Expanding Materials Education in High Schools: 2009 ASM Materials Camp for Teachers

1. Expanding Materials Education in High Schools: 2009 ASM Materials Camp for Teachers Dr. Neetha Khan and Mr. Robert Wesolowski Supported by the MRSEC Program of the NSF under award number DMR-0520425. Also co-sponsored by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) Foundation, in conjunction with the ASM Materials Education Foundation, the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) Foundation, and the ASM Pittsburgh Chapter. Figure 15.2. High School Teachers at the summer 2009 ASM Materials Camp participated in a number of experiments on how to implement Materials Science into their classrooms. On June 22-26, 2009 local Pittsburgh area teachers participated in a summer camp at Carnegie Mellon University.The five-day camp was hosted by the CMU MRSEC and the Materials Science and Engineering Department. During the camp, the teachers learned the basics of materials science as taught at the high school level, through a series of lectures, demonstrations and hands-on lab activities. They worked with metals, ceramics, polymers and composites, helping to develop a greater appreciation for the importance of these materials to everyday life. The camp also included a field trip to the labs of the Art Conservation Research Center at CMU, where they learned about how materials research is a part of art conservation research. All of the teacher participants indicated that the camp prepared them to implement new materials science labs/demonstrations into their classes.