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As stressed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1993),
scaling related concepts have been identified as one of the important unifying topics to
make connections between the different science disciplines, other subject matter, and across
grade levels. Therefore, the purpose of this literature review was to identify the problems and limitations related to conveying the concept of nanoscale at a middle school level. Since this topic has recently gained strength and interest due to its importance in nanoscience and nanotechnology,the framework used for this survey was based on two main sources. One were the formative an summative evaluation reports from museums that have developed exhibits related to nanotechnology. The second source were literature based on well documented studies retrieved from journal articles that suggests instructional strategies for conveying the concept of atom and the particulate nature of matter. The ultimate goal of this review was to identify instructional strategies that could serve as a foundation for developing instructional materials that will cover the identified need. This literature review was the first step towards my master project and later on turned into research interest. Particularly, it helped me to identify and scope a problem while at the same time it provided me with skills and strategies for information search and retreival from scientific literature. It also provided me with an opportunity to improve my The result of this review was the design of classroom instructional materials and future development of online materials to be deployed through the nanoHUB.org. |