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Packaging: Materials Science for All of Us Milk is contained in either a cardboard box or a plastic jug. Cereal is in a box and soup in a can. Why? Does the packaging material make a difference? These are the types of questions that lead students from kindergarten to 12th grade to focus on materials science and materials technology. Materials properties, marketing, manufacturing, and cost are relevant to the development of packaging of retail goods. Teachers may find many ways to use these concepts in their classrooms, depending on the grade level. An elementary teacher can take a class to the grocery store and collect samples for analysis and simple testing. In high school, students can research these points and develop an analysis that focuses on the relationship of material properties with their uses, then carry out experiments such as the measurement of heat loss through a foam plastic hamburger container versus a paper one. Our recent elementary-teacher workshop on the subject of Developing and Evaluating Curricula in Elementary Science Education, held at the Highline School District, Burien, WA in July 1996 focused on teaching materials properties as related to package design. The participants collected many ways that various grocery products are packaged, as listed in the Table. The participants easily determined 5-10 ways that these and other products are packaged. The next question for the participants to address is why the products are packaged in so many different ways. Clearly, marketing plays a large role, but cost is also an important factor. Cost per unit weight of the different items indicates the importance of cost versus marketability. Packaging material can also be related to the shelf life of the product. Other variables include the degree of processing (The cereal is sugar-coated) and transparency (To see is to believe). The teacher workshop on packaging materials provides the following: • an introduction to technology and its interdependence on science and engineering; • a history of materials in packaging and related technologies; • definitions and careers (e.g., who does what in technology applications?); • structure, properties, and processing relationships in materials; • materials selection activities (i.e., taking apart the packages for selected products to see what materials are used and to analyze why); and • engineering design and its relationship to materials selection, including factors of
Table: Examples of packaging found in the grocery store for four products. Soup
Popcorn
Coffee
Fruit Juice
"tin" can glass jar styrofoam rigid plastic cup foil-lined cardboard flexible plastic bag rigid plastic jar
cardboard box plastic bag coated paper rigid plastic jar glass jar paper bag plastic box
coffee can plastic-lined paper fiber bags foil brick glass jar rigid plastic jar cardboard "can"
rigid plastic waxed cardboard foil box metal can glass jar cardboard tube plastic bottles
cost, manufacturability, and availability. The participants are given specific assignments with suggesti
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