Cathy S. Lowe

Cross-disciplinary molecular science education in introductory science courses: an nsdl matdl collection

This paper discusses a digital library designed to help undergraduate students draw connections across disciplines, beginning with introductory discipline-specific science courses (including chemistry, materials science, and biophysics). The collection serves as the basis for a design experiment for interdisciplinary educational libraries and is discussed in terms of the three models proposed by Sumner and Marlino. As a cognitive tool, the library is organized around recurring patterns in molecular science, with one such pattern being developed for this initial design experiment. As a component repository, the library resources support learning of these patterns and how they appear in different disciplines. As a knowledge network, the library integrates design with use and assessment.

Large introductory science courses & digital libraries

Student self-assessment survey results indicate that a virtual lab experience improved understanding of many key laboratory learning objectives and that the Materials Digital Library (MatDL) has potential value in supporting a virtual lab

Use of MatML with software applications for e-learning

This pilot project investigates facilitating the development of the semantic Web for e-learning through a practical example, using materials property data markup language (MatML) to provide materials property data to a Web-based application program. Property data for 100 materials is marked up with MatML and used as an input format for an application program. Students use the program to generate graphs showing selected properties for different materials. Selected graphs are submitted to the materials digital library (MatDL) so that successive classes may be informed by earlier work to encourage new discoveries.

NSDL MatDL: adding context to bridge materials e-research and e-education

The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Materials Digital Library Pathway (MatDL) has implemented an information infrastructure to disseminate government funded research results and to provide content as well as services to support the integration of research and education in materials. This poster describes how we are integrating a digital repository into opensource collaborative tools, such as wikis, to support users in materials research and education as well as interactions between the two areas. A search results plug-in for MediaWiki has been developed to display relevant search results from the MatDL repository in the Soft Matter Wiki established and developed by MatDL and its partners. Collaborative work with the NSDL Core Integration team at Cornell University is also in progress to enable information transfer in the opposite direction, from a wiki to a repository.

NSF NSDL Materials Digital Library & MSE Education

The National Science Foundation created the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) in order to establish a technical, communal, and organizational framework for access to high quality resources and tools that support innovations in teaching and learning at all levels of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. As part of the NSDL, the Materials Digital Library (MatDL) Pathway focuses specifically on serving the materials science (MS) community with a target audience that includes MS undergraduate and graduate students, educators, and researchers. MatDL is a collaborative effort involving the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Kent State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Iowa State University, and Purdue University. Our network of collaborations also includes a Nanoscience Interdisciplinary Research Team, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, and International Materials Institute. A primary goal of MatDL is to bring materials science research and education closer together. MatDL provides innovative uses of digital libraries and the web as educational media in the MS community with particular emphasis on providing: 1) tools to describe, manage, exchange, archive, and disseminate scientific data 2) workspace for open access development of modeling and simulation tools 3) services and content for virtual labs in large undergraduate introductory science courses, and 4) workspace for collaborative development of core undergraduate MS teaching resources for emerging areas. This paper will provide an overview of the NSDL MatDL Pathway, details about specific aspects of the project, as well as interactions between research and education.

Cooperative collection building in NSDL MatDL pathway through IVIa data fountains

This poster describes a collaboration involving two NSDL projects: the Materials Digital Library Pathway (MatDL) and the iVia Data Fountains Project. MatDL is testing and providing feedback for refinement of the iVia tools while streamlining its metadata assignment process.

scientific research groups, digital libraries, & education: metadata from nanoscale simulation code

The NSDL materials digital library pathway (MatDL) is working with materials scientists to capture, in Dublin Core XML format, optimal description of nanoscale computer simulation output as research codes are executed. The long term goal of the work is to enable users, such as research groups and students, to efficiently and effectively manage their results for internal use, for exchange with outside collaborators, for use in educational settings, and for submissions to digital libraries

The materials digital library: MatDL.org

The Materials Digital Library project, as part of the National Science Foundations National Science Digital Library program, researches efficient creation and dissemination of materials information using a multifaceted approach: collection of materials content, with an emphasis on soft matter; construction of authoring tools for improved delivery, and; use of materials content in a digital library.