Active Learning in Materials Science

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Active Learning in Materials Science Engineering

• Peter Goodhew and Tim Bullough
• University of Liverpool and
• UK Centre for Materials Education

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Background

• MSE is under-appreciated by the public
• Most CDIO in mainstream Engineering
• Lab work traditionally 20 of time under
  pressure
• Active learning desirable
• Three Liverpool modules described here

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Three AL modules

• A Liverpool module is 1/8 or 1/16th year, 150 or
  75 study hours, 36 or 18 contact hours
• Whats it made of? MATS 109
• Design 21st Century car door MATS 213
• Two week creation ENG 101

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Whats It Made Of? (WIMO)

• ILOs (first year)
• Range of available materials and properties
• Team working
• Design, build and test a scheme
• Principles of selection use of databases
• Team presentation skills

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WIMO

• Module deliverable
• Each team of 4 or 5 has to develop its own
  classification system for materials, based
  (roughly) on the requirements of a particular
  industry. They then have to deploy this system
  in the exam, to classify 3 unseen
  materials/components.

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Your WIMO exercise

• Suggest one or two bases for a classification
  scheme for materials.
• Example 1 tensile strength
• Example 2 density
• (You may talk to your neighbour)
• You have 20 seconds for this exercise

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A more useful WIMO exercise

• Suggest one or two bases for a classification
  scheme for materials, which you think few (if
  any) other groups in the room will come up with.
• You have a further 20 seconds for this task.

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Design Car door

• ILOs (second year, PBL)
• Steel properties and design parameters
• Use of web resources
• Team working, time management, presentation

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The problem

• You work in the research department of a major
  steel-maker. One of your key customers, the
  automotive sector, is facing increasing pressure
  from its consumers to improve safety, fuel
  efficiency and accessory specification. Weight
  reduction of certain car components is considered
  a key step in facilitating the improvements
  desired. This could be provided by steels main
  competitor in the automotive marketplace
  aluminium, which has already taken a proportion
  of the luxury automotive market and is looking to
  make inroads into high volume production models.
  You are a member of a committee, established
  within the steel-making company, tasked to ensure
  that steel can respond to this threat by
  identifying a suitable steel specification for
  use in a critical application the car door
  outer panel. You will need to justify your
  decision to the companys Board, which will
  include marketing and research representatives.

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TWC

• ILOs for the two-week creation (first year, end
  of semester 1)
• Interdisciplinary team working and competition
• Design, build and test a device (plane, rocket,
  bridge)
• Experience failure and limitations

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A CDIO Workshop The Two Week Aeroplane

• designing to spec
• wind tunnel tests
• performance analysis
• electronic circuit design
• control system design
• manufacturing
• flight testing
• performance measurement

• Total weight lt 50gms
• Span 30cm
• Flight speed 3 m/sec
• Performance targets
• COTS products

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The 5 Ts

• Title make it meaningful
• Teamwork training needed
• Total experience CDIO all possible within one
  module
• Testing too much
• Tyranny of the Timetable AL better if 24/7
  (ish)

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Conclusions

• Nothing special about Materials CDIO and Active
  Learning are applicable
• The 5 Ts are important
• We still need some conventional lab teaching of
  key skills
• We probably over-assess

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Thats all for now

• Watch this space
• (and we are happy to share our experiences)

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The ALL

• Active Learning Lab
• Large (1200m2)
• Max load 250 students (a year cohort)
• Flexible
• Exciting
• Visible

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The site
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The Engineering Restructuring Project

• 31M investment by HEFC and University
• Integration of Research Group activities
• New Active Learning Laboratory
• centre for development of The Liverpool Engineer
• Largest Engineering teaching laboratory in Europe
• CDIO projects
• New Business Centre
• Multi-disciplinary environment
• Operational by AY 2007-8

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The ALL
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Artists (?) impression
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The Active Learning Lab
Entry from Departmental hub
Access
200 seat computer lab
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Active Learning Lab April 05
See larger plan
See larger plan
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(No Transcript)
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The cathedral (RC)
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The Liver Building