This link below is a redirect to my old website in Davis. I wrote a Cosmology class with ten discussion/laboratory sections based on the active learning model. The sections discuss the big bang, the CMB, inflation, black holes, galaxy statistics, etc., all in a way which encourages the use of reasoning, testing hypotheses, and (usually quite rusty) algebra. There is usually a different lecturer each year at Davis and they are welcome to modify his/her lectures as they see fit for this class since it fulfills a science reqiurement for non-science majors. There is little or no use of calculus.

If you are interested in a copy of these discussion/laboratory sections, please contact Dr. Andreas Albrecht (albrecht[at]physics.ucdavis.edu), who was the original lecturer on the project and helped design it. You may also write to me for advice, suggestions, etc., but to be honest, I'm not clear I have copyright privileges to the labs themselves; besides, there is some proprietary software which you should use for some of the labs. Be warned that the UC system has loads of lawyers...

The link below may eventually break, or simply be out-of-date with any recent modifications to the Davis version of the class (as of the date below, it worked). Even if it is out of date, it is a bit of Davis physics education history, and it also can give you an idea of 1) how to teach a technical subject to non-majors and 2) what the active learning model is all about.