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Outline Program:
2nd Asian Materials Education Symposium, Dec 8-9

Symposium Day One: Thursday, December 8

time	session
8.00 am	Registration, Coffee, and Poster setup
	SESSION 1: MATERIALS AND DESIGN
8.45 am	Prof. John Wang - National University of Singapore, Singapore Prof. Seh Chun Lim - Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Prof. Mike Ashby - Engineering, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Mr. Marc Fry - Education Division, Granta Design, United Kingdom Welcome Address
9.00 am	Session Chairs Session Introduction
9.05 am	Prof. Srinivasa Ranganathan, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India Crossing Borders: Materials Science Education and Cultural Heritage
9.30 am	Prof. Kristin Wood, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Design-Based Learning for Multi-Disciplinary Education
9.55 am	Mr. Marc Fry, Education Division, Granta Design, United Kingdom Poster Teasers: Poster Presenters invited to give a one-minute presentation about their poster
10.25 am	One-hour Poster Session & Coffee
11.25 am	Dr. Koichi Ohtomi, The University of Tokyo, Japan Materials Selection in Delight Design
11.50 pm	Prof. Gong Hao, National University of Singapore, Singapore On Final Year Projects for Materials Science and Engineering Education
12.15 pm	Session discussion led by the session chair
12.30 pm	Lunch
	SESSION 2: INNOVATION AND EVOLUTION OF MATERIALS TEACHING
1.45 pm	Session Chairs Session Introduction
1.50 pm	Prof. Seh Chun Lim, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore The Usefulness of Overview Lectures in an Undergraduate-Level Engineering Materials Course
2.15 pm	Prof. Yan Cai, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, PR. China Engineering education and the development of high quality students specialized in materials engineering
2.40 pm	Dr. Phillipa Newby, Education Division, Granta Design, United Kingdom Teaching materials in Bioengineering: An interdisciplinary approach
3.05 pm	Session discussion led by the session chair
3.15 pm	Coffee/Afternoon Tea
3.50 pm	Dr. Terry Steele, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Materials Science Experiential Learning by Virtual Laboratory Tutorials
4.15 pm	Dr. Arlindo Silva, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore HE students’ typical misconceptions in materials science – a survey (part 2)
4.40 pm	Dr. Matthew Sherburne, University of California, Berkeley, USA The Makerspace space as a space to promote International STEM education
5.05 pm	Session discussion led by the session chair
5.20 pm	Introduction to future Symposia
5.30pm	Close
Evening	SYMPOSIUM DINNER

Symposium Day Two: Friday, December 9

time	session
8.30 am	Registration and coffee
	SESSION 3: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONALIZATION
9.00 am	Session Chairs Session Introduction
9.05 am	Prof. Mike Ashby, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Analysing proposed “sustainable developments” – a toolkit
9.30 am	Prof. Shenmin Zhu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, PR. China Internationalization of Materials Science & Engineering Education in Shanghai Jiao Tong University
9.55 am	Dr. Fadeyi Moshood Olawale, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore Sustainable development in materials: Realities of the 21st century
10.20 am	Session discussion led by the session chair
10.30 am	Coffee
11.05 am	Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India InDeaTe: A tool for training engineers in designing sustainable systems
11.25 am	Dr. Lynette Cheah, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Teaching sustainability in the undergraduate engineering curriculum
11.55 am	Dr. Elizabeth Webeck, Tohoku University, Japan Improving the pro-social skills of engineering and technology students in English classes
12.20 pm	Session discussion led by the session chair
12.30 pm	Lunch
	SESSION 4: MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION
1.45 pm	Session Chairs Session Introduction
1.50 pm	Prof. Anthony Cheetham, Department of MS&M, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Education at the Materials-Chemistry Interface
2.15 pm	Prof. John Wang, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore Materials Education: Foundation for Engineer Leaders
2.40 pm	Prof. Liu Hanxing, Wuhan University of Technology, P R China Collaborative Cultivation Mode of Top-notch Innovation Talents in Materials Science and Engineering
3.05 pm	Session discussion led by the session chair
3.15 pm	Coffee/Afternoon Tea
3.50 pm	Dr. Lee Phillips, Education Division, Granta Design Ltd, United Kingdom A New Resource Suite for CES EduPack to Support Teaching of Materials Science and Engineering
4.15 pm	Mr. Gilbert Teo, Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore Encouraging peer instruction and self-directed learning in a Materials Characterisation course
4.40 pm	Session discussion led by the session chair
5.15 pm	Concluding remarks
5.30 pm	Close

