Materials Science Education at Keio University: Adopting U.S. Instruction Practices in Japan
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Materials Science Education at Keio University: Adopting U.S. Instruction Practices in Japan Kohei M. Itoh Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics, Keio University Yokohama 223-8522 Japan E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.appi.keio.ac.jp/Itoh_group/ ABSTRACT The undergraduate experience in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) in Japan differs from that at U.S. institutions in several respects. While MSE programs at many U.S. universities exist as established departments, it is rare to find MSE departments in Japan. Therefore, materials science education in Japan is somewhat fractured as it is intermingled with other disciplines and spread across a variety of departments such as applied physics, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and bioengineering. Here, I will report on the challenges of materials science education in Japanese universities focusing on the Department of Applied Physics at Keio University as an example. The challenge is two-fold: 1) stimulating student interest in MSE before undergraduate students choose their home department/major at the conclusion of their first year and 2) providing a rigorous MSE curriculum that will prepare students for post-graduate education both domestically and abroad. For this purpose, we have adopted a U.S. teaching style comprising two 90-minute lectures per week (instead of the one customarily given in Japan), weekly homework assignments, discussion sessions with teaching assistants, and office hours. Although these are standard pedagogical practices in the U.S., they represent major changes in instruction and culture at Keio that have therefore been met with resistance from both some faculty members and students. I shall discuss how we have addressed these challenges and have stimulated student interest in MSE at Keio University. INTRODUCTION Typically students in Japan enter colleges at age 18 and graduate four years later. While the population of 18 year olds in Japan has decreased rapidly from 2 million in 1990 to 1.5 million in 2002, the number of students majoring in engineering has grown steadily from 340,000 in 1990 to 460,000 in 2002, as shown in Figure 1 (a). In the past decade many Japanese universities, both public and private, have undergone major restructuring of their academic departments, especially in science and engineering. As a result, many traditional departments including materials science have been merged to create new departments with strong emphasis on interdisciplinary studies. New names for departments such as “Department of Multi-Disciplinary Engineering” have created a fresh impression among Japanese high school students and interest in science and engineering has increased as a consequence. While such
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