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1. Production and Characterization of Graphene and Other 2-dimensional Nanomaterials: An AP High School Inquiry Lab (Curriculum Exchange)

   https://doi.org/10.18260/p.24594  

   Fielding, Alison; Brown, Dale; Livingston, Richard; Heishman, Curtis; Nadelson, Louis; Estrada, David (June 2015, ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Production and Characterization of Graphene and Other 2-dimensional Nanomaterials: An AP High School Inquiry Lab (Curriculum Exchange)According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, nanoscience and nanotechnology areexpected to play key roles in developing solutions to some of our greatest global engineeringchallenges in energy, medicine, security, and scientific discovery. There is high expectation thatdevelopments in nanotechnology will lead to new job creation and become an economic driverwith new direction for research and development coming from nano-enabled products. In light ofthe potential economic and national security implications, it is imperative that we support thedevelopment of the next generation of the high school curriculum as a way to motivate studentstowards pursuing education and careers in nanotechnology. Recent advances in nanomaterialsprocessing, particularly 2-dimensional nanomaterials synthesis, present the opportunity tointegrate nanotechnology curriculum into high schools in safe and relatively inexpensivemanners. The multifunctional characteristics of 2-dimensional nanomaterials make themattractive for printable and flexible electronics, nanostructured thermoelectrics, photovoltaics,batteries, and biological and chemical sensors. Thus, 2-dimensional nanomaterials provide anideal context for high school students to investigate the principles of nanoscience andnanotechnology. In our work, we present an Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry Inquiry Laboratory (CIL),which is being implemented at Centennial High School in Meridian, Idaho. The CIL is aligned toNational College Board requirements for AP Chemistry courses as well as Next GenerationScience Standards. The laboratory is designed to encompass approximately five hours of time,including teacher preparation time, pre-laboratory activities, materials synthesis andcharacterization, and a field trip to a local industry partner for scanning electron microscopyanalysis of the resultant nanomaterials. Students are organized into small groups under thecontext that they are working to produce and characterize nanomaterials as part of an industryresearch team. To synthesis the 2-dimensional nanomaterials, students use cosolvent exfoliationof layered materials such as graphite, MoS2, WS2, and hBN. The students must then use opticalspectroscopy and electrical characterization techniques to determine if their material is aconductor, semiconductor, or an insulator. The students then use scanning electron microscopyto image the morphology of the 2-dimensional nanoflakes they produced, which exposes thestudents to advanced nanoscale characterization techniques. 

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2. Development of multidisciplinary nanotechnology undergraduate education program at the University of Rochester Integrated Nanosystems Center

   https://doi.org/10.1117/12.22699786  

   Svetlana G. Lukishova, Nicholas P. (July 2017, Proceedings of SPIE)

   Supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation a coherent educational program at the University of Rochester (UR) in nanoscience and nanoengineering, based on the Institute of Optics and Intergrated Nanosystems Center resources was created. The main achievements of this program are (1) developing curriculum and offering the Certificate for Nanoscience and Nanoengineering program (15 students were awarded the Certificate and approximately 10 other students are working in this direction), (2) creating a reproducible model of collaboration in nanotechnology between a university with state-of-the-art, expensive experimental facilities, and a nearby, two-year community college (CC) with participation of a local Monroe Community College (MCC). 52 MCC students carried out two labs at the UR on the atomic force microscopy and a photolithography at a clean room; (3) developing reproducible hand-on experiments on nanophotonics (“mini-labs”), learning materials and pedagogical methods to educate students with diverse backgrounds, including freshmen and non-STEM-major CC students. These minilabs on nanophotonics were also introduced in some Institute of Optics classes. For the Certificate program UR students must take three courses: Nanometrology Laboratory (a new course) and two other selective courses from the list of several. Students also should carry out a one-semester research or a design project in the field of nanoscience and nanoengineering. 

