Teaching Design-Led Materials Science

About this Webinar

As the field of materials science and engineering (MSE) has expanded tremendously in recent decades, educators now face a unique challenge: how to teach the ever-increasing volume of in-depth, specialized knowledge and constantly changing technical skills. The traditional science-led approach attempts to teach all the fundamentals in a series of standalone physical science courses. However, it is increasingly difficult to cover all aspects of the physical sciences that may be relevant to a students’ future career. Furthermore, the siloed nature of traditional course structure does not reflect the increasingly multidisciplinary approach that engineers take in the real world. Finally, given the wide breadth of the MSE discipline and the multiple connections it has with other engineering disciplines, the traditional approach to teaching MSE leaves many students confused about what a materials education is actually about and how it can be usefully put in practice in the real world.