Materials science for the twenty-first century - active and engaged students

Substantial changes have been made to our Introduction to Engineering Materials course to actively engage students, energize their learning environment, and enhance their educational outcomes. While it is sometimes difficult to keep students engaged in the necessary basics for the course (crystallography, dislocations, phase diagrams), it is less difficult to keep them engaged using different active and "learner centered" strategies including: case studies, innovative demonstrations, concept thinking/questions, and problem based learning. Active opportunities used are: materials, design and in-service considerations in the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 accident, viscoelastic Silly Puttyreg, materials issues in the collapse and redesign of the World Trade Center buildings, snowflakes, recycling of plastic and aluminum containers, the evolving role of materials in modern bridge design, and evolving materials choices for automotive components. Three of these opportunities are described here. The paper includes course content delivery changes, basic assessment information, and future plans