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8th grade materials science


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DS13 is intensely interested in materials science and has asked if we can do a dedicated unit as part of science this year.  This seems like a reasonable request to me, but I am not sure what to use.  I have been poking around the web looking for various options.  Ideally, I'd like to find something that we could work through for 7-8 weeks and has a lot of hands-on activities.  Any suggestions? 

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Which branch of material science? For example roads, bridges, earthquake engineering, textile, nanotechnology? 

If he likes things like bridges, this unit would probably work and you can expand on it https://www.teachengineering.org/curricularunits/view/cub_brid_curricularunit

If he is interested in nanotechnology, silicon wafers, then look for material science introduction books for electrical engineering students.

If he is interested in concrete, asphalt (potholes in roads), then look for material science introduction books for civil or mechanical engineering.

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  • 4 months later...

I'm currently reading "Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World"--interesting reading!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544236041/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There's an Intro Lesson here:  https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/uoh_matlsci_lesson01

After reading your post I was curious what might be out there for my STEM classes, so I did a little digging. STEM activities have really become challenging to search for because There's. Just. So. Much. Out. There. I had better luck coming up with results by searching for materials science STEM workshops, instead of activities. It took me to teacher resources instead of just random student activities. 

There's a sample course outline here for HS, as well as other resources:

https://www.asmfoundation.org/who-we-impact/teachers/educator-resources/

Here are some links they listed: https://sites.google.com/site/asmmasterteacherwiki/home/materials-science-links

Here's a handbook for teachers they have linked. It's older--1994--but might be more useful in putting together a unit than what can be found in the current STEM trends. https://www.asminternational.org/documents/10192/1739818/PNNL-17764.pdf

Demonstrations:  https://www.asminternational.org/documents/10192/1739818/strangematterdemobook.pdf

University of Illinois MAST has several modules on materials science, including polymers: http://matse1.matse.illinois.edu/home.html

Now I'm off to bookmark these to check out later. I'm glad you asked this question!  Please update us--I'll be curious as to what you put together.

Edited by Pippen
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