Resources by Open University
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This collection of fourteen 60 second animated clips were produced by the Open University, and funded by the Science Technology Facilities Council. They focus on cutting edge topics within astrophysics in a humorous and easily accessible way. The animations cover topics such as the Big Bang, the expansion of the...
These series of animations explain what microgravity is and how it is used in research both on the ground and in space. They are designed by researchers from the Open University and narrated by the actor/comedian David Mitchell.
60 second adventures in microgravity: behind the scenes
This short film explains how the 60 second adventures in microgravity series was put together. It features some of the researchers, animators and script writers involved.
A Day on Mercury
This animated clip explains how Mercury rotates in around 59 Earth days to rotate but only takes 88 Earth days to orbit the Sun (the length of its year). So Mercury spins three times for every two orbits, which means each Mercury day lasts for two Mercury years. This means, living on Mercury, you would celebrate...
Bed rest
This animation explains how bed rest studies can simulate the effects of microgravity on the human body. In this way, scientists can study a larger group of people than just the astronauts that we send into space. The animation is part of the 60 Second Adventures in Microgravity and is narrated by David...
Black Holes
This animated clip explains in 1931, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, calculated that if a star is big enough, that at the end of its life it can collapse to create a black hole from which nothing can escape. In fact, we are told, you can make a black hole out of anything as long as it is big enough.
Dark Energy
This animated clip describes how Einstein used the cosmological constant as a way of keeping his model of the Universe static but that Hubble showed that the Universe was actually expanding. However, evidence now tells us that since the universe is accelerating in its expansion, a new term for what is causing...
Dark Matter
This animated clip explains how Fritz Zwicky noticed that galaxies were missing matter and called this matter, dark matter. Zwicky realised that looking at gravitational lensing of light from distance galaxies would allow scientists to calculate how much dark matter there is but there still remains the problem of...
Part of 'The man-made world: a foundation course, units 33-4' Open University course.
The aims of these units are:
- To show that the forms given to man-made objects are not simply determined by a definition of uses and performances, but by a much more complex mix of knowledge, context, and...
From the Open University course 'Educational Studies/Mathematics', this module focuses on developing mathematical thinking in primary children.