Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T22:01:34.586Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Materials World Modules Program: Incorporating Technology in Pre-College Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Matthew Hsu
Affiliation:
Materials Research CenterNorthwestern University2225 North Campus Drive Evanston, IL 60208
Renee Dewald
Affiliation:
Evanston Township High School1600 Dodge Avenue Evanston, IL 60201
Ken Turner
Affiliation:
Schaumburg High School1100 West Schaumburg Road Schaumburg, IL 60194
Get access

Abstract

Incorporating technology in pre-college education is an important goal. There is a clear mandate from the national education standards movement to address the issues of scientific and technologically literate citizenship. The Materials World Modules (MWM) Program uses a unique approach based upon design and inquiry to unite the abstract, quantitative methods of scientific inquiry with the concrete methods of technological design to help students develop and integrate these complementary skills. By experiencing MWM, students learn science by doing science. Using the MWM modules, students will be doing what scientists and engineers do: integrating the design process of propose, build, test and evaluate with the inquiry process of question, predict, experiment, reflect, and communicate. This kind of active application of learning leads to mastery of scientific concepts and greater retention.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Mokyr, J., The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress (Oxford University Press, 1990).Google Scholar
2. National Research Council, Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990's, Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials (National Academy Press, 1989).Google Scholar
3. Roy, R., “New Materials: Fountainhead for New Technologies and New Science”, International Lecture Series sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Office of Naval Research (1992).Google Scholar
4. National Research Council, National Science Education Standards (National Academy Press, 1996).Google Scholar
5. International Technology Education Association, Standards for Technological Literacy: Content for the Study of Technology (International Technology Education Association, 2000).Google Scholar
6. Wandersee, J. H. and Roach, L. M., “Interactive Historical Vignettes”, Teaching Science for Understanding: A Human Constructivist View, eds. Mintzes, J. J., Wandersee, J. H., and Novak, J. D. (Academic Press, 1998) p. 300.Google Scholar
7. National Research Council, National Science Education Standards (National Academy Press, 1996) pp. 190191.Google Scholar
8. Scardamalia, M. and Bereiter, C., Journal of the Learning Sciences 9, 177 (1992)Google Scholar
9. Klahr, D., Dunbar, K., and Fay, A. L., “Computational Models of Scientific discovery and Theory Formation”, Designing Good Experiments to Test Bad Hypotheses, eds. Shrager, J. and Langley, P. (Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1990) pp. 355402.Google Scholar
10. Kuhn, D., Science Education 77, 319 (1993).Google Scholar
11. Baumgartner, E., PhD. Thesis, Northwestern University, (2000).Google Scholar
12. National Research Council, National Science Education Standards (National Academy Press, 1996) p. 190.Google Scholar