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Hands-On Laboratory Experiences to Underscore Concepts and to Create Excitement about Materials Abstract

It is universally acknowledged that laboratories and demonstrations add information and interest to science and engineering courses. Constraints are time, space and cost. We have developed a series of hands-on laboratories coordinated with our “Introduction to Principles and Properties of Materials” course, taken as a Basic Engineering elective by most of the engineering majors in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern. These activities are conducted in 50-minute weekly sessions with approximately 40 students in each section. Our objective is for students to handle materials and to make qualitative observations and quantitative measurements. The experiments described herein are easily and inexpensively duplicated, allowing individuals or small groups to work independently. We describe the following representative activities in detail: the observation of work hardening and recrystallization in copper tubing; measurement of temperature-dependent resistivities of metals and semiconductors; exploration of the glass transition in inorganic and organic materials; measurement of LED I-V curves with a simple circuit; and quantitative determination of the effect of surface flaws on the strength of glass.

Introduction

Laboratory exercises provide a great opportunity to expose students to “real materials” in an active learning environment. Such exercises also provide a means to satisfy important learning objectives, such as the application of material discussed in lectures (“an ability to apply knowledge of math, science and engineering”) and the ability to conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data.1 We have developed a series of experiments which we believe meet these objectives and add an element of fun to the introductory materials course. These exercises were developed in the process of teaching, experimenting with materials, discussing the course with students and colleagues, and making many trips to the local hardware store and chemistry stockroom. We are certain that many of these activities are not unique to our curriculum, and we acknowledge inspiration from others using similar hands-on learning techniques, especially Professor Arthur Ellis and coworkers at the University of Madison2 and participants at the Materials Educators conferences.3 In this paper we document some of the experiments we have developed for use with relatively large classes.

The MSE 201 “Introduction to Principles and Properties of Materials” course has an enrollment of approximately 40 students in each of two sections taught in the fall, winter and spring quarters. This course satisfies a Basic Engineering requirement for most (approximately 75%) engineering undergraduates at Northwestern, and is taken by those majoring in Biomedical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Industrial and Mechanical engineering in addition to Materials Science and Engineering. A separate but similar course, MSE 301, is taught for Chemical and Biological Engineering majors once each year. Both classes use the current edition of “Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction” by William D. Callister.4 A draft of a new text by Y. W. Chung5 was used for the most recent sections of 201, taught during Winter Quarter of 2006.

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Stair, K., & Crist, Jr, B. (2006, June), Using Hands On Laboratory Experiences To Underscore Concepts And To Create Excitement About Materials Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1282