The Big Ideas of Nanoscale Science and Engineering: A Guidebook for Secondary Teachers

The big ideas are Size and Scale, Structure of Matter, Forces and Interactions, Quantum Effects, Size-Dependent Properties, Self-Assembly, Tools and Instrumentation, Models and Simulations, and Science, Technology, and Society. These ideas were arrived on after a series of National Science Foundation supported workshops. Workshop participants included science teachers, science educators, and science researchers. The book is for use with students in grades 6 12. Section I, The Big Ideas : Each chapter in this section introduces the reader to and defines a nanoscale science and engineering (NSE) big idea, details the content contained within the big idea, describes how a workshop group of scientists arrived at a consensus for that idea, and provides a justification for defining it as an NSE big idea. Each chapter also provides a number of examples that illustrate the content and that describe possible interdisciplinary connections. Section II, Integrating NSE into the Science Curriculum : The chapters are again broken down into the nine big ideas. In each chapter, the authors give learning goals for that big idea and how these learning goals can be used to develop a coherent curriculum. Section II also identifies the prerequisite (both general and specific) knowledge necessary for each big idea and the prior learning and misconceptions students may bring with them to the science classroom. Section III, Next Steps : The authors discuss the challenges faced by our schools in the development of an NSE-educated citizenry.