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

本提案的目的是完成伦斯勒所有工程师在材料化学课程中积极学习环境的开发。 这一目标可以通过购买教学光学显微镜、台式拉伸机、微欧姆计、压力计、温度控制器、热电偶读数器和调节器来实现。 该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形式授课，每班有15个小组，每组4名学生。 每周两次2小时的互动会议分为模块。 每个模块都以教师提出的概念/原则开始。 这种演示的形式是由讲师进行的小型讲座，或演示，无论是“真实的时间”或计算机生成的，或两者的某种组合。 然后，学生们会得到一个“团队问题”，以举例说明刚才提到的原则，或者是一个实践经验，提供了一个实际应用的原则。 问题或实践练习将作为一个团队完成，每个成员负责向他/她团队中的其他人教学或学习。 在两个小时的课程中，将涵盖其中的两个或三个模块。 该课程是在一个多媒体室教授，有一台计算机可供四名学生组成的教学团队使用，并能够将计算机上的信息投射到屏幕上。 计算机用于访问万维网（WWW），运行多媒体软件，并解决简单的问题。

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.