Short course

An optional CES EduPack Short Course will be available on December 10.

Presentation Abstracts

Crossing Borders: Materials Science Education and Cultural Heritage

Prof. Srinivasa Ranganathan, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India

An extraordinary opportunity to broaden the horizons of materials education has opened up in recent years. Besides the conventional classification into metallics, ceramics, polymerics and composites we can add now ancient material objects. This additions, in the immortal words of Steve Jobs, allows us to marry liberal arts and technology and makes our heart sing. This is not just an indulgence any more but a necessity as all technical education communities realize that mere training in technology makes the graduates monochromatic and does not prepare them to be citizens for tomorrow‘s society.
In the context of the present Symposium we are able to use illustrative examples from the past civilizations of India, China, Korea and Japan. These did not exist in isolation but were strongly linked by trade across the Silk Road and as recent work has shown linked with the Hellenic civilization. The advent of digital technology has given a new dimension. It is possible to create virtual reality vision of heritage sites under threat. Our final message will be to highlight that materials and civilization are synonymous in a more profound way than understood till now.

Design-Based Learning for Multi-Disciplinary Education

Prof. Kristin Wood, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Teaching of subject matter, such as literature, history, social sciences, science, engineering fundamentals, and mathematics are often taught in isolation and within dedicated courses. There is also, typically, very little connection of the subject matter to society and real-world challenges. Thus, an opportunity exists to motivate subject matter with integrated applications and 21st Century skills for our students. In this presentation, we explore powerful pedagogical approaches for realizing this opportunity: active learning and design-based learning (DBL).
The focus here is on materials education, where active learning and DBL foster a culture of inquiry, connection, and multidisciplinary problem solving throughout engineering curricula. Active learning products (ALPs) have been developed for materials’ course modules. Likewise, designettes, defined as brief, vignette-like design challenges, have been developed to exploit opportunities to integrate design learning experiences in class, across courses, across terms, and across disciplines.
We present examples of these active learning products and designettes in materials education, including extensive experimental results to understand their effectiveness, and applications across a number of international institutions.

Materials Selection in Delight Design

Dr. Koichi Ohtomi, The University of Tokyo, Japan

We correlated designs using the Kano model and classified them as Better design, Must design and Delight design. The delight design corresponds the “Attractive quality” in the Kano model. The delight design process has two parts. The first is the "Definition of Delight" process and the other is the "Realization of Delight" process. "Definition of Delight" is the process for understanding a customer's psychological feelings invoked by emotional/affective qualities of products and services.
The goal of this process is to explain the customer's preference (objective variable) by using the Kansei metrics and/or physical values (explaining variables). "Kansei" is originally a Japanese word that refers to the sensitivity of a human sensory organ at which sensations or perceptions take place in response to stimuli (e.g., a product) from the external world. The Kansei metrics are equivalent to the perceived values. The customer's preferences are defined as attractive metrics. In general, the attractive metrics (objective variable) are highly individual, while the Kansei metrics and/or physical values (explaining variables) exhibit fewer individual differences. The relationship between the objective variable and the explaining variable can be expressed with the “Delight map.” The Delight map presents the most important information for delight design that acts as a bridge between "Definition of Delight" and "Realization of Delight." The attractive metrics of target products and/or materials are plotted on the Delight map that also acts as the specification for the "Realization of Delight." The Delight map in delight design corresponds the Ashby map in mechanical design. We applied the delight design process to a new-concept hair dryer. The new concept hair dryer aims to be attractive, offer a high level of usability, and a pleasant sound. The Delight design process described here is general and thus can be applied to different types of products.

