RES.8-002 | Fall 2009 | Undergraduate

A WikiTextBook for Introductory Mechanics

Course Description

This e-Book is a first step toward a shift in the role of the printed textbook from authoritative serial repository to modular, customizable, linkable, interactive hub. The ideal modern textbook should provide a clear overview of the domain, short summaries of key content, links to more detailed online source material, …

This e-Book is a first step toward a shift in the role of the printed textbook from authoritative serial repository to modular, customizable, linkable, interactive hub. The ideal modern textbook should provide a clear overview of the domain, short summaries of key content, links to more detailed online source material, embedded self-assessment, and a vehicle for instant student feedback. This open-source e-Book for introductory mechanics uses ideas from modeling physics to encourage strategic, concept-based problem solving and employs a wiki format to enable multiple parallel organizations of the material, links to resources and student comments.

Online Publication

Figure showing angular momentum and torque
A ball hits a bar and sticks to it. A figure from a worked example on angular momentum and torque. (Image by Prof. David Pritchard. Used with permission.)