In addition to a hard-copy textbook, Power-Point presentations and videos, the authors have developed a series of Flash modules and on-line quizzing tools for use in teaching and assessing the fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering. The original thrust was aimed at non-science majors at university, but the modules are also designed for ease of use in high school curricula. In the current paper, we present our philosophy for the presentation of materials' related subject material, using different learning objects, by describing one particular module: on electronic materials.

All National Science Foundation funded MRSEC centers have education, outreach and community service as one of their major objectives. The Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) takes this commitment very seriously. PCCM runs a full slate of education activities including a host of Pre-college science and engineering programs and a research experience for undergraduates and teachers program each summer. Our outreach programs are designed to increase awareness, appreciation and knowledge of materials science.

Liberty Science Center (LSC) in Jersey City, New Jersey and the Strange Matter traveling exhibit allowed PCCM to expand its outreach program to include tens of thousands of family audience members. LSC gets 1000's of visitors each weekend, and has expertise in communicating with this audience. Princeton University scientists have expertise in materials science. This partnership required coordination between the LSC staff and the PCCM outreach director in facilitating the training and presentations by faculty and other scientists from Princeton. Together we developed a program that sent over 30 scientists from Princeton University to the liberty science center to offer their enthusiasm for material science to the public. Scientists can reach a much larger audience at a science center than at their home institutions. This can be repeated anywhere in the country where there are science centers is and university research centers willing to work together.

Traditional science classroom activities rely on topics and experiments that are distant from the forefront of scientific research. As a result, students view science as stagnant and far removed from real life. Through a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program, we at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) work with secondary teachers to transform cutting-edge research in nanoscale science and engineering into curriculum that is appropriate for middle- and high-school classrooms. This benefits everyone involved: teachers learn about innovative science and the process of research; UW MRSEC personnel learn about science education and the state of today's schools; and students get to test and engage with new curriculum about breakthrough research. This past summer our RET participants conducted research on and developed curriculum about “smart” papers with microencapsulation technology, fuel cells, nano biosensors and liquid crystals, glassy metals, and Wells models.

Many states, including Massachusetts, have invested valuable time and energy to develop science education standards that incorporate concepts from the field of engineering. Most engineering standards are implemented in a more intensive manner at the high school level in order to encourage secondary science students to participate in the research and design process. Similarly, the Research Experience for Teachers program offered through Harvard University engages secondary science teachers in the engineering process by providing participants with real research experiences and opportunities to develop tools that can be used to demonstrate that research in a secondary science classroom.

The National Science Education Standards encourage teachers to become involved in research as ‘representatives of science in the classroom’. The Research Experiences for Teachers program affiliated with the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Nebraska involves teachers in research on nanoscale magnetic and electronic structures over a summer. Two teachers and a sponsoring researcher share their experiences and what they believe are necessary elements for successful RET experiences.

This article presents a summary report of the 18th biennial conference on National Materials Policy, held May 24–25, 2004 at National Academies Keck Center, Washington DC. This conference addressed the educational needs in materials science for the 21st century through a series of presentations which focused on all aspects of materials education including elementary (K-12), undergraduate as well as graduate education and continuing education. The conference therefore contributed to the definition of the educational needs for the 21st century workforce.

This paper has described the importance of salt to our modern civilization, and has also discussed the role that salt has played in history. The structure and properties of salt have also been presented. Finally, the production of salt, by solar evaporation, and by underground mining has been described.

The ‘mad scientist’ stereotype is alive and well – and not an image most K-12 students can (or want to) embrace. Project Fulcrum, a National Science Foundation-funded GK-12 program, partners math, science and engineering graduate students with elementary and middle-level teachers. One project goal – broadening student images of science and scientists –is addressed by projects developed by the teacher/scientist teams that are focused on the specific needs of their students. The projects developed focus on scientists, the use of science in different types of jobs, and developing scientific skills. Pre-project research, in which teachers probe the motivation behind their students’ attitudes, is a critical component of developing a successful project. Although determining the specific impact of this project on student attitudes is complicated by its being part of a larger project, teachers and scientists report enhanced awareness of student attitudes and the reasons underlying those attitudes, and generated ideas to address those motivations.

Materials Science and Technology is a curriculum developed at Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, which emphasizes hands-on, minds-on studies of materials science and technology. This curriculum has been taught to over 1000 middle and high school teachers nationwide in a series of week-long institute programs, and is used in classrooms in 16 states. Evaluations have shown that the curriculum is highly effective in getting students interested in science and technology, and in encouraging them to study more science.

This paper presents the basics of the curriculum and its approach, along with venues used for promoting the curriculum and the teaching methods used. Full evaluation results are discussed, including the assessment of increased student interest and increased student involvement their own learning. Means of adapting the program to a local situation are also presented.

Various physical and chemical principles related to materials science and technology can be demonstrated with LEGO® models. Three-dimensional models are excellent tools for grasping structure-function relationships. Additionally, many people are familiar with LEGO® bricks, and most models can be built with a level of mechanical sophistication that does not intimidate or frustrate the user. LEGO® bricks typically have many connection sites, allowing tremendous flexibility in the structures that can be built. The bricks can be used to model both the structures of materials and the techniques used to study them. Many models can be built with varying degrees of sophistication, even incorporating electronics, enabling the user to focus on relatively simple concepts or more subtle details. The variety of models available also enables LEGO® bricks to fit into a variety of user budgets. This paper features models of the structures of materials, including unit cells, discrete molecules, and polymers. It also features models of analytical tools used to study materials, including models of a scanning probe microscope and a photometer. Details and building instructions of these and other models are featured in the book “Exploring the Nanoworld with LEGO® Bricks”. This book may be downloaded from the Internet at: http://mrsec.wisc.edu/edetc/LEGO/index.html.