ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses the challenges that educators at the precollege, undergraduate, graduate, and informal education levels face as they design and implement nanotechnology education programs. Educators have begun to identify those cross-cutting themes and big ideas that are associated with teaching about nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is typically defined as science and technology that takes place at the nanoscale in at least in one dimension – thus including films, wires, and particles. The survey respondents who taught at the primary-/ elementary-school level indicated that in most cases nanotechnology is not part of the school curriculum. Nanoscale science and technology is most often taught at the graduate levels and is often associated with ongoing research in these areas. Survey respondents noted that the interdisciplinary nature of nanotechnology is a challenge. Teachers’ extrinsic barriers to utilizing nanoscience laboratories relate to money and time.