Hands-On Modules for Use in a Chemistry of Materials Course

这项建议的目的是完成伦斯勒所有工程师在材料化学课程中建立积极学习环境的工作。这一目标可以通过购买教学光学显微镜、台式张力机、微欧姆计、压力表、温度控制器、热电偶读数和调节器来实现。这个设备将使我们能够开发动手实验，我们将使用这些实验来教授材料化学课程所需的原理。材料化学课程以互动的形式授课，每班有15个小组，每组4名学生。每周两个2小时的互动课程被分成几个模块。每个模块首先由教员介绍一个概念/原则。这种演示的形式是讲师的小型讲座，或者演示，或者是“实时”的，或者是计算机生成的，或者是两者的某种组合。然后，给学生们一个“团队问题”来举例说明刚才所讲的原理，或者给他们一个实践经验，以提供对原理的实际应用。问题或动手练习应以团队形式完成，每个成员负责向团队中的其他成员进行教学或向其学习。在两个小时的课程中，将介绍其中的两到三个模块。这门课程在多媒体教室里教授，有一台计算机可供四名学生组成的小组授课，并能够将计算机中的信息投影到屏幕上。计算机被用来访问万维网(WWW)、运行多媒体软件和解决简单的问题。

The purpose of this proposal is to complete the development of an active learning environment in the Chemistry of Materials course taken by all engineers at Rensselaer. This goal can be accomplished by the acquisition of a teaching optical microscope, table-top tensile machines, micro ohmmeters, pressure gages, temperature controllers, thermocouple readouts, and regulators. This equipment will enable us to develop hands-on experiments which we will use to teach the principles necessary for the Chemistry of Materials course. The Chemistry of Materials course is being taught in an interactive format with 15 teams of four students per class. The two 2-hour interactive sessions per week are broken up into modules. Each module begins with the presentation of a concept / principle by the faculty member. This presentation takes the form of a mini lecture by the instructor, or a demonstration, either "real time" or computer generated, or some combination of the two. Students are then given either a "team problem" exemplifying the principle just covered or a hands-on experience that provides a practical application of the principle. The problems or hands-on exercises are to be completed as a team with each member responsible for teaching to, or learning from the others on his/her team. In a two-hour session, two or three of these modules are covered. The course is taught in a multimedia room with a computer available to teach team of four students and the ability to project information from the computer onto a screen. The computers are used to access the World Wide Web (WWW), run multimedia software, and solve simple problems.