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3. General Chemistry for Engineers in the 21st Century: A Materials Science Approach

   https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2017.40  

   Sinex, Scott A.; Halpern, Joshua B.; Johnson, Scott D. (January 2017, MRS Advances)

   ABSTRACT In the case of General Chemistry, many engineering students only take a one semester class with important topics such as kinetics and equilibrium being given limited coverage. Considerable time is spent covering materials already covered in other courses such as General Physics and Introduction to Engineering. Moreover, most GChem courses are oriented toward health science majors and lack a materials focus relevant to engineering. Taking an atoms first approach, we developed and now run a one-semester course in general chemistry for engineers emphasizing relevant materials topics. Laboratory exercises integrate practical examples of materials science enriching the course for engineering students. First-semester calculus and a calculus-based introduction to engineering course are prerequisites, which enables teaching almost all the topics from a traditional two semester GChem course in this new course with advance topics as well. To support this course, an open access textbook in LibreText, formerly ChemWiki was developed entitled General Chemistry for Engineering . Many of the topics were supported using Chemical Excelets and Materials Science Excelets, which are interactive Excel/Calc spreadsheets. The laboratory includes data analysis and interpretation, calibration, error analysis, reactions, kinetics, electrochemistry, and spectrophotometry. To acquaint the students with online collaboration typical of today’s technical workplace Google Drive was used for data analysis and report preparation in the laboratory. 

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4. Engaging Civil Engineering Students by Exposing them to a “Capstone-like” Experience in their Sophomore Year: A Case Study

   Sarasua, Wayne; Kaye, Nigel B.; Ogle, Jennifer H.; Benaissa, Mehdi N.; Benson, Lisa; Putman, Bradley J.; and Pfirman, Aubrie L. (June 2020, 2020 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   As part of a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to completely transform the civil engineering undergraduate program at Clemson University, a capstone-like course sequence is being incorporated into the curriculum during the sophomore year. Clemson’s NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program is called the Arch Initiative. Just as springers serve as the foundation stones of an arch, the new courses are called “Springers” because they serve as the foundations of the transformed curriculum. Through a project-based learning approach, Springer courses mimic the senior capstone experience by immersing students in a semester-long practical application of civil engineering, exposing them to concepts and tools in a way that challenges students to develop new knowledge that they will build on and use during their junior and senior years. In the 2019 spring semester, a pilot of the first Springer course introduced students to three civil engineering sub-disciplines: construction management, water resources, and transportation. The remaining sub-disciplines are covered in a follow-on Springer 2 pilot. The purpose of this paper is to describe all aspects of the Springer 1 course, including course content, teaching methods, faculty resources, and the design and results of a Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) survey to assess students’ learning outcomes. The feedback from the SALG indicated positive attitudes towards course activities and content. Challenges for full-scale implementation of the Springer course sequence as a requirement in the transformed curriculum are also discussed. 

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5. Impact of Engineering Course Participation on Students’ Attitudinal Factors: A Replication Study (Evaluation)

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--47556  

   Alemdar, Meltem; Newton, Sunni; Gale, Jessica; Kessler, Talia; Moore, Roxanne (June 2024, ASEE Conferences)

   Engineering education, with its focus on design and problem solving, has been shown to be fertile ground for encouraging students’ further development of their fundamental math and science skills in a way that they find relevant and engaging, and for promoting interest in STEM more broadly. To capitalize on these positive aspects of the engineering context, researchers developed, implemented, and studied a three-year engineering curriculum for grades 6 – 8 that utilizes the engineering design process and problem-based learning. In this semester-long elective course, students work through a series of design challenges within a given context (a carnival, airplanes and flight, and robotics, respectively, for 6th, 7th and 8th grades) and learn engineering content as well as practice fundamental math and science skills. This curriculum was developed and researched as part of an earlier project; in that work, course participation was linked with increased academic achievement on state-wide math and science assessments as well as heightened cognitive and behavioral engagement in STEM and science interest [1]. The current work seeks to replicate the findings of this earlier study in a different and larger school district while a) expanding the research foci to include teacher training and teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and b) refining the curriculum materials including the teacher website and support materials. In this paper, we present the research strand focusing on the impact of the course on students’ attitudinal factors including engagement, science interest, and science and math anxiety. These factors were measured in each semester-long course using a pre-post survey design. Survey items are primarily from validated instruments and are similar to those used in prior research on this curriculum and its impact on students; prior research demonstrated good reliability, with alpha values ranging from 0.84 to 0.91 for each construct [1]. We compare students’ levels of engagement, science interest, and math and science anxiety at the pre and post time points to understand whether and how participating in the course influences their standing on these variables. . Open-ended survey items were used as a supplementary data source. The preliminary results from the first year of implementation (2022-2023 academic year) suggest that similar to the original study, there is an increase across some of the student constructs, including student engagement. This finding was also supported by engineering teachers’ input about student engagement in the classroom. As the study progresses into its planned 2nd and 3rd years of curriculum implementation, we will be able to further discern the extent to which multiple years of course enrollment might differentially impact the attitudinal factors of interest (i.e., dosage effects). 

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