Physical Science

Exceptional, straight-forward writing, pedagogical tools, complete coverage with a level of explanation that is appropriate in detail and difficulty for all students make this text appropriate for just about any course in physical science. Instructors teaching this course can feel very confident that their students will leave with a solid understanding of the basics of physics, chemistry, astronomy and earth science.

BILL W. TILLERY

Bill W. Tillery is professor emeritus of Physics at Arizona StateUniversity, where he was a member of the faculty from 1973 to2006. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Northeastern StateUniversityand master’s and doctorate degrees from the Universityof Northern Colorado. Before moving to Arizona State University,he served as director of the Science and MathematicsTeaching Center at the University of Wyoming and as an assistantprofessor at Florida State University. Bill served on numerouscouncils, boards, and committees, and he was honored as the“Outstanding University Educator” at the University of Wyoming.He was elected the “Outstanding Teacher” in the DepartmentofPhysics and Astronomy at Arizona State University.During his time at Arizona State, Bill taught a variety ofcourses, including general education courses in science andsociety,physical science, and introduction to physics. He receivedmore than forty grants from the National Science Foundation,the U.S. Office of Education, private industry (Arizona PublicService), and private foundations (The Flinn Foundation) forscience curriculum development and science teacher in-servicetraining. In addition to teaching and grant work, Bill authoredor coauthored more than sixty textbooks and many monographsand served as editor of three separate newsletters and journals.

STEPHANIE J. SLATER

Stephanie Slater is the Director of the CAPER Center forAstronomy& Physics Education Research. After undergraduatestudies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology andgraduatework at Montana State University, Dr. Slater earnedher Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in the Department ofTeaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies studying howundergraduateresearch experiences influence the professionalcareer pathways of women scientists. Dr. Slater was selected asthe American Physical Society’s Woman Physicist of the Monthin December 2013 and received both NASA Top Star andNASA Gold Star Education awards.With more than twenty years of teaching experience,Dr. Slater has written science textbooks for undergraduateclasses and books on education research design and methods forgraduate courses. Her work on educational innovations has beenfunded by the National Science Foundation and NASA and sheserves on numerous science education and outreach committeesfor the American Association of Physics Teachers, the AmericanPhysical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and theAmerican Institute of Physics, among others. She is also a frequentlecturer at science fiction conventions, illustrating howscience fiction books, television series, and movies describehow humans interact at the intersection of science and culture.

TIMOTHY F. SLATER

Tim Slater has been the University of Wyoming Excellence inHigher Education Endowed Professor of Science Educationsince 2008. Prior to joining the faculty at the University ofWyoming,he was an astronomer at the University of Arizonafrom 2001 to 2008 where he was the first professor in the UnitedStates to earn tenure in a top-ranked Astronomy Departmenton the basis of his scholarly publication and grant award recordin astronomy education research. From 1996 to 2001, he was aresearch professor of physics at Montana State University.Dr. Slater earned a Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina,an MS at Clemson University, and two Bachelor’s degrees atKansas State University. He is widely known as the “professor’sprofessor” because of the hundreds of college teaching talks andworkshops he has given to thousands of professors on innovativeteaching methods. Dr. Slater serves as the Editor-in-Chief of theJournal of Astronomy & Earth Sciences Education and was theinitial U.S. Chairman of the International Year of Astronomy.An avid motorcycle rider, he is the author of thirteen books, haswritten more than one hundred peer-reviewed journal articles,and been the recipient of numerous teaching awards.