Facilitating Interdisciplinary Problem-Solving among Pre-Collegiate Engineering Students via Materials Science Principles.

Given that fundamental materials science principles transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, a grand opportunity exists to leverage materials science concepts to facilitate multidisciplinary teaching and learning. This paper presents the development and implementation of a three-phase teaching module designed to foster organic, cross-disciplinary discourse and learning among pre-collegiate engineering students. Thirty domestic and international high school students were selected for an introductory four-week summer course in engineering. The students were divided into two classes, either civil engineering or nuclear engineering, according to their disciplinary preferences. In Phase I of the interdisciplinary module, the students were taught fundamental discipline-specific concepts in separate classrooms by their respective instructor (e.g., static equilibrium, nuclear reactor physics) over the course of one week. In Phase II, a joint lecture on diffusion, a materials science topic of mutual importance to both disciplines, was given to all students and facilitated by both instructors. In Phase III, the students worked in mixed, interdisciplinary teams in a structured problem-solving session in which they were asked to apply their knowledge of static equilibrium, diffusion, and nuclear principles to solve engineering design problems regarding reactor pressure vessels and radioactive waste casks. The effectiveness of this collaborative module in promoting cross-disciplinary learning was assessed through an analysis of student responses to an anonymous survey. The results show that the module was effective in (a) teaching students the fundamental principles of diffusion, (b) fostering peer-to-peer teaching and learning, and (c) emphasizing the importance of teamwork and problem-solving across disciplines. The results also indicate that students developed a broader view regarding the applicability of their knowledge beyond their own disciplinary boundaries. Given its universality, this materials-focused teaching module has the potential to serve as an effective model to foster interdisciplinary teaching and learning between other engineering disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]