Volume 4, Issue 1 - Special issue: Pre-college nanoscale science, engineering, and technology learning / Issue editors: Lynn A. Bryan and Nicholas J. Giordano

By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it was clear that nanotechnology was emerging as one of the most promising and rapidly expanding fields of research and development worldwide. It would not be long before scientists, science educators, engineers, and policy makers began advocating for nanoscience, engineering, and technology (NSET) related concepts to be introduced in K-12 classrooms. Indeed, there has been a surge in the development of pre-college NSET-related education programs over the last decade, as well as millions in funding to support the creation of these programs. In an effort to characterize the state of research to date on pre-college students’ and teachers’ learning of NSET content knowledge and related practices, we have conducted a systematic review of the peer-reviewed, published research studies to answer the following questions: What NSET content knowledge and practices in a pre-college context have been examined in empirical learning studies? What do these studies tell us about the NSET content knowledge and practices that pre-college students and teachers are learning? Implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

The impact of a 5-day sequence of nanoscience instruction for 207 high school physics students in eight classrooms and three schools was investigated. The instructional sequence was organized around key big ideas in nanoscience that were identified by a panel of 39 US national experts in nanoscience and nanoscience education. Pretest and posttest measures included measures of conceptions of scale boundary distinctions (particularly nanoscale), accuracy of conceptions of spatial scale of nanoscale objects, and a new instrument (conceptions of nanoscale instrument – CNI, with Cronbach’s α=0.79) designed to specifically measure the targeted big ideas in nanoscience. Results for scale conceptions showed that students developed a clear distinction of a scale difference between microscale and nanoscale worlds, including accurate knowledge of which objects are representative of each scale world. Nanoscale accuracy also improved. Conceptions across the breadth of big ideas in nanoscience were significantly enhanced by the instruction, with effect sizes in the large range. Analysis of subscores within the CNI showed differential impacts on particular nanoscience concepts. Implications for potential challenges and successes for influencing high school physics students’ conceptions of nanoscience are addressed.

Size and scale is a “big idea” in nanoscale science and engineering and is poorly understood by secondary students. This paper describes the design process, implementation, and evaluation of a 12-h instructional unit for size and scale, in a summer science camp for middle school students from a low SES public school district. Instructional activities were designed following a construct-centered design approach and included the use of microscopes, custom-made computer simulations, and 2-D and 3-D scale models. The unit followed a project-based instructional approach and was contextualized with the driving question, “How can nanotechnology keep me from getting sick?” Pre- and post-intervention interviews revealed that students significantly increased their qualitative and quantitative knowledge of the size of objects including atom, viruses, and cells, with an effect size of 0.8 for an overall metric. The campers closed the gap with private middle school students and on some measures surpassed high school students from the same district. The principle of “broad spectrum” curriculum and instruction – activities that target specific advanced understandings but simultaneously scaffold or support the learning of more fundamental, prerequisite ideas – was inductively generated from an analysis of the learning activities.

Inclusion of nanotechnology in the science curriculum has received great attention in many countries. Taiwan’s government has been funding the National Program on Nanotechnology (NPNT) for nearly 10 years. The purpose of this study was to examine Taiwanese secondary school science teachers’ understanding of nanotechnology teaching after implementing the NPNT, as well as the teachers’ perceptions of school support and their professional development intentions. The study adopted the questionnaire survey method. Using stratified cluster sampling, a total of 1600 questionnaires were distributed to 178 secondary schools. Finally, the responses of 663 junior high school teachers and 632 senior high school teachers who completed the instrument were analyzed. The instrument for the study is the Teachers’ Perceptions of Nanotechnology Teaching Scale (TPNTS). The TPNTS included 42 Likert-scale items. The results reveal that secondary school teachers’ intentions to pursue professional development are high, but their perceptions of school support are low. Teachers’ knowledge and understanding of nanotechnology teaching is significantly above average, but failed to reach the “very satisfied” level. In addition, the senior high school teachers’ perceptions of nanotechnology teaching and professional development are significantly higher than those of the junior high school teachers. Implications of the findings are discussed.

In the National Science Foundation funded NanoTeach development project, high school teachers participated in a year-long professional development experience where they learned about emerging nanoscale science and technology (NS&T) content and research-based instructional strategies to support effective classroom lesson design and implementation. Program participants from four states were assigned either to the fully facilitated model or to the team study approach. Case studies were prepared for four participants from the Louisiana site, two from the fully facilitated NanoTeach model group and two from the team study NanoTeach group. Data for the case studies included in this article include qualitative and quantitative data regarding the changes in teachers’ NS&T knowledge and their ability to teach the content using the effective strategies included in the professional development sessions and resource materials. The case studies provide new insights into the ways teachers’ integrated NS&T in the high school curriculum.

Nanotechnology has been recognized in the 21st century as a new and modern science field. It is therefore necessary to update school science by integrating nanotechnology-related concepts into curricula for students in order to prepare an educated workforce and a responsible generation that will make scientifically literate decisions. The current study examines a unique way to address the teaching of the concept “the making of nanotechnology,” one of eight essential concepts of nanotechnology that should be taught in high school and at the undergraduate level, which were identified by a recent study. The concepts’ definition and explanation are presented. The main goal of the study is to learn how students’ participation in a one-day nanotechnology conference “NanoIsrael 2014”1 NanoIsrael is a bi-annual conference and exhibition about nanotechnology, as will be described later in the paper. influences their perceptions regarding the concept “the making of nanotechnology”. We compared students who had previous knowledge of nanotechnology and those who lacked it. The results of the study showed that the students’ participation in the conference influenced their emotional perspectives, their knowledge concerning nanotechnology, as well as their curiosity and interest in science. The conference also influenced the students’ motivation and future plans. Differences between the two groups were found mainly regarding their understanding of the basic concepts of nanotechnology.

The introduction of nanotechnology education into K-12 education has happened so quickly that there has been little time to evaluate the approaches and knowledge goals that are most effective to teach precollege students. This review of nanotechnology education examines the instructional approaches and types of knowledge that frame nanotechnology precollege education. Methods used to teach different forms of knowledge are examined in light of the goal of creating effective and meaningful instruction. The developmental components needed to understand concepts such as surface area to volume relationships as well as the counterintuitive behavior of nanoscale materials are described. Instructional methods used in precollege nanotechnology education and the levels at which different nanoscale topics are introduced is presented and critiqued. Suggestions are made for the development of new nanotechnology educational programs that are developmental, sequenced, and meaningful.