INCORPORATION OF HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES IN LEARNING NANOMATERIALS

For decades, nanomaterials, especially nanoparticles, have received extensive attention from the research community and have gained increasing importance in many industries. Growing production and utilization of nanomaterials result in a significant need for a relevant and skilled workforce. To meet these growing needs, the course "Fundamentals of Nanotechnology" was developed in the School of Engineering (SUE) at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) as one part of the Nanotechnology curriculum development plan sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Nanomaterials is one of the main topics covered in this course. Many concepts related to nanomaterials are both theoretical and abstract, which are difficult for students to grasp. This paper describes the hands-on lab activities incorporated to enhance the students' learning and mastery of the subject. Through these hands-on activities, students learned to synthesize zero-dimensional and two-dimensional nanomaterials and characterized different properties of these nanomaterials. Students explored the physical and optical properties of nanoparticles, particle-to-particle aggregation, and applications of nanoparticles as sensors used in different fields. This paper presents the role of these hands-on activities in enhancing the students' understanding of the theoretical nanomaterial concepts. These lab activities were assessed and results of this assessment from the first offering of the course are presented.