On Final Year Projects for Materials Science and Engineering Education

Prof. Gong Hao, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Final year project (FYP) is a different learning experience for an undergraduate student in Materials Science and Engineering. It is also a different approach for educators comparing with classroom based lectures. In this presentation, I would like to share and discuss with educators at this meeting on how to carry out FYP. The following will be talked and discussed: the proposal of FYP projects, the selection of FYP projects by students, the execution of FYP projects, and the evaluation of FYP projects. Different approaches will be introduced, and effects to the education of students on the ability to carry out projects will be addressed.

The Usefulness of Overview Lectures in an Undergraduate-Level Engineering Materials Course

Prof. Seh Chun Lim, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Teaching an undergraduate-level engineering materials course can be a challenge. How can one present the large number of fundamental principles and properties of materials without losing the attention and interest of the students in a lecture theatre?
This presentation reports the outcome of an experiment carried out over a period of five years at the National University of Singapore to address this issue. It was found that among all the approaches tried, starting the course with a series of overview lectures was most effective. The overview lectures were found to be useful in enlightening the students on (1) how the proper use of materials can lead to improvements in the performance of products and systems resulting in positive impacts on human lives; and (2) why learning the various fundamental principles and properties of materials is necessary. Examples will be given to illustrate the evolution of this approach.

Engineering education and the development of high quality students specialized in materials engineering

Prof. Yan Cai, Min Wang, Deliang Zhang, Shenmin Zhu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, PR. China

Training in both Engineering practice and innovation ability are basic qualities needed both for scientific research and technical personnel in the field of material engineering. These qualities should be developed from the initial stage of undergraduate studies. Some engineering related courses, including “Introduction to Engineering”, are offered from the first year.
A group of engineering courses, aiming at “the Excellent Engineer Program”, are given in the fourth year. Through this mode, the specialized knowledge, as well as engineering skills on engineering consciousness and cooperation, is developed during the whole undergraduate program. Classroom lectures and case study constitute 50% course hours, respectively. The former is combined with specific engineering case studies and relevant engineering knowledge to develop analytical abilities in the students.
The use of case studies cultivates in the students’ comprehensive capabilities of defining, evaluating and solving real world engineering problems. In recent years, this kind of project teaching has achieved good effects and student feedback. Students work involves many aspects, including construction materials selection and product performance improvement. It has effectively stimulated the interest of undergraduates in material engineering, and helped the students to form the professional engineering quality.

Teaching materials in Bioengineering: An Interdisciplinary approach

Dr Phillipa J Newby and Dr Claes Fredriksson, Education Division, Granta Design, United Kingdom

Bioengineering encompasses a wide range of interesting engineering, materials, and design considerations. For example, materials in contact with biological systems. For students, it is engaging as a particularly hot topic in industry, with innovations in medical devices and implants.
Future challenges such as an ageing population and advanced prosthesis development attracts students to this subject as either a full-time degree or as part of a more general engineering degree. This also represents an industry-driven need, thus making bioengineering students more desirable in the job market.
This presentation focuses on the use of engineering materials in a biological setting and how a systematic materials selection approach, commonly taught in engineering, can be applied to a bioengineering problem. In this example, we explore how CES EduPack can be used to replace an existing material in a medical implant, a suture anchor, in order to teach the students about computer aided materials selection in bioengineering.
This advanced industrial case study can be used in conjunction with others to give all engineering students exposure to a broad range of different applications which will give students a more rounded and realistic overview of materials in an interdisciplinary context.

