📄️ Module Overview
Context: This course studies the fundamental principles of chemistry and their applications towards understanding challenges in science and engineering through a materials science and engineering lens. Focus on materials science which builds on the core chemistry concepts emphasized in the earlier half of the course can illuminate the relationship between the microstructure of a material, its processing history, and its resulting properties. Thinking like a materials scientist or engineer will allow us to address the major challenges of our time including climate change and materials design revolution.
📄️ Learning Activities
Example problems that can be worked through during class later in the week closer to the quiz. Each of these problems can be given out ahead of time so that students can prepare answers or given class time to discuss with their classmates. Additionally, providing visuals and tables is helpful in answering these questions so student providing answers can illustrate their thought processes by writing their answers on a blackboard. All four questions are comparisons of some sort and so the classroom assessment techniques of misconception/preconception check and approximate analogies can be especially useful in explaining the solutions. Scoring for in-person problem solving can be binary with participation (discussing with other students/providing answers)
📄️ Assessment Instruments
An introductory materials science course will cover a wide range of topics and so will require classes from different fields as prerequisites. Additionally, introduction materials science courses are often in mechanical or chemical engineering departments so the backgrounds of the students will vary and may not meet the prerequisites. The pre course survey should be given before the course starts or at the beginning after the syllabus is covered. The pre-course survey will highlight any topics which concern the students or the instructor from the self-reported backgrounds of the student. The results from this assessment should inform the instructor where more attention should be paid in specific topics/lectures or if supplementary lectures are needed.