During the week of June 24-28, The University of Alabama hosted twenty teachers from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and even California. These teachers participated in a second-year ASM Materials camp that addresses how metals, ceramics, polymers, and other materials can be incorporated into middle and high school courses that include physical sciences, chemistry, and physics. This incorporation includes traditional lecture information as well as low-cost demonstration kits that reinforce science and engineering concepts.
As a second-year camp, which was the only such follow-on camp offered outside the state of Ohio, the ASM Materials Camp builds on knowledge learned by the teachers in the first-year camp.
During this year’s camp, the teachers toured the Nucor steel mill, learned about metal casting by performing a set of experiments in UA’s student foundry lab, and continued to develop teaching modules that fit within secondary school classrooms.
In addition, a series of subject matter experts also contributed to the teaching, with the master teachers provided by ASM International. These experts were from multidisciplinary faculty that includes Professors Jared Allred (CH), Igor Fedin (CH), Charles Monroe (MTE), Gregory Kubacki (MTE), Adam Hauser (PH), Amanda Koh (ChBE), and Ayanjeet Ghosh (CH).
This camp, organized by Professor Martin Bakker (CH) and Gregory Thompson (MTE), has completed its 14th year on the campus of the University of Alabama. The camp is supported through ASM International, the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Engineering, and the Alabama Materials Institute.
For more information, please visit https://asmmaterialscamp.ua.edu/ and https://www.asmfoundation.org/.