Most college and high school physics courses cover few, if any, developments made since 1930.  At Rensselaer, we developed a novel introductory course, called the Science of Information Technology (ScIT) that combines contemporary applications of traditionally covered topics, like the implications of diffraction for the storage capacity of CD-ROMs, with more recent developments, like the use of giant magnetoresistance in hard drives.  The materials for this course, including on-line simulations and animations, as well as in-class activity write-ups, are currently being enhanced and expanded to meet the needs of institutions other than Rensselaer.  I will report on the progress made so far and indicate how interested institutions can access the materials.
 

RPI work supported in part by NSF CCLI Program under grant DUE-0089399