First-Year Engineering Students’ Communication of Nanotechnology Size & Scale in a Design Challenge

While nanotechnology is a highly engaging topic for students, it entails concepts that are difficult to understand and need to be carefully considered when incorporating nanotechnology into classroom instruction. The notion of size and scale (also referred to as a “big idea” in learning nanoscale engineering & science) is a fundamental concept for understanding nanotechnology, but is also a difficult concept for students to grasp. This study was guided by the following research question: How do student teams communicate their ideas concerning size and scale concepts through their nanotechnology-based design projects? This study was conducted within a first-year engineering course at Purdue University. Students were required to create a graphical-user interface to communicate fundamental concepts of nanotechnology, including size and scale, to their peers. The final submissions of 30 teams were analyzed in this study through grounded theory. It was found that 27 teams presented content about scale and 12 teams presented content about size. Methods to scaffold students’ learning of nanotechnology size and scale concepts are discussed.