Challenges in Nanoscience Education

Abstract

This chapter examines the challenges that educators face in teaching nanotechnology.A survey was conducted with nano science and engineering researchers and educators from precollege through graduate school to explore issues educators face in teaching about nanotechnology and nanoscale science. The challenges that were noted by survey respondents include a lack of textbooks and instructional materials as well as a lack of laboratory investigations and laboratory equipment. For precollege educators there is a perceived mismatch between the existing science curriculum and the essential concepts that comprise nanotechnology. There is also a need for more professional development to help teachers in precollege, community college and undergraduate levels have the knowledge and skills needed to teach this rapidly evolving area. This chapter highlights the new opportunities that nanotechnology offers for underrepresented minorities to engage in new interdisciplinary areas of science and engineering.

Educational Significance of Nanoscience–Nanotechnology: Primary School Teachers’ and Students’ Voices after a Training Program

“…Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (hereinafter NST) are contemporary state-of-the art fields that focus on the discovery of new materials at the nanoscale that exhibit novel properties. For example, carbon nanotubes, an extraordinary material whose dimensions fall into the nano regime, are incorporated into tennis rackets' frames to make them lighter and, simultaneously, to boost their strength [1,2].…”