The Materials Science and Technology Teachers Handbook is an educational curriculum developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with support from the United States Department of Energy. The handbook was created to introduce secondary-level students and teachers to materials science through hands-on experiments and classroom activities.
The curriculum combines concepts from chemistry, physics, engineering, and manufacturing while emphasizing the relationship between material structure, properties, processing, and performance. Topics include metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, corrosion, heat treatment, and alloying.
A major feature of the handbook is its focus on laboratory activities and visual demonstrations. One well-known experiment involves coating copper pennies with zinc to create a silver-colored surface and then heating them to form a brass layer that appears gold in color. The exercise demonstrates concepts such as alloying, diffusion, and surface chemistry.
The handbook also emphasizes observation, experimentation, laboratory journals, and problem solving rather than relying solely on lecture-based instruction. Historically, it represents part of a broader effort during the late twentieth century to expand materials science education at the secondary-school level.