May 14, 2003

Materials Science Course Broadens Horizons for First Year College Students

Stone Age. Iron Age. Bronze Age. These familiar terms reflect the importance of materials in the development of human society. A new course, “The Impact of Materials on Civilization,” proposed for inclusion in the First Year Inquiry program at North Carolina State University, brings this aspect of materials science alive for students.

The brainchild of Dr. Carl C. Koch, professor of materials science and engineering at NC State, the course blossomed from a long-term interest of Koch’s. “My original reason for creating this course was that I’ve always been interested in the historical perspective of materials science,” he said.

The textbook Koch uses for the course, The Substance of Civilization by Stephen L. Sass, traces how materials from clay to silicon influence the course of history. Koch has defined two principal objectives for the course: to show students the influence of different materials and technologies on societies and to give students the knowledge to evaluate new materials as they are developed.

The course is in the Department of Materials Science, but there are interdisciplinary components. For example, students take field trips to Centennial Campus to visit the Constructed Facilities Laboratory, which is a unit of the Department of Civil Engineering, and the clean room maintained by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Engineering Graduate Research Center. Guest lecturers for the course include faculty members from the departments of Sociology and Anthropology and Textiles and Apparel Technology and Management.

The course has been offered twice as an honors seminar, and feedback from the students has been positive. The students enjoyed the course and seemed interested in the course content. One student even selected materials science for a major after taking the course.

For faculty developing the First Year Inquiry (FYI) curriculum, the course is an attractive addition to the program. According to Dr. David B. Greene, head of multidisciplinary studies at NC State, the learning objectives and teaching methods of Koch’s course fit into the FYI inquiry-guided learning style that encourages students to take responsibility for their education and to think critically.

Koch would like the course to appeal to a broad range of students. “We’d like those who are technically inclined to have a better feel for how technology has influenced society,” he explained. “Other students who aren’t going to be scientists and engineers will get a little exposure to, and better appreciation for, materials science.”

— rudd —

Technical Contact: Dr. Carl C. Koch, 919-515-515-7340, carl_koch@ncsu.edu

Media Contact: Linda E. Rudd, 919-515-3848, linda_rudd@ncsu.edu

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