It is recognized that teaching an introductory engineering materials course to non-major students is a complex task due a variety of reasons such as the interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter, non-linearity of structure - property interactions, and the ever-expanding array of modern materials and manufacturing processes. In a previous paper the author outlined the utilization of a two-tier teaching plan to effectively deal with these challenges. In the first tier, called as 'essential teaching plan' all of the essential teaching elements were included (class notes, assignments, exams, lab experiments and so on). The second tier, termed the 'course enrichment plan', a range of innovative ideas were described that are in-tune with the contemporary teaching - learning environment such as multi-media resources. However, it was realized at that time that perhaps more efforts were still required to meet students' needs and interests to get them motivated to learn about materials and incorporate that information creatively into their design of products and processes. In this regard, yet another approach was attempted where a new teaching scheme based on a top-down approach was developed and implemented during the Fall 2008 term.
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