Topics in nanotechnology and nanoscience are unlikely to be found to any great extent in
traditional instructional materials, including textbooks and laboratory manuals. While
this may change in the future, it would be useful for today's undergraduate classroom to
make use of teaching approaches that could be particularly appropriate for including
nanotechnology and nanoscience into the curriculum. I will discuss three such
approaches in this presentation. Context-based teaching is typified by the approach
found in the textbook Chemistry in Context of the American Chemical Society. In this
approach, an issues-based setting creates a "need to know" situation for teaching a
particular topic. Inquiry-based learning has a variety of manifestations, but there are
some fundamental characteristics that will be discussed which should be part of any
inquiry approach. Finally, authentic science practice, in which students are involved in
true research as part of their coursework, will be described as an approach that could lend
itself well to nanotechnology education. Examples will be given of how authentic
science practice is being used for other leading edge scientific topics.
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
-
Gabriela C. Weaver (2006), "Teaching approaches for including nanotechnology and other current topics in the undergraduate curriculum: Context, inquiry and authentic science practice," https://nanohub.org/resources/1276.
BibTex |
EndNote