Spreadsheet Applications For Materials Science

Abstract

Spreadsheets have the potential to improve the teaching of the use of computers in solving engineering problems. Ideally, they would be integrated into existing courses, rather than teaching separate courses on spreadsheets. If this is done then homework assignments could be made much richer and their use in the laboratory courses would be invaluable. The author is developing a series of tutorials that address a wide range of materials science topics. The spreadsheet exercises in each tutorial start with simple calculations and progress to project-level calculations such as modeling ionic bonding or processing data from experiments. Spreadsheet skills developed include performing simple and complex calculations, importing and exporting data, graphing data, using the numerical tools, and producing attractive, presentable and reusable spreadsheet applications. With spreadsheets already on practically every home and school personal computer implementation of these tutorials can be done at little or no cost, a definite plus for smaller schools, and they will even allow the student to complete these assignments at home, reducing the need for schools to set up computer laboratories, a plus for high-enrollment courses.