Available courses

This course examines the entire universe, as observed today with the instruments of modern technology, and as explained with the ideas of physicists and astronomers.  

This course is a hands-on opportunity to learn by exploration and discovery how physicists and astronomers have arrived at their current understanding of the universe.  The class uses images and data from the university's telescopes in Kentucky, Arizona, and Australia, along with experiments you can do at home and with web resources.

This is the first of a two-semester sequence on the fundamental concepts and methods of physics. Physics is the foundation of the sciences that enable us to understand the universe on the largest and smallest scales, from the beginning of time to its uncertain future.  It is also the practical basis of contemporary technology, engineering, medicine, and biology.  This semester we explore how physics works, learn the necessary math concepts to use it and study mechanics and gravity, heat and energy, and vibrations and sound.

This is the second of a two-semester sequence on the fundamental concepts and methods of physics. Physics is the foundation of the sciences that enable us to understand the universe on the largest and smallest scales, from the beginning of time to its uncertain future.  It is also the practical basis of contemporary technology, engineering, medicine, and biology.  Many of these applications depend on electricity, magnetism, light and even quantum mechanics.  This semester we explore the basic physics of electricity and magnetism, electronics and electrical devices, the nature of light, its production and control, the elements of quantum phenomena, and contemporary ideas about relativity, gravitation, and the universe.



This lab class is the first of a two-semester sequence on the fundamental concepts and methods of physics. It explores the physics of mechanics, heat, and sound  through laboratory experiments, simulations, and analysis of real data.


This lab class is the second of a two-semester sequence on the fundamental concepts and methods of physics. It explores the physics of electricity, magnetism, light, quantum mechanics and relativity through laboratory experiments, simulations, and analysis of real data.