Material Detail

This open bank of educational apps is being utilized in a plant physiology course for upper division undergraduate students by Alana Chin at Cal Poly Humboldt. The OERs presented here are a series of web-based phone-optimized apps allowing students to explore photosynthesis and key physical laws through equations by manipulating parameters with intuitive sliders. Each app has a unique visualization to help student understanding and allows them to make and test assumptions by changing one factor while holding others constant. The main motivation to make and use these apps was to allow students who may not have an intuitive grasp of algebra to learn to look at equations with with calm and understand what they represent. Most student access the apps through a QR code during lecture or study. I hope making them an OER helps other faculty teaching this course.

The California State University and MERLOT have partnered to showcase how and why faculty have adopted Open Educational Resources (OER) to facilitate equitable access to their students’ course materials. This Faculty Showcase represent Open Educational Practices where faculty are sharing their "know-how" for adopting OER in their courses.