Textbook Collections
The following sites contain open textbooks in a variety of subject areas, but the links below will take you directly to the textbooks about physics. This is by no means an exhaustive list!
- Natural & Physical Sciences (Open Textbook Library)These books have been reviewed by faculty from a variety of colleges and universities to assess their quality. These books can be downloaded for no cost, or printed at low cost. All textbooks are either used at multiple higher education institutions; or affiliated with an institution, scholarly society, or professional organization.
- Physics (InTech)InTech publishes more than 2,300 open textbooks and 6 journals in a variety of subjects that fall under the heading of science, technology, and medicine.
- Physics (Bookboon)Bookboon.com contains free eBooks and textbooks that can be downloaded as a pdf, no registration needed. These books cannot be altered, but can be freely printed, shared, or embedded in non-commercial ways. They are intended only for individuals, colleges, and schools.
Other Types of Open Resources
- Physics (MIT Open Courseware)MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.
- Physics (Saylor Academy)Saylor Academy contains full courses, including syllabi, readings, quizzes, and more.
- Open Course LibraryThe Open Course Library (OCL) is a collection of shareable course materials, including syllabi, course activities, readings, and assessments designed by teams of college faculty, instructional designers, librarians, and other experts. Some of their materials are paired with low cost textbooks ($30 or less). Many of the courses can be taught at no cost to students.
- PhET Interactive SimulationsFounded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.
- ComPADREThe AAPT ComPADRE Digital Library is a network of free online resource collections supporting faculty, students, and teachers in Physics and Astronomy Education.
- Physics (Applied Math & Science Education Repository)AMSER (the Applied Math and Science Education Repository) is a portal of educational resources and services built specifically for use by those in Community and Technical Colleges but free for anyone to use. AMSER is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of the National Science Digital Library, and is being created by a team of project partners led by Internet Scout.
- Physics (Hippocampus)Hippocampus offers educators a wide variety of multimedia content online, including videos, animations, and simulations. An additional feature offers educators the ability to create "playlists" for their students, which correlate specifically to their particular instruction material.
- Physics (MERLOT)MERLOT is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community. The MERLOT Collection is made up of over 40,000 materials in 19 different material type categories.
- Mathematics & Statistics (Open Learn)Open Learn is an initiative of The Open University, UK. It provides supplemental materials for educators, including articles, podcasts, videos, games, and much more. In addition, it offers more than 700 free online classes.
- OER CommonsOER Commons helps educators, students, and lifelong learners avoid time-consuming searches and find exactly the right materials. With a single point of access from which they can search, browse, and evaluate resources in OER Commons’ growing collection of over 50,000 high-quality OER everyone can more efficiently find what they need.
Featured Textbooks
College Physics
Senior Contributing Authors:
Paul Peter Urone, California State University, Sacramento
Roger Hinrichs, State University of New York, College at Oswego
Physical Modeling in MATLAB
Allen B. Downey
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