Materials Science Experiential Learning by Virtual Laboratory Tutorials

Dr. Terry Steele, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

‘Generation Z’ students are daunted by plastic materials science courses that mix applied mathematics, polymer chemistry, and viscoelastic concepts that deviate from more straightforward engineering content. We aimed to bring back the enthusiasm by implementing virtual laboratory tutorials/lectures that allow the students to explore the core concepts through experiential and problem-based learning. Through cooperative, collaborative, and peer learning projects, students lead themselves, while the course director facilitates the learning process.

HE students’ typical misconceptions in materials science – a survey (part 2)

Dr. Arlindo Silva, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore
J.M. Oliveira, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Ru Lin Peng, Linköping University, Sweden

Building on earlier work, this paper will focus on a survey done with students in five higher education institutions across Europe and South America. The survey deals with typical misconceptions about materials science fundamentals. Using hardness, strength, stiffness and toughness interchangeably to mean the same thing are some of these misconceptions. The implications of not fully grasping this fundamental knowledge are felt in other courses dealing with materials selection in mechanical design and product development. The survey was done with students that are starting the training in materials science and with students that had courses in materials science, and results are analyzed and compared.

Preliminary analysis leads to the general conclusions that:

a) language (and nationality) does not seem to be an issue;
b) engineering students grasp the concepts and meaning better than non-engineering students;
c) there is no significant difference between materials science students and mechanical engineering students and;
d) there seems to be no coherent decay/take-up of the understanding of the topics surveyed across populations.

Strategies are being devised to mitigate for some of the misconceptions found, and of these some will be shown. A possible re-design of the survey is also being studied, to better grasp the take-up (or not) of the concepts. The need for involving other stakeholders (namely faculty teaching design courses) has clearly been identified and will be pursued in the near future. Also, populations of students in other parts of the globe are being sought to participate in the study.

The Makerspace space as a space to promote International STEM education

Dr. Matthew Sherburne, University of California, Berkeley, USA

The University Librarian at University of California, Berkeley has re-envisioned library services. This generation of students do not rely reference books from the library and they tend to be more group oriented. The library recognized and embraced these changes and in so doing seeks to stay relevant to today’s students and their educational styles and goals.
As part of this re-envisioning we have founded a makerspace (b.makerspace), by re-purposing a section of the library. b.makerspace started 3 years ago in a small space with little equipment and has grown to house nine student groups, three student led courses (DCal courses), faculty led research projects and an international outreach program.
In this talk I will discuss how the makerspace started and has grown to occupying a significant space in the library. A student-centered approach has been taken in managing the space. This student-centered approach requires the students to take the leadership role in all aspects of the day-to-day operations.
The students have participated in fund raising; grant writing, corporate relations, event planning, and equipment selection and purchasing. As the leaders of b.makerspace they initiate a program with a nonprofit (United Technologies for Kids) in Peru. This program was started at two Peru high schools, that UC Berkeley students visited and outfitted makerspaces. The UC Berkeley students taught the students in Peru how to use the equipment over the summer 2016. UC Berkeley students returned to Peru in the fall of 2016 to prepare the Peruvian students to visit UC Berkeley in early 2017. The students are currently working to start similar programs in the Philippines and other countries. You will also be introduced to the Makergirl program, which is another approach to reach out to individuals who normally are not exposed to makerspaces and its equipment.

Analysing proposed “sustainable developments” – a toolkit

Prof. Mike Ashby, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Dr. Tatiana Vakhitova, Education Division, Granta Design, United Kingdom

A “sustainable development” is one that contributes in an equitable way to human welfare and does so in a way that minimizes the drain on natural resources. Many academic, civil, commercial and legislative projects claim to do this, and many of them are materials-related – promoting biopolymers, carbon taxes, design for recycling are examples. We refer to them as “articulations” of sustainable development. But how are they to be assessed? There is no simple, “right” answer to questions of sustainable development – instead, there is a thoughtful, well-researched response that recognizes the concerns of stakeholders, the conflicting priorities and the economic, legal and social constraints of a technology as well as its environmental legacy.
Introducing this complexly into teaching is challenging. This talk will describe a framework for exploring sustainability from a Materials perspective. The aim is not to define a single metric or index of sustainability; rather it is to improve the quality of discussion and debate on projects that claim to be sustainable developments. This suggests a methodology for the sustainability-analysis of products or projects, supported by a new CES Edu database, SUSTAIN, that provides some of the necessary inputs.

