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Nanotechnology has emerged as a broad, exciting, yet ill-defined field of scientific research and technological innovation. There are important questions about the technology's potential economic, social, and environmental implications. We discuss an undergraduate course on nanoscience and nanotechnology for students from a wide range of disciplines, including the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and engineering. The course explores these questions and the broader place of technology in contemporary societies. The course is built around active learning methods and seeks to develop the students' critical thinking skills, written and verbal communication abilities, and general knowledge of nanoscience and nanoengineering concepts. Continuous assessment was used to gain information about the effectiveness of class discussions and enhancement of student understanding of the interaction between nanotechnology and society.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure. Edited and shortened for readability. Visit http://www.tahan.com/charlie/nanosociety/course201/ for more informatio

The use of exhibits in informal science education venues such as science centers and museums is an integral part of engaging students in science, encouraging them to take science courses in school, and motivating them to pursue science and engineering careers. Technology, we have built and tested interactive components for museum exhibits on advanced materials science and nanotechnology concepts. Our frontend assessment revealed a gap in scientific understanding about objects smaller than can be seen by the naked eye. Facts learned through standard teaching methods were easily recalled, but indepth, conceptual knowledge and application of those facts are lacking in both children and adults. We designed interactive exhibits to specifically address this disconnect in comprehension. By inviting the learner to actively participate in an interactive exhibit activity, he or she is able to develop a deeper understanding of advanced materials concepts that are difficult to teach with textbooks alone. Formative assessment of our exhibit prototypes show that students and adults not only participate in the interactive exhibit activity, but are able to learn and apply the concepts contained within them. 0909-PP02-03.1 Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 909E

Biomedical Engineering undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin-Madison participate in six semesters of engineering design. In addition to engineering design aptitude, successful designers require proficiency in an auxiliary set of skills related to the design process. We have created professional development training materials on topics associated with auxiliary design skills for students within this design course series. Topics include working in teams, interacting with clients, presentation skills, design ethics and regulations, and global design. The training materials consist of an online video archive of experts speaking on such topics and associated active learning exercises. Using online, pre-recorded expert lectures makes class time available for conducting the active learning exercises, including working on design projects. The training content is modular, allowing small or large portions to be incorporated in a range of design courses. The impact on student learning related to these topics was evaluated during the 2008-2009 academic year through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Given that there are a number of additional topics that are critical for the practice of engineering design we embarked on a collaboration to develop a similar set of modular, on-demand learning objects focused on auxiliary skills needed in engineering design in general and biomedical engineering design in particular. We selected the UW Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department as a test case for our approach because of the rich design "backbone" that is at the center of its curriculum. Students in the UW BME program are required to complete a sixsemester design course series, such that they take a design course every semester they are in the program (sophomore through senior years). 5,6 Students work in 4-person teams and each team works on a different project. All the projects are client-based, real-world design problems,