By Lim Choon Boo, Multidiscipline Engineering

1. Overview

Engineering Materials is an essential module for students in the Business Process and Quality Engineering diploma at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

I remembered my days as a student when I found it difficult to study this module because it was mainly descriptive and required a great deal of memorizing work.

My interest in Engineering Materials eventually grew when I worked in the navy and a local shipyard, where I needed to learn how to select the most appropriate material for an engineering application. My past experiences and difficulties in this area motivated me to try to develop a pedagogy that uses today’s technology and knowledge in brain-based teaching methods to help students enjoy learning about materials and how to apply it in the real world.

2. Developing Interest Through Technology and Learner-centred Learning

My first task was to upgrade myself in learning how to apply the various new technologies or software that could be used as part of my teaching. I challenged myself to design a series of brain-based exercises and assignments that could intrigue and sustain the students’ interests.

Additional efforts must also be made to ensure that the element of fun is part of the work assignment.

Below is a brief explanation of the key learner-centred learning-based activities that make up the innovative learning methodology of the Engineering Materials module.

Seeding a Learner-centred Learning Mindset (1st Week)

To prepare the students for learning in a “Learner Centred” classroom, I prepared a mind-map of what the students can expect to learn and the methods of learning that this module would employ.  (See Figure 1)

Figure 1 – Learner-centred Learning Methodology (Click image to see full size.)

Through the 16 weeks, I employed a variety of learning tools to help students be more active in their own learning process.

As students began to be open to the learner-centred learning mindset, I would use a variety of teaching techniques throughout the semester to help students be more active in their own learning. These techniques require students to take more ownership of the learning process as they are often asked to discover, analyse, synthesise, and to make justifications for their own conclusions. These activities all come together to help develop the students’ knowledge & skills in this module.   Examples of these learning activities are listed below.

a. Innovative Use of Magnets as an Aid for Identifying Some Metals (1st  - 16th Week)

From my past industrial experience, I explained the value of using magnets as a means of broadly identifying metals as being either ferrous or non-ferrous and also to differentiate common stainless steels from other types of stainless steels. Common stainless steels are austenitic in nature (they have high tensile strength and low carbon content) and are generally non-magnetic as compared to other types of stainless steels.  

b. Experiential Learning Journey in Engineering Materials (5th and 6th Week)

Students were taken on an experiential learning journey exercise outside their classroom during the 5th and 6th weeks. They needed to use magnets to help them uncover the identity of some commonly used metals.

When students were told that they would be going out of the Materials Laboratory to learn more about materials, they were excited. To capitalize on this high level of interest and excitement, I required each student to fill up a simple worksheet of at least three other materials that they discovered during the outdoor session. They were also encouraged to ask questions and to use magnets to help them distinguish between ferrous and non-ferrous materials as well as to detect products that use austenitic stainless steel materials. Each student was required to explore Internet sources for relevant technical information regarding the engineering material chosen. In addition, a short quiz was conducted at the end of the “Learning Journey” to gauge the students’ interests and attention in the exercise.

I observed that most of the students liked the outdoor activity as they got to see and learn more about engineering materials in-situ rather than from textbooks. From the feedback obtained, students also found it exciting to learn more about the materials they were assigned during the “Learning Journey”, as they had to go beyond the textbooks to learn more about it.

c. Presentation for Mini-project 1 (Innovative Idea) (1st to 7th Week)

To kick start the assignment, I briefly explained that since the students would be graduating as engineers, they would have to learn how to select materials when making products.

Each student needed to come up with at least three innovative ideas which could solve certain problems. They would then brainstorm within the group for the best idea and solution to the problem. The project with the most innovative idea would then be selected to enter the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventor’s Award (TKKYIA).

Every student in the group was required to present their part of the project so that everyone would have an opportunity to communicate their ideas to others.

Figure 3: Photos showing students in action with their innovations.

Students were excited that the successful completion of their mini-project provided them with the opportunity to participate in the TKKYIA. They found the project challenging and they learned more about materials than what could be taught to them in a normal class lecture.

d. Using Multi-media as a tool for learning: Mini-project 2 (Movie)  (9th to 16th Week)

Another creative way to engage students in discovery and learning is to ask them to “create” a product based on their knowledge and skills. For this project, students were first assigned to an existing product such as an aluminium can, 7.62mm round ammunition, plastic bags, coins or a porcelain bowl. Their assignment was to research it from the point of view of the materials that are used to make it as well as the manufacturing production process. The goal was to produce a short, 5-min movie clip of the production process of the product. This assignment was done in groups of 4 or 5 students.

Some of the learning movies created by the students can be viewed from the following links:

1. Manufacturing Process of Plastic Bags
2. Making of Porcelain Bowl
3. Commentary on Tempered Glass

Feedback showed that students learned more than what the basic course could teach them as they had to explore the Internet for additional relevant materials. Some groups also found time to make their own arrangements to visit actual factories or museums on their own to see and film the production process or take photos of the product in various stages of manufacture. Attached photos show some factory visits arranged by the students themselves.

Figure 4 – Joanne Chua Pui San,(in pink) interviewing the Factory Supervisor (in red) on the Manufacture of Tempered Glass. Other students in the picture are Dayna Lam Man Ning and Fu Yong Huang (in black T-shirt).

All groups concurred that although the process was long, they enjoyed doing the mini-project. They also learnt to work as a team and to some, became “more curious to discover the world of materials”.

3. Analysis and Summary of Student Feedback

The results of six survey groups conducted between August 2007 and August 2008 is summarised in Appendix 1. The initial learner-centred learning studies started off with only Groups A and B, while the surveys on Groups C to F were conducted in subsequent semesters so as to validate the design model. A total of 91 students were involved in the actual implementation and subsequent validation process of the learner-centred learning design methodology. The “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” responses are grouped together as a single data point for each group of students and are tabulated.

Sample written responses to the open-ended questions in the surveys are included (see Appendix 2) to give an overall picture of the feedback obtained.

4. Conclusion and Future Development

The successful implementation of the learner-centred learning approach to the teaching of Engineering Materials has greatly encouraged me to embark on further learner-centred learning-designed modules that would benefit students of the new age. I am definitely excited by the highly positive learning results and would like to share with colleagues how to implement this teaching methodology into the classroom environment.

For future development, I am currently conducting preliminary studies and a pilot-run on another module, “Chemical Logistics” that I am teaching with other colleagues. Preliminary indications are that the teaching and learning pedagogy as developed for the Engineering Materials module is effective in the classroom, because it is brain-based and learner-centred.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank colleagues in the School of Multidiscipline Engineering, iMedia Centre and the Teaching and Learning Centre for their support in the development of this project.

Author

Lim Choon Boo, Multidiscipline Engineering (MDE) Division, School of Engineering