Tag Archives: Nature Nanotechnology

In the classroom: Broadening students’ minds

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A training programme is proposed to improve the interdisciplinary breadth and depth of a nanoscience research group.

Nature-nanotechnologyNanotechnology requires expertise from a range of fields, but students often have difficulties thinking about research in an interdisciplinary manner. In the November issue of In the classroom, Philip S. Lukeman (St. John’s University, New York) and Stefan Howorka (University College, London) outline a three phase training programme to help improve a student’s interdisciplinary skills. The approach is based around the widely used idea of a ‘journal club’, but is set in the context of a group’s interdisciplinary research and can be tailored to any specific topic. Experience with the training programme in Howorka’s own research group suggests that it can help students in a variety of ways, and can also benefit research teams as a whole.

Read Philip S. Lukeman and Stefan Howorka’s article, Broadening students’ minds, for free on the Nature Nanotechnology website.

In the classroom: The importance of secondary school science competitions

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Science competitions in secondary school can inspire students and teachers alike, as Eric Plum, now a lecturer, and his former teacher Walter Stein explain.

Contributor Alberto Moscatelli

Nature-nanotechnologyA way to engage secondary school pupil’s interest in science is through science competitions. In our June issue, Eric Plum, now a lecturer at the University of Southampton, UK, teams up with his former school teacher Walter Stein and share his experience. For him this was the springboard for a career in science. But it is not just students who can gain valuable lessons from these competitions: Educators and established researchers have much to contribute and learn too. And as it was the case for the students and teachers of St. Michael-Gymnasium in Bad Münstereifel, Germany, a carefully though through and well-designed science project can get you to shake hands with a Nobel laureate.

Read Eric Plum and Walter Stein’s article, Inspired by competition, on the Nature Nano website for free.

In the classroom: Creativity unleashed

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A few building blocks is all it takes to stimulate scientific curiosity in students, says François Grey.

Nature-nanotechnologyMany will agree that academic hands-on projects are more effective than long lectures in enticing students’ interest. A practical approach is best suited in particular for interdisciplinary subjects such as nanotechnology, and can help breaking the ice between fellow students in a classroom, and foster learning. In our May issue of In the classroom, François Grey tells us how he has used a hands-on approach to engage students of the summer school LEGO2NANO, held annually at Tsinghua University, in learning about nanotechnology. He challenged student teams to come up, in a week time, with a prototype atomic force microscope that could be used in Chinese schools – with a maximum budget of US$1000.  Lego blocks were used among other cheap components, and students were inspired to develop their creative skills. On the back of the success of LEGO2NANO, François is also involved in the launch of a more permanent initiative, called Lifelong Learning Lab, aimed at fostering creativity in the classroom.

Read François Grey’s article, Creativity unleashed, for free on the Nature Nano website.

In the classroom: From nano to micro and back

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Working in large collaborations can help you understand how nanotechnology is closely related to other fields.

Nature-nanotechnology

When studying nanotechnology it is common to learn that structures with nanoscale dimensions have unique physical and chemical properties, which differentiate them from particles of bigger sizes. But things are not always as disconnected as they may seem. While working on the synthesis of microbubbles to be used as multimodal contrast agent, Elizabeth Huynh discovered that nanoparticles formed by the destruction of her porphyrin particles of micrometre size by ultrasound would retain some of properties of the larger structures. Most importantly she came to her conclusions after intensive collaboration with colleagues with different expertise, showing her that nanotechnology cannot really work as isolated discipline.

Read Elizabeth Huynh’s article going from nano to micro and back on Nature Nanotechnology for free.

Nature Nanotechnology: In the classroom

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Nature Nanotechnology makes career and educational series open access.

Nature-nanotechnologySince June 2014, Nature Nanotechnology published In the classroom, a series of articles on education in nanoscience. Lecturers and students discuss their ideas and experiences. Is learning nanoscience different from learning any other discipline? How important is the interdisciplinary character of nanoscience during learning? Does it make sense to study for a nanoscience degree? These are but a few of the questions that we ask our contributors to answer.

So far we’ve seen:

And in the latest issue, Emmanuel Dumont provides his views on technology transfer.

These articles are now open access, and free for anyone to read. One article will be released every month, and we’ll make sure that you get regular updates on the Naturejobs blog!