A Materials Digital Library: Bridging Content and Customers

Donald R. Sadoway

Department of Materials Science & EngineeringMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridge, Massachusetts

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

The Team

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

Thrusts of the Project

MatDL facilitating

use

collection

creation

of materials content

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

Using MatDL in an educational setting

graduate MSEGlotzer (Michigan) Computational Nanoscience of Soft Matter

undergraduate MSEPowell (MIT)Introduction to Modeling and Simulation

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

Using MatDL in an educational setting

freshman science coreSadoway (MIT)Introduction to Solid State Chemistry

(a.k.a. 3.091)

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

satisfying the chemistry requirement

Principles of Chemical Science (5.111)

taught by Dept. of Chemistry (5.112)

Intro to Solid-State Chemistry (3.091)

taught by DMSE

focus is the molecule

focus is aggregates of molecules

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

the vision of 3.091

prepares students for their majors

provides technical literacy

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

3.091 instruction

teaches the principles of chemistry via the solid state

engineering applications

integrates subject matter from beyond chemistry

context

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

syllabus of 3.091

. General Principles of Chemistry

. Solid State Chemistry:

Basic Concepts and Applications

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

snapshot of 3.091 Fall 2003

enrollment 625 (class size 1015)

lectures MWF (chalk & talk w/ AVs)

recitations TR (30 sections)

weekly sample problems w/ solutions

weekly 10-minute quiz

monthly test (aid sheet)

final exam (aid sheet)

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

special features of 3.091

concepts illustrated by examples

last 5 minutes each lecture on

Chemistry and the World Around Us

  references to music, art, film, & literature

references to historical development of science:

people & times

  context

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

http://web.mit.edu/3.091/www/

calendar:

lecture schedule, readings, tests

recorded lectures webcast

homework, model solutions, handouts

courseware

archival materials:

old exams and homeworks

links to interesting sites off campus

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

Freshman chemistry laboratory?

- no freshman Chemistry lab experience at this time

- January, 2002 ABET/Sloan Foundation colloquy:

To what extent does a remote laboratory experience accomplish the goals of educational laboratories?

- 13 learning objectives identified: only 3 required in situ physical interaction

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

MatDL as a virtual laboratory?

- can such a virtual laboratory deliver meaningful experience to large freshman classes?

- if so,

the results are scalable and broadly applicable, e.g., mechanics, electricity & magnetism,

physical chemistry, organic chemistry…

Sadoway NSDL Annual Meeting, Washington, DC October 14, 2003

Cultivating users