Navigating the Materials World: A Guide to Understanding Materials Behavior

This book will enable students to navigate through materials science and engineering courses with increased motivation, reflection and depth.
It contains a series of guides that will help students learn about materials while enhancing their thinking and learning skills.

The first chapter serves as an introduction to the general concepts and terminology of materials science. The remaining chapters focus on specific materials―polymers, metals, ceramics, biomaterials, composites, natural materials, and electronic and magnetic materials. Throughout the text, expert contributors highlight key concepts and ideas and how they relate to other areas of science.

Navigating the Material is based on current educational theory in higher education, which puts the student at the center of learning and encourages learning with understanding.

· Introduces general concepts and provides a thorough review of specific types of materials
· Based on current educational theory that helps students not only learn important facts, but also helps them understand core concepts and improve their thinking and learning skills
· Adopts a style that is appealing to faculty and students and is enhanced with a large number of illustrations

Caroline is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering and the Deputy Director of the UK Centre for Materials Education (UKCME). Her research interests in materials science have developed from a background in composite interfaces to a focus on natural sustainable composites and biomimicry. Her work in education focuses on the relationship between knowledge development and creativity in research and in student learning. During her first lectureship in materials within the Dept. of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney, she had the opportunity of taking a Masters in Higher Education, which helped to fuel her developing interest in student learning. She then returned to the UK to take up a joint appointment at Imperial College, within the Dept. of Materials and also as a Lecturer in Education Development to set up the foundations of the Imperial College Centre for Education Development. Since 2000 she has been on study leave from Imperial College, to set up and act as Deputy Director for the UKCME, one of the UK Higher Education Funding Council’s centres dedicated to improve the effectiveness of tertiary level education within 24 discipline areas. This involves running national workshops and teaching development grant schemes as well as personal consultation work with academic staff of over forty Departments. Caroline also directs a large consortium programme to study the ‘tutorial’ system within materials subject areas. She has over 100 publications in materials science and education and is the author of four books on teaching and learning. She is currently working on an Edited Kluwer publication ‘Natural fibre composites’, an Edited Special Edition of ‘Composites Science and Technology’ and a Campus/St. Martins’ press publication on knowledge building . Her work promoting public awareness of materials science has led to her recent involvement in a BBC series ‘Building the Impossible’