A Nanotechnology Summer Camp for High School Students: Activities Design and Student Feedback

Abstract

For the past two years, Lawrence Technological University has hosted a nanotechnology summer camp program for high school students (Summer 2014 and 2015). The weeklong program is open by application to high school juniors and seniors. Students have the option to be residential or non-residential. During the five days the students learn about nanoscale phenomena, instrumentation, fabrication, and nanotechnology applications. Each day the activities follow a particular area related to nanotechnology: Monday -Introduction to Nanotechnology; TuesdayNanomaterials; Wednesday -Instrumentation; Thursday -Fabrication; and Friday -Energy. The unique feature of this camp is that it is team taught by six faculty from Biomedical Engineering, Biology, Physics, and Mechanical Engineering programs. Furthermore, current students at Lawrence Tech also participate and assist in the hands-on activities. Summer camp students are introduced to basic concepts of nanotechnology and also have the opportunity to use various nanoscale characterization tools such as the environmental scanning electron microscope and laser scanning confocal microscope. Student feedback was positive and indicated that the camp was successful, overall. The details of the camp activities, strategies for instructor-student interaction and exercises using sophisticated test equipment are discussed. The measures for student satisfaction and the results thereof will be highlighted. The authors will review the lessons learned during the past two years and share proposed modifications for future improvement.