Lynx Open Ed

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/11244/21725

The OU Academy of the Lynx was established in 2002 with official permission from the Accademia dei Lincei in recognition of the OU Galileo collection. Its purpose as a Friends organization was to promote the History of Science Collections and increase its visibility in the central Oklahoma area. Numerous events were held both on and off campus up through 2015. During the Galileo’s World exhibit in 2015-2016, K12 exhibit-based educational outreach took place in the name of the OU Lynx. These Open Educational Resources (OERs) supported docent-led class visits to OU Libraries and docent-led programs for students third grade and up at area schools and public libraries. For more information visit lynx-open-ed.org.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 27

Open Access
The Abacus: Introduction
(2016) Magruder, Kerry;
The Abacus was an instrument useful for various mathematical computations. This learning leaflet provides step-by-step instructions for the basic operations of the abacus.
Open Access
Activities Handout for Constellations
(2016) Magruder, Kerry; Purkaple, Brent;
Suggested activities to be used in conjunction with Constellation Coloring Pages and Card Sets.
Open Access
Ada Lovelace: First Computer Programmer
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
In Ada Lovelace's translation of one of the first introductions to Charles Babbage's "Analytical Engine," she included at length analyses of the significance and potential of Babbage's machine. These explanations, totaling forty pages, explained that Babbage's machine had the potential of becoming a programmable computer, instead of merely a calculator.
Open Access
The Anatomy of a Book
(2016) Magruder, Kerry;
In order to understand the history of a book, it is important to understand the structure and organization of a book - it's anatomy. This learning leaflet explains the basic parts of a book through some simple exercises. Included in this learning leaflet are three parts: the Introduction (1), the Activity (2), and the Handout (3).
Open Access
Augustine: The Bible and Science
(2016) Magruder, Kerry;
Saint Augustine discussed the relationship between religion and science in the 5th century. Such views became highlight influential throughout the history of science for those interested in explaining the relationship between religion and science. This learning leaflet provides a brief introduction to Augustine's views. Also included is a handout with quotations from Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Isaac Newton regarding the relationship between religion and science.
Open Access
The Bible and Science: Calvin, Newton & Other Writers
(2015) Magruder, Kerry;
Quotations from various important Christian interpreters about the relationship between the Bible and Science. Aimed at helping learners differentiate between four key frameworks of relating the Bible and Science.
Open Access
Bode's Star Atlas: Uranographia, 1801
(2016) Magruder, Kerry;
This beautiful star atlas fused artistic beauty and scientific precision, the last of the four major star atlases in which artful depictions of constellation figures appear alongside the most up to date scientific information. Bode was director of the Observatory of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 20 large copperplate engravings plot more than 17,000 stars, far more than any previous atlas. Bode included new stars for the southern hemisphere, along with constellations recently invented by Hevelius and Lacaille. Bode depicted more than 100 constellations, compared with 88 officially recognized today. Some which appeared in this atlas for the first time, but are not officially recognized today, include the Cat, the Printing Press, the Montgolfier Balloon, and the Electric Generator. Bode also included 2,500 cloudy patches, or nebula, cataloged by William Herschel.
Open Access
Boldly Explore: Camille Flammarion (1888)
(2015) Magruder, Kerry; Magruder, Susanna
Science is a quest of discovery, the challenge of boldly exploring where no one has gone before. That is the appeal and rhetorically durable theme which has made this woodcut so appealing. Many have reprinted this illustration through the years, sometimes without knowing its original source. It first appeared in this popular work on meteorology. Flammarion was an astronomer and popular science writer who worked at the Juvissy Observatory in Paris. He was mistaken in his belief that scientists, writers and theologians in the Middle Ages and Renaissance regarded the Earth as flat. This OER includes a newly colorized version of Flammarion's image by Susanna Magruder.
Open Access
Catherine Whitwell: Astronomy & Creative Writing
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Catherine Whitwell wrote an introduction to the night sky as a dialogue between a mother and daughter. It contains 23 engraved plates drawn by Whitwell herself, including four hand colored folding plates. One of the plates depicts the constellations of Corvus the Crow, Crater the Cup and Hydra the Water Snake. Another plate conveys a dramatic impression of the Full Moon at night, shown against a striking black background. This OER explores the role of Whitwell in astronomy education.
Open Access
Darwin at the Library Exhibition
(2011) Magruder, Kerry;
An Exhibit Guide for the "Darwin at the Library” exhibition held at the University of Oklahoma Bizzell Memorial Library, Summer 2011, comprised of the Darwin first editions that were displayed in the “Darwin at the Museum” joint exhibition with the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Fall 2009.
Open Access
Elisabeth Hevelius: Observational Astronomer
