> Dear All,
>
> I'm presently engaged in the Reading University New Lecturers Certificate
> programme and part of this is a project to explore methods of teaching
> materials mechanics to undergraduate biologists. Primarily, I'm thinking
> about large-group teaching, rather than final-year projects and would like
> to find out how practical classes are conducted in various institutions.
I'm
> primarily interested in experiences gained while teaching biology
students,
> but would be interested to hear about experiences in other fields.
I taught biomechanics to zoology students for about 20 years in Reading. I
took the general approach that biologists know about molecules and
intermolecular bonds, but not a lot about structures and their implications.
But I looked at a variety of mechanical effects such as scaling effects,
design of teeth and their relationship to the fracture of foods, flight
(making helicopter models of sycamore seeds using paper and paper-clips),
jumping at resonance (get the students to jump up and down on one leg or
two, with their muscles stiff or relaxed, trying to relax and hit
resonance. Hence estimate the stiffness of the Achilles tendon, assuming
that it's the main resonant elastic element.) The main problem is that most
materials are too stiff to measure displacement easily in tension. So do
bending or twisting. A torsional pendulum isn't too difficult to set up,
nor is a cantilever which can be recorded over a number of cycles to
calculate both G' and G".
Julian
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