Growing up to nanotechnology

There's a rising demand in the US to add this subject to school syllabus.

Scientist Robert Chang of Northwestern University had no trouble persuading education officials in Mexico to introduce the burgeoning field of nanotechnology to schools there, but it's been a far tougher sell in the United States.

In Mexico, Chang said he had only to speak about the subject to top government officials, who then ordered schools to teach it.

Multiple factors make it tough for new fields such as nanotechnology - manipulating matter at the smallest of scales to create new materials - to get introduced in US classrooms. They include:

- 15,000 school systems in the US, each with its own curriculum.

- Differing state standards that spell out what children should know.

- Different high-stakes standardised tests that assess whether students meet the standards.

Recognising that changing curricula can be next to impossible, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network is developing and distributing programmes aimed at engaging schools in nanoscale science and engineering education, said Carol Lynn Alpert, director of strategic projects at the Museum of Science, Boston.

It is vital, she said, for Americans to understand today's scientific revolutions and the risks and benefits they offer.

"We are living in a democracy in which we jointly make decisions about the investment of our research dollars," Alpert said.

Chang's university is part of a consortium of 14 museums, research centres and educational institutions working to educate the public - inside and outside of schools - about nanotechnology.

Museums also are developing exhibits, demonstrations and activities for people to learn about the field. There are also supplemental materials being created - including learning modules with ready-made experiments, fact sheets and teaching tips - that educators can use in their standard curriculums.

Part of the goal, Chang said, is to make young people interested in the field, which, he said, needs thousands of nano-literate workers.

It is unclear whether these efforts will be enough to accomplish their goals. Wheeler said he doubted it.

"The alpha science teacher looks forward to these new things and finds a way to get the subject into his or her classroom," Wheeler said. "But they can't put a lot of time into that because of the standards and the testing."

KNOW-HOW
The whys and wherefores

What is nanotechnology?

It's not easy to define, especially since scientists and engineers don't necessarily agree on one answer. The science crosses over into various disciplines, with the intent of manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular levels to create materials that can improve the way we live. Scientists have been manipulating matter for many years, but that matter keeps getting smaller and the results more dramatic.

Just how small is small when it comes to working with matter at the nanoscale?

Technically, a nanometre is one billionth of a metre. Or 1/80,000th the size of a human hair. That's hard to imagine, so try this: According to one estimate, if a nanoparticle were the size of a football, then a chicken would be the size of the Earth.

Can kids understand it?

They can learn the concepts and applications, if not the complicated mathematics. Bethany Maynard, 11, and her brother Alex, 9, who attend Haycock Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia, recently created a video to explain what it is and how it works.

They had fun showing its application by using a tie from their father - who happens to be a world-renowned expert on nanotechnology - that had been treated with a material produced by nanotechnology that made the tie impervious to stains. Ketchup, mustard and coffee were dumped on the tie but left no stains.

The children's video is on the website of the very adult Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, where their dad, Andrew Maynard, is the science adviser to its new centre on emerging nanotechnologies. It can be found at www.wilsoncenter.org.