Make sense of nanochemistry and nanotechnology

Abstract

A class in a Scientific-Technological Lyceum (age 17) decided to produce a PowerPoint presentation to introduce nanochemistry and nanotechnology to the students in lower grades. Because the subject is very new, there was nothing in the School textbooks and, therefore, the students had to cooperate in order to find materials, to use ICT sources and to take decisions, such as selecting information and choosing slide layouts. Furthermore, the Cooperative Learning methodology was employed to solve the problem of setting up the presentation. To make nanochemistry and nanotechnology a reality for the students, they used a link between these new frontiers of Chemistry and subjects currently tackled at the Secondary School level. This was the quantitative determination of Ca²⁺ ions by using calcein, a luminescent chemosensor, in which well known concepts, such as chemical equilibrium and stability constants of coordination compounds, are involved. The educational aims of the project were to promote both content knowledge and social skills in Secondary School students. The activity created a good class atmosphere and also led to the retention of content knowledge.