Experiential Learning Utilizing Class and Lab Demos in a Material Science and Manufacturing Course

Shadi Balawi; Matt Pharr

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Conference: 2024 ASEE-GSW
Location: Canyon, Texas
Publication Date: March 10, 2024
Start Date: March 10, 2024
End Date: March 12, 2024
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45380
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45380
Download Count: 20

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Paper Authors

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Shadi Balawi Texas A&M University

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Dr. Balawi is an Instructional Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at Texas A&M. He teaches in the areas of materials, manufacturing, and design. His interests are in the areas of Engineering Design for Disciplinary STEM Educational Research, Team Formation and Team Skill Education. Dr. Balawi earned his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from University of Cincinnati with research focus on experimental design and testing of solids for honeycomb core materials.

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Matt Pharr Texas A&M University

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Matt Pharr is an Associate Professor and J. Mike Walker ’66 Faculty Fellow in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University with a courtesy appointment in Materials Science & Engineering. His scientific research focuses on mechanics of materials in areas including energy storage and conversion, soft materials, irradiated materials, stretchable electronics, coupled electro-chemo-mechanics, and materials for neuromorphic computing. He teaches classes primarily in mechanics of materials and materials science. He has received an NSF CAREER Award, the Kaneka Junior Faculty Award, a Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Young Faculty Award, the Peggy L. & Charles Brittan ’65 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, a Montague-Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar Award, and The Texas A&M Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching.

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Abstract

Students are typically introduced to material science concepts through PowerPoint lecture slides combined with online videos. Through this approach, students typically passively absorb information and concepts from class, which does not provide them with the opportunity to interact with the introduced topics. To address this shortcoming, class demos are used to help students understand and link the effect of processing on a material’s microstructure and thus its mechanical properties. Creating class-props can assist in presenting various phenomena related to the evolution of material microstructure and how it links to resulting mechanical properties. These props can be utilized during class sessions as in-class work. The aim is to encourage students to ask questions and to examine their understanding in an inviting environment within smaller groups. This approach will aid in affording all students including disadvantaged and URMs an opportunity to learn first-hand without the potential anxiety associated with asking a question in a general class setting. Herein, basic props were built over summer 2023, which were used in demos as part of measuring initial reactions and to modify them as needed. A baseline was established using some of these demos. These props and demos showed a positive trend in helping to encourage and motivate students. This paper details the process of developing these props for both class and lab demos that utilizes previously developed kits. A baseline material concept inventory is also introduced.

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Balawi, S., & Pharr, M. (2024, March), Experiential Learning Utilizing Class and Lab Demos in a Material Science and Manufacturing Course Paper presented at 2024 ASEE-GSW, Canyon, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--45380