Internationalization of Materials Science & Engineering Education in Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Prof. Shenmin Zhu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, PR. China

In modern increasingly globalized human society, the demands of raising the bottom line living standard of human society with an increasingly larger population with increasingly smaller amounts of natural resources and smaller impacts to the environment, render a strong driving force for scientists and engineers to optimize solutions of science and engineering problems.
Materials science and engineering (MSE) education in universities and other tertiary education institutions need to train graduates who are not only capable of analysing and solving materials related science or engineering problems and developing new materials that can enable the solutions of science or engineering problems, but also capable of doing these by optimum or most effective ways. In School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, we have made a series of efforts mainly through forming a workgroup specifically for promoting the international education in our school and establishing an internationalized education experimental class of MSE in the undergraduate level in 2014. This class enrols around 30 students each year, being selected from 140 students enrolled every year into SMSE. A specialized curriculum has been developed for this class. All MSE subject courses are taught in English. Lectures for these courses were carefully selected, most of who earned PhD from English-speaking countries. This curriculum not only well prepares SJTU students for advanced degree in other countries but also helps involve exchange students into SJTU classrooms. This talk will share our practice and experience after two-year running of this experimental class and discuss our thoughts on the internationalization of MSE education.

Sustainable development in materials: Realities of the 21st century

Dr. Fadeyi Moshood Olawale, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore

The recognition of the relationships between the man-made surroundings, which provide the platform for human activities, and people is essential for the creation of environmentally responsible built environment. The need for this recognition is of particular importance to the 21st century educators, designers, engineers and scientists faced with the task of leading the stewardship of edging closer to the ideals of sustainable development. The increasing human population, affluence and consumptive patterns and level of technology in the society are influencing how environment is being impacted.
Innovative design and use of materials can be used to reduce the negative impacts of these human factors on environment. This presentation will focus on the opportunities materials science and engineering educators, designers, engineers and scientists could tap on to motivate innovative sustainable materials that have respect for the wisdom of natural systems, respect for people, respect for place, respect for the cycle of life, respect for energy and natural resources, and respect for process. These are the realities of sustainable material requirements in the 21st century to advance sustainable built environment development.

InDeaTe: A tool for training engineers in designing sustainable systems

Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India

The conflicts between dwindling resources and increasing population and consumerism has made the challenges of sustainability prominent than ever. However, while engineers are increasingly aware of sustainability, and while a large number of methods and tools exist to support them in tackling specific issues in developing designs with greater sustainability, few methodologies exist that provide the overall framework in which to guide the engineer in the overall development process with a lifecycle design perspective, while providing access to appropriate definitions and indicators of sustainability to set the goals of the process, as well as providing access to appropriate methods and tools to apply in achieving these goals.
InDeaTe (Innovation Design Database and Template), introduced in this talk, is a computer based platform with a template for the overall, lifecycle design process, and a database of sustainability definitions and indicators, as well as design methods and tools, for guiding the designer through the process while applying appropriate knowledge from the database for solving the given problem. This talk will discuss the background empirical studies of design processes that led to understanding the issues of designing sustainable systems that acted as precursors to the development of the tool, and will introduce the tool.
Further, results from a semi-controlled experiments where design teams solved problems of redesigning products, services and manufacturing systems with and without using InDeaTe, will be discussed as tests of the efficacy of InDeaTe in supporting and improving design for sustainability. Finally, a series of case studies will be discussed that were undertaken in India and the USA to evaluate the usability and usefulness of the tool in a variety of design problems, such as redesigning manufacturing systems for water coolers in New Delhi, Innovation Workshops for training grass-root innovators in Gujarat, small turbines for generating electricity in the hills of Karnataka, making composites in Washington, green-roofs in Syracuse, or smart factories in Berkeley.

