Exploring Nanotechnology with Electrospinning: Design, Experiment, and Discover!

Nanotechnology is a challenging concept to teach. The length scales involved are difficult to visualize, the products are invisible to the human eye and in most cases the fabrication and characterization of nano-scale materials are prohibitively expensive for high school science programs. Moreover, the inaccessibility of nanotechnology in the classroom reduces the student's experience to factual recall of a list of properties and advantages of materials at the nanometer scale. This situation does nothing to alleviate the perception that science/engineering is boring and does not engage students in the actual work patterns and discourse of practicing Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professionals. To redress this situation, students need not only to acquire the fundamental principles of nanotechnology, but participate in activities designed to encourage the habitus that will make it more likely they will pursue higher education in STEM fields.