This award supports the Materials Education Symposium to be held at the 2012 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting in Boston, MA, November 26-30, 2012. Topics covered typically include advancing knowledge and understanding on crosscutting issues critical to all levels of materials education audiences (K-12 students, undergraduate students, graduate students, teachers/professors, informal/public audiences). This year?s symposium will also included an emphasis on communicating social relevancy of materials focused research and education activities to the general public. Participants will include academicians, scientists, students, journalists and media personnel.
It is essential for materials scientists and engineers to consider the interactions of their work with society more broadly and to be able to communicate effectively with diverse audiences. Dialogs with members of the general public require a range of skills that are often not part of the traditional materials science pedagogy. Communicating social relevancy in an educational setting can help participants to think about the responsible development of materials science research; the influence materials science has had on our lives; the influence we have had on materials science; social issues that materials science can address; fairness and access issues that can result from materials science advances; the importance of communication; the importance of audience; and more. The goal of this symposium was to bring together material scientists, social scientists, educators, media professionals, and industry professionals to share, learn about, and discuss innovations and advances in material science and engineering education, especially as related to the interplay between materials science/engineering and society. The symposium explored diverse educational and communication approaches that the materials science community should consider adopting toward addressing the relationships between materials science and society. ?In addition to hosting a range of speakers, this symposium included workshops and discussions to encourage attendees to share experiences and discuss these important areas of materials science and engineering education. The science communication workshop by the National Science Foundation had to be cancelled 2 weeks before the symposium due to a schedule conflict of the speakers. 8 distinguished speakers were invited to the symposium. Prof. Erica Mazur of Harvard gave the keynote address. Prof. Mazur spoke about the importance of developing cognitive skills using a seminar based teaching methodology. Other invited speakers included Paula Apsell (NOVA/WGBH), Ira Bennett (Arizona State University), Ronald Sandler (Northeastern University), James Bell (Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education), Jonathan Stolk (Olin College), and Jamey Whetmore (Arizona State University). Across the two days, the symposium was very well attended, averaging over 30 audience members at each session. Symposium ZZ coincided with the launch of the Materials Research Society’s MRS OnDemand®, an online community for members of Materials Research Society. Starting with the Fall 2012 MRS meeting, a sampling of content from the meeting, complete with video, audio and presentation materials was made available to the more than 14,000 MRS members around the world. Symposium ZZ, Communicating Social Relevancy in Materials Science and Engineering Education, was one of just four symposia selected to be available on MRS OnDemand for viewing online after the meeting. For a short time, this content was also available at no cost through the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) website to the general public. 28 talks total, including invited speaker Paula Apsell (NOVA) were recorded and made available to MRS public through the OnDemand feature. www.prolibraries.com/mrs/?select=sessionlist&conferenceID=1&packageID=5