Teaching sustainability in the undergraduate engineering curriculum

Assistant Prof. Lynette Cheah, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Sustainable development features prominently as a key challenge for humanity. In 2008, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering announced grand challenges of engineering, of which several relate to sustainability – including achieving energy security, curbing global warming, and improving access to clean water. The concept of sustainability, while appealing, tends to be widely interpreted. It is a broad concept, often requiring multidisciplinary approaches to solve, and the involvement of multiple stakeholders. Why and how can educators best introduce sustainability into undergraduate engineering curriculum? In teaching sustainability, the objective would be to expand domain knowledge, facilitate technically-grounded and balanced debate, equip students with sustainability assessment tools and methods, and to motivate future engineers and designers to apply their skills towards addressing these grand challenges. In this talk, these topics will be introduced, followed by a discussion on the value of project-based learning and community engagement when teaching sustainability.

Improving the pro-social skills of engineering and technology students in English classes

Dr. Elizabeth Webeck, Tohoku University, Japan

As the world becomes increasingly globalized, the requirement for engineers to be able to communicate confidently in a variety of unfamiliar environments is crucial to the success of business ventures. Whether or not engineers are adept at these situations has the potential to make or break opportunities, with very real consequences for industry. Of course, the ability to speak English is crucial to being successful in the global marketplace. It is also extremely important that these English speakers have the pro-social skills to make the desired impressions and establish the necessary relationships to actively play on the stage of international business agreements.
In the English class in the Program for Multi-Dimensional Materials Science Leaders, an interdepartmental doctoral degree program at Tohoku University, emphasis is put on developing an awareness of the importance of pro-social skills, and developing these skills. Through studying academic articles and watching lectures on first impressions, body language and the development of social skills in children, many students have become determined to hone their pro-social skills.
A change for the better is clear from their concerted effort to engage proactively in class, and the confidence they express in overcoming the stigma of being intelligent but relatively unengaged science types. This course has shown potential in producing students capable of taking leadership roles in a world which increasingly relies on the ability of engineers and technology experts to share ideas, promote ideas, discuss ideas and to negotiate in environments way beyond the laboratory. Engineering and technology is at the interface between society and technology, and the engineers of the future must be trained to function well in this zone.

Education at the Materials-Chemistry Interface

Prof. Anthony Cheetham, Department of MS&M, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Chemistry plays a central role in modern materials research, but many of our undergraduate and graduate students are not well trained in the discipline. One of the reasons for this is that materials science departments are often in engineering faculties where access to chemistry training may be limited. Chemical factors of particular importance in materials research include ligand field effects, which control the behaviour of transition metals in a wide range of situations (e.g. mechanical properties, corrosion, magnetism, and optical properties), and chemical thermodynamics, which control phase equilibria, defects, polymorphism and crystallization. A variety of examples will be presented to illustrate the importance of these factors.

Materials Education: Foundation for Engineer Leaders

Prof. John Wang, Department of Materials Science and Engineering National University of Singapore

Arising from the emergence and explosive growth of nanoscience and nanotechnology over the past decade, Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) has undergone a dramatic evolution from the traditional materials/metallurgy engineering. There is no much boundary between MSE and some science/engineering subjects, such as Chemistry, Physics and Engineering (e.g., Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical and Biomedical) in terms of research. This has presented challenges and more importantly opportunities for MSE.
The MSE strength in education is rooted in the inter-discipline/multi-discipline between Engineering and Applied Science, and therefore is at a good position to lay foundation for engineer leaders. All engineering disciplines and technological breakthroughs are largely based on the advanced and enabling materials, in the past, present and especially future. In this talk, the key roles, strategies and approaches of MSE in training the next generation engineer leaders are discussed.

