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Journal of Nano Education Vol. 3, 5161, 2011

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Teaching Nanotechnology Using Student-Centered Pedagogy for Increasing Students Continuing Motivation
Ron Blonder and Merav Dinur
Department of Science Teaching, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel This paper presents a nanotechnology module that was designed for high-school students. A unique way to adapt advanced contents to high-school students level was applied by using constructivist pedagogy in which the students are at the center of the learning. Moving from teacher-centered to student-centered pedagogy switches the control of the learning environment from the teacher to Delivered by Ingenta to: the learners. Students interviews and a semantic differential (SD) questionnaire were used to learn Library Luis Angel Arango that students appreciated the about students motivation and their perceptions. The study shows IP : 200.30.82.201 topic of LED and found that it increased their motivation to further learn about LED, nanotechnology, Thu, 03 May 2012 chosen also contributed to a positive effect and chemistry. The student-centered pedagogy that was 21:57:38 regarding students continuing motivation.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, LED, Student-Centered, Continuing Motivation, Enrollment in

Chemistry, High School.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Theoretical Background Many European countries have been experiencing signicant problems when trying to encourage students to pursue advanced studies in chemistry (Osborne and Dillon, 2008). This nding is a reason for signicant concerns for both science educators as well as for decision makers. Throughout Europe (Jenkins and Pell, 2006), the number of students who have chosen to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects has dramatically decreased. In the US, students that choose to major in science and engineering have been found to be at a lower level and quality over the years (Lowell et al., 2009). The ROSE study (Jenkins and Pell, 2006), which focused on students attitudes toward science, was conducted in more than 20 countries, both developed and underdeveloped. This study showed that in general, students expressed negative attitudes toward school science in countries whose economic conditions were more advanced (compared with underdeveloped countries). A negative correlation was found between students responses and the UN Index of Human Development (Sjberg and Schreiner, 2005). For example, the more advanced a country is, the

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

less its young people are interested in studying science. Likewise, an analysis of the data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), conducted in 1999, measuring both students attainment and students attitudes toward science, revealed that the higher the average students achievement, the less positive are their attitudes toward science and their interest in science (Mullis et al., 1999). In a later TIMSS study conducted in 2007, in many countries (including Israel) students attitudes toward science decreased (Martin et al., 2008). In the US, however, the situation was found to be different. Lowell et al., (2009) stressed that the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) retention along the educational system shows strong and even increasing rates of retention from the 1970s to the late 1990s. The overall trend of increasingly strong STEM retention rates, however, was accompanied by simultaneous and sometimes sharp declines in retention among the highest performing students (in the 1990s). In other words, young people do not choose the science and engineering elds not because of lack of their ability, but because of other factors, for example, they do not nd those jobs attractive. In view of these worrisome survey results, science educators began to search for ways to make chemistry a more appealing subject to students. We suggest two complementary directions that could be taken to improve students motivation to study chemistry:
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factors that contributed to engaging middle-school students during a problem-based inquiry, which introduced nanoscale science and discussed nanotechnology-based solutions. This approach proved highly engaging and led Continuing motivation was dened by Maehr (1976) as to students having a better understanding of nanoscale scithe tendency to return to and continue working on tasks ence, nanotechnology, and electron microscopy. In a differaway from the instructional contexts in which they were ent program, a two-day workshop was designed to expose initially introduced (p. 443). Continuing motivation for 11th and 12th grade students to industrial applications science learning is expressed by reengaging in scienceof Materials Science and Nanotechnology (Avila et al., related extracurricular activities that do not result from 2010). During the course the students teams were given some external pressure or requirement, such as watchproblem-based learning exercises based on the mechanical ing science-related TV programs, browsing science-related and thermal properties of a variety of polymeric materials websites, going to science museums, doing hands-on activand candy. Most of the students claimed to have solidied ities at home or with friends, and looking at the science their knowledge of materials performance, in addition to section in newspapers. This can also be connected to the learning budgeting and how to trade off. A comprehensive extent to which students enroll in science after completcourse introduction to materials and nanotechnology was ing basic science courses (Hofstein et al., 1977; Shernoff and Hoogstra, 2001). Despite its importance, surprisingly conducted for chemistry high-school teachers (Blonder, little research has focused on continuing motivation as 2011). This course was designed to make the teachers an important educational outcome (Vedder-Weiss and Fornanoliterate, Delivered by Ingenta to: and included lectures and demonstrations of tus, 2011). An exception is the work of Pascarella et al. Library Luis characterization methods used in nanotechnology. In a dif(Pascarella et al., 1981), who examined some classroom Angel Arango IP : sci- ferent work (Ambrogi et al., 2008), high-school students environment correlates of continuing motivation in 200.30.82.201about nanotechnology and prepared a Power Point Thu, that the learned ence for school students. Their ndings indicate03 May 2012 21:57:38 introduce nanochemistry and nanotechnolpresentation to extent to which teachers, rather than students, controlled ogy to younