During the coronavirus pandemic, there have been significant challenges in the remote teaching and demonstration of experiments, especially those that require laboratory testing equipment. With a desire to give students a feel for our materials laboratory on open days and allow them to gain a deeper understanding of what materials science and engineering is about, we have designed an experiment focused on composite materials that can be performed remotely and without specialist equipment. This enabled students to experience a bend test sensorily through seeing, hearing and feeling it, creating a strong link to then being able to relate it to the pre-prepared experimental data taken in the laboratory. This fun, easy-to-run and engaging experiment allowed a shared experience and encouraged a discussion about students’ observations, differences in results and implications of the bend strength of sandwich composites. We have found it not only works well universally by all ages but can be used with younger children to think about words such as ‘stronger’, ‘stiffer’ and ‘flexible’ and how materials can be different in different directions.

在新冠病毒大流行期间，远程教学和实验演示遇到了重大挑战，尤其是那些需要实验室检测设备的实验。为了让学生在开放日感受我们的材料实验室，并让他们更深入地了解材料科学和工程的含义，我们设计了一个专注于复合材料的实验，该实验可以远程进行，无需专业设备. 这使学生能够通过视觉、听觉和感觉来感官体验弯​​曲测试，从而建立一个强大的联系，然后能够将其与实验室中预先准备的实验数据联系起来。这个有趣、易于运行且引人入胜的实验允许共享经验并鼓励对学生观察的讨论，夹层复合材料弯曲强度的结果和影响的差异。我们发现它不仅适用于所有年龄段的人，而且可以让年幼的孩子使用来思考诸如“更强”、“更硬”和“灵活”之类的词，以及材料在不同方向上的不同之处。