Spring 2027

The Science of Textiles - Performance & Properties

Introduction to the science of textiles covering fiber properties, fabric behavior, construction, and sustainability in relation to design practices.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Majid Sarmadi

One student reported that very few people received A's, requiring hard work throughout the year. Another advised buying the book because lecture notes were often contradictory and difficult to keep up with.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Classify fiber families based on their general and unique characteristics and identify commonly used textile fabrics by name.

  • Describe the properties of fibers, yarns, fabric structures and finishing techniques, explaining their role in fabric appearance, performance, and end-use applications in fashion and design.

  • Analyze how fiber composition, yarn structure, fabric construction, and finishing processes influence fabric performance and aesthetics.

  • Apply knowledge of textile characteristics, legislation, and labeling to evaluate textile products for selection, care, and sustainability.

  • Critically assess the ethical and environmental impacts of textile production and consumption using sustainability frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

  • Explore innovative and emerging fiber technologies, including biomaterials, recycled textiles, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), to inform sustainable design decisions.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
DS 251 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MAJID SARMADI is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LAB 001Classroom Instruction0 / 450

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Majid Sarmadi

Students found the class challenging, with one describing it as impossible to master without extensive effort. Another noted that while the lectures were long, they attempted to engage students, though the overall experience was not super enjoyable.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.90 GPA, 93.0% A/AB (n=43 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.32 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.81 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=36 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Majid Sarmadi

One student reported that very few people received A's, requiring hard work throughout the year. Another advised buying the book because lecture notes were often contradictory and difficult to keep up with.

Past student reviews · Majid Sarmadi

Students criticized the teaching style, noting that the instructor read from PowerPoint slides word-for-word. This approach made the material difficult to understand, leading some to rely solely on the textbook for study.

Topics

  • Textile construction, performance, and sustainability
  • Fibers, yarns, weaves, knits, and dyed/printed fabrics
  • Sustainable design case studies and frameworks

Skills

  • Classifying fiber families and identifying textile fabrics
  • Evaluating textile products for selection, care, and sustainability
  • Assessing ethical and environmental impacts using sustainability frameworks

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
DS 251 · Spring 2027

The Science of Textiles - Performance & Properties

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:359:007178",
    "course_id": "DS 251",
    "course_uid": "course_6de0da8ba5cfb7878377f33a",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "007178",
    "source_subject_id": "359",
    "title": "The Science of Textiles - Performance & Properties",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "2dade5e4dded8c0ad5fef549eaddbd8351ca1fa8f2e9cf0e9da1ccf497730b2d",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}