Undergraduate engineering educational experiences can be greatly enhanced when students get to "see and do" things that compliment the traditional classroom lecture. Using funding provided by the National Science Foundation, the Gateway Materials Group is developing education modules that demonstrate fundamentals in materials science and engineering at introductory and intermediate levels. These modules contain hands-on laboratory and instrumentation procedures, multi-media instruction modules and video demonstrations. Educators will ultimately be able to pick and choose from these tools based on their particular university's curricula.

The alpha-brass module constitutes a proof-of-concept of one of these tools. Teaching and learning in the shared human spaces of a campus are essential to the learning experience. To compliment vital classroom instruction, however, the following module demonstrates how the student could examine full-color microstructures containing voice annotations which 'teach' specific materials science principles.

This site will eventually contain a lengthy, high-quality graphical record covering both metals and ceramics. This will allow the student to examine fundamental microstructural concepts (e.g., grain size, crystallographic orientation, grain boundaries) at their own pace. The module can be accessed before, during, or after class to enhance student appreciation.

Electron microscopy is also used to provide embedded higher magnification views while eliminating the need for the associated microscopic facilities. The resulting record allows the student to 'navigate' between different magnifications in a manner very similar to an actual microscopy session.

Module coordinator: J. Lannutti (lannuttj@KCGL1.eng.ohio-state.edu)
Voice: G. Meyrick
Production: G. Hulse