The How and Why of Motion: Classical Mechanics

Terrific news for students and teachers of introductory physics: OCW has just published a new version of 8.01 Classical Mechanics.

This course is taken by all MIT students in their first year and helps form the foundation for much of what they will learn in their undergraduate careers.

Arranged in weekly learning units, the OCW course site abounds in useful materials. The centerpiece is a series of 220 short instructional videos that cover the full range of topics, from kinematics and Newton’s Laws of Motion to rotational motion and angular momentum. An additional six review videos cover basic concepts like vectors and scalars, so you can be familiar with the necessary terminology before you start the first learning unit.

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• 21G.322J Frenchness in an Era of Globalization
• 21L.000J Writing About Literature: Writing About Love

• 14.54 International Trade
• 18.05 Introduction to Probability and Statistics
• 21L.020J Globalization: The Good, the Bad, and the In-Between

Back in February we told you about a new OCW course in computer science, 6.0001 Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python. It’s a true introduction, for students with little or no programming experience.

Now you can develop your newly acquired skills further with the 2^nd module in the sequence, 6.0002 Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science. It picks up where 6.0001 left off, providing you with “an understanding of the role computation can play in solving problems and to help students, regardless of their major, feel justifiably confident of their ability to write small programs that allow them to accomplish useful goals.”

MIT’s first MicroMasters learners earn credentials

The first-ever cohort in MIT’s inaugural online MicroMasters program — consisting of more than 1,100 learners who completed all five of the online courses in supply chain management — has received its final MicroMasters certificates and were honored at an online ceremony on June 20.

Of those learners who opted to take the proctored comprehensive final exam, 622 achieved passing grades, automatically earning a chance to apply for a full master’s degree. Combining credit for the completed online coursework plus one semester of on-campus classes, this “hybrid” master’s is available at MIT or any of several partner institutions: University of Queensland, in Australia; Curtin University, in Australia; Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York; and the Zaragoza Logistics Center, in Spain.

Given that the MicroMasters’ testing process and course standards are designed to be as demanding as those of on-campus MIT classes, the MicroMasters credential itself is also expected to provide those who earn it with opportunities for career advancement.

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Did you hear that? That is the sound of teachers everywhere starting their summer vacations!  After you take a break; read a book, go to the beach, why not come visit OCW’s Highlights for High School to check out some of our FUN course materials?

Here are some great places to start:

• ChemLab Boot Camp, our very own reality show that follows 14 students as they struggle their way through their first time doing lab experiments at MIT. Mishaps and drama and intrigue!
• A collection of course materials on gaming and game design
• Chemistry Behind the Magic: Chemical Demonstrations for the Classroom-really fun short videos showing some crazy experiments
• Learn to build your own guitar or make your own speakers 

Enjoy your summer!