City of Materials: Where Kids Have Fun With Stuff

“City of Materials (www.cityofmaterials.com) is an interactive online environment where you can explore the materials that are part of our everyday lives,” said Jan Edwards, leader of the K-12 Education Committee of ASM International, the materials information society.

The goal is for students to connect with Materials Science and Engineering both as a real world engineering discipline and as a possible career.

The cornerstone of the website is the City Tour game, available free to all visitors. “It’s all about making materials science and engineering more interesting and accessible while exposing younger students to important scientific and engineering processes,” Edwards said.

What to See in the City: Tour the city to see how materials are used in everyday living. Along the way, you can help solve a few cases and learn about the latest advances.

Mayor Charpy’s House: Make yourself at home in the kitchen, just don’t leave the water running in the sink for too long. Simple and safe experiments to try in your own kitchen are available.

Austen Detective Agency: We need a new Private Investigator! Here’s your opportunity to solve the latest materials mystery.

CSI Lab: Sift through the evidence to crack the case. Tour the lab and you’ll find all of the equipment you need to put materials to the test.

“Materials are the stuff the world is made of, from spacecraft to artificial hearts,” Edwards said. “Through City of Materials, we hope to intrigue young people about the realities and possibilities of metals, ceramics, composites, electronic materials, polymers, and textiles.”

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The project was developed by ASM volunteers representing the materials science and engineering community, along with the participation of pre-college teachers and graduate students, City of Materials is technology rich, web based, visual and interactive.

ASM International is Everything Material, the Ohio-based society serving the materials science and engineering community. With 36,000 members worldwide. ASM provides authoritative information and knowledge on materials and processes from the structural to the nanoscale. For more information about ASM, visit www.asminternational.org.