.g. these materials do NOT include Lagrangian/Hamiltonian formalism, nor e.g. rigid-body rotations, etc.)

Quantum Mechanics 1 (junior level) If that leads you to any broken links, here is a  zip file with the materials (Coming.  167 MB)
Note:  The above link is our older collection, following a wave-functions first approach (we used Griffiths' text)
For more updated QM materials following a spins-first approach (following McIntyre's text), please visit our collections at Physport: 
 https://www.physport.org/curricula/ACEQM/   (Sign in is required for faculty to get solutions. Physport is a trustworthy page, they will not spam you) 
For quantum-information (quantum computing) related topics:  https://www.physport.org/curricula/ACEQIS/

Electricity and Magnetism 1 (junior level, electrostatics)  If that leads you to any broken links, here is a zip file with the materials  (433 MB)

Electricity and Magnetism 2 (junior level, electrodynamics)   If that leads you to any broken links, here is a zip file with the materials  (305 MB)

Non PER-based materials

Classical Mechanics/Math Methods 1 (1.74 GB) Building on the SEI materials (above) Prof. Pollock and Neil added some in-class Tutorials that couple with homework problems. 

Classical Mechanics/Math Methods 2 (180 MB) This is a preliminary set of materials developed by Prof. Ethan Neil. (Not associated with a PER project, but a comprehensive followup to the Class Mech 1 materials found above) 

Thermodynamics/statistical mechanics  (495 MB) Materials from M. Dubson, B. Wilcox and other faculty, with concept tests and in-class activities, homeworks, etc. 

Quantum Mechanics 2 (610 MB) Materials from S. Pollock, B. Wilcox and other faculty, with concept tests, lecture notes, homeworks, a few in-class activities.