Collaborative Cultivation Mode of Top-notch Innovation Talents in Materials Science and Engineering

Prof. Hanxing Liu, Jianguo Guan, Chengju Fu, International School of Materials Science & Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, P R China

The discipline of Materials Science and Engineering is the most important and characteristic discipline of Wuhan University of Technology, as one of the most important base for talents cultivation and scientific research in the material industry of China, and has made great contribution to development of building materials and new materials in the past 60 years.
According to the national strategy of innovation-driven development and the urgent demands of higher educational reform, Wuhan University of Technology has founded International School of Materials Science and Engineering (ISMSE) in 2015. ISMSE focuses on exploring an innovative cultivation system and developing a "Research-oriented education, Enterprise cooperation and International collaboration" talent cultivation mode (hereafter referred to as Collaboration Cultivation Mode) and aims at cultivating top-notch innovation talents with international vision and industry leadership in the fields of building materials and advanced materials. In this report, I will give a detailed introduction to the Collaboration Cultivation Mode and the achievements we have made recently.

A New Resource Suite for CES EduPack to Support Teaching of Materials Science and Engineering

Dr. Lee Phillips and Hannah Melia, Education Division, Granta Design Ltd, United Kingdom
Prof. Mike Ashby, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Stephane Gorsse, Bordeaux INP, ICMCB, France

Materials Science and Engineering is an increasingly complex subject. The universe of materials is growing in tandem with the demands of new technological applications, while materials decisions must evolve to accommodate sustainable development, regulations and global supply chains. In this context, it is essential to equip new generations to thrive in a fast moving knowledge-based economy, and so the role of Materials educators is more challenging and important than ever before. Educators around the world report pressure from stakeholders to introduce new relevant topics while maintaining student engagement, and balancing quality with workload.
We are currently enhancing CES EduPack with a suite of new resources targeted at introductory Materials Science and Engineering courses and have focused on three main areas. New data on Functional Materials and Biomaterials allows selection on piezo/pyroelectric, magnetic, semiconducting and thermoelectric properties. A prototype Phase Diagram Tool targets conceptual sticking points in phase stability and process-structure relations across technologically important systems. Finally, a unique “Process-Property Profiles” database enables students to explore interactions between material processing, properties and performance.
These developments have been made using a new open development process at Granta Design, with emphasis on collaboration and feedback from educators. This talk will provide an overview of progress made so far and will review opportunities to engage with the materials education community to maximise the impact of these developments on global education.

Encouraging peer instruction and self-directed learning in a Materials Characterisation course

Mr. Gilbert Teo, Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore

A Materials Characterisation module was taught in the 2nd year of a diploma programme with focus on Materials Science in Singapore Polytechnic. 56 students whose average age was 17 were enrolled in the module and expected to work in assigned teams of 4 to 5 students each. In addition to building technical knowledge, the module aimed to build effective teamwork/collaboration and to encourage self-directed and peer learning.
To reach the module aims, a framework was built with various elements which includes appropriately timed touchpoints, online presentations with cross commenting and summative assessments. For a portion of the module, student teams were tasked to give online presentations on technical topics from the syllabus using Voicethread as an online platform. The teams were to collaborate online, curate the appropriate information and present it in a coherent manner to their peers for comments on technical and non-technical aspects. The classroom was partially flipped with high levels of facilitation and active learning. One team presentation was chosen for each topic and used as study and test materials for the module. Team based assessment was used for the mid and end of semester tests to encourage peer learning.
Post module reflections and survey implied that students perceive their ability for self-directed learning to have increased. Students polled had expressed an overall positive and enhanced learning experience. The method and framework presented in this talk can be easily adopted to target both the technical and softer skills needed for the current generation of students.

Outline Program: 2nd Asian Materials Education Symposium, Dec 8-9