Video laboratory manuals and kits that explain nanoscale scienceand engineering concepts

摘要

The Interdisciplinary Education Group of the Materials Research Science and EngineeringCenter (MRSEC) on Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in conjunction with the Institute for Chemical Education (ICE), has created a numberof student-centered, nanotechnology-focused educational kits. Designed for high school andcollege level instructors and students, these kits provide the tools and background information onnumerous experiments that can be used to explore nanoscale science and engineering concepts inthe classroom. The kits include an exploration of the nanoworld, optical transforms, amorphousmetals, solid-state models, nanocrystalline solar cells, and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Toprovide teachers and students with a safe, inexpensive, easily accessible introduction tonanotechnology, several laboratory modules have been also developed by the MRSEC, includinga new module on the synthesis of nickel nanowires using a nanoporous template. After thesynthesis procedure is completed, release of the nanowires then allows their properties to beinvestigated. The module has been used in a number of different types of courses ranging from ananotechnology course for non-scientists, to a graduate-level special topics physics course. Thislaboratory experiment is described in more detail by Bentley et al.1 and has been incorporatedinto the UW-MRSEC Laboratory Manual for Nanoscale Science and Technology at(http://www.mrsec.wisc.edu/edetcanolab/index.html html). In this presentation we will focus on thenickel nanowire video lab and two kits highly relevant to materials education at theundergraduate level: the optical transform kit2 and LED color strip kit.3 We will demonstratehow these relatively inexpensive educational materials can be used in the classroom to helpstudents learn nanoscale material properties.).