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Elisabeth Hevelius, wife of Johann Hevelius, was an astronomer in her own right. They worked together in the observatory of their Gdansk home to measure angular widths and distances with a great sextant, which required two observers at a time. The Sextant was among the new constellations they proposed in Uranographia (1690), the most detailed and influential celestial atlas of the 17th century. The Uranographia contains 54 beautiful double page engraved plates of 73 constellations, and 2 oversized folding plates of planispheres.
Open Access
Florence Nightingale: Professionalized Health Care
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Florence Nightingale championed social reform and the organization of nursing as a profession. During the Crimean War, she organized the care of injured soldiers, making the rounds at night as the ÐLady with the lamp.Ð Her emphasis on hygiene and hand washing dramatically reduced the death rate. This OER explores the breadth of Nightingale's work in the nineteenth century.
Open Access
Galileo's World Discussion Guide
(2014-12-29) Magruder, Kerry;
A discussion guide organized around the book, "Galileo: A Very Short Introduction," by Stillman Drake. It is designed in conjunction with the Galileo's World Exhibition at the University of Oklahoma to be used as an accessible introduction to the world of Galileo.
Open Access
Hildegard of Bingen: An Abbess for Health Care
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Hildegard of Bingen, Abbess of convents at Rupertsberg and Elbingen in the 12th century, explained their herbal remedies and medical procedures in her book, Physica. In addition to this work on medicine, Hildegard wrote other works on cosmology and theology, corresponded in nearly 400 letters with abbots, popes and emperors, and created at least 70 musical compositions. This OER explores the significance of Hildegard of Bingen.
Open Access
Inclined Plane: Law of Falling Bodies
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Galileo described his experiment with an inclined plane in his book, Two New Sciences. In this work Galileo was operating within a research tradition in physics known as "impetus." This tradition, begun in the 6th century CE with John Philoponos, sought to explain motion. Galileo constructed his inclined plane in order to slow down free fall to speeds which might accurately be measured. This OER explores the role of Galileo's inclined plane in the development of physics.
Open Access
Johan Schreck: Galileo's Friend in China
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Johann Schreck joined the Jesuit order in 1611, the same year that he used Galileo's telescope to observe the satellites of Jupiter. Upon becoming a Jesuit Schreck joined the Jesuit mission in China, taking with him a scientific library of approximately 7,000 volumes as well as a Galilean telescope. Schreck, along with the other Jesuits in China, helped to exchange scientific ideas between Europe and Asia. This OER explores this relationship and includes high-quality images from books in this period.
Open Access
Johann Kepler: Blueprints of the Universe
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Johann Kepler's "Mystery of the Universe" is rightly considered one of the brilliant illustrations in the history of astronomy. In it, Kepler used the five regular Pythagorean solids to refute the major objections to Copernicanism. In this work he demonstrated that vast empty regions lying between the planetary spheres, which were required by Copernicus, were not wasted space. Rather, these gaps perfectly matched, within the limits of observational error, the geometry of the 5 regular Pythagorean solids. This OER explores the role of Kepler's blueprints of the universe in explaining planetary position.
Open Access
Libraries as makers of OER: A Pilot Project
(2015-11-19) Magruder, Kerry; Purkaple, Brent;
The University of Oklahoma Libraries and the History of Science Collection have spent the last year planning Galileo's World, an exhibition showcasing the time period of Galileo through 300 rare books, hand-crafted instrument replicas, and companion digital resources in an exhibition without walls. The exhibition will have physical gallery spaces, as well as online exhibits and educational materials focused on the story of Galileo and his time period, especially emphasizing the creativity and interconnectedness of human achievement. One of our primary methods of development has been the creation of open educational resources to support the exhibition and help develop the educational outreach of the History of Science Collections. In order to accomplish this we established the OU Academy of the Lynx, an education partner group, that has the creation of OER content as a fundamental goal. The OER materials include digital scans of primary resources, exhibition gallery guides, and educational activities. For the past 2 years, we have been working to engage K-20 faculty and students as not only consumers of OER, but as creators and re-mixers of this exhibition content. This presentation will outline our multiple approaches to engaging the educational community as creators of OER content, both our successes and setbacks. We hope to spark a discussion of some of the many ways libraries and special collections can support the creation and adoption of OER built around our unique content.
Open Access
Madame du Châtelet: Newtonian Physicist
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Madame du Châtelet translated Newton's masterwork of physics, the "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy," into French. She also defended Newton in the Newton-Leibniz controversy. This OER shoes images from some of du Châtelet's works as well as how she is pictured in Algarotti's popular introduction to Newtonian science.
Open Access
Margaret Bryan: Science Education
(2015) Magruder, Kerry
Margaret Bryan was a schoolmistress for a boarding school for girls in London, in which she taught mathematics and science. She also published several popular scientific textbooks on astronomy, geography, and natural philosophy. This OER shows high-quality images from Bryan's 18th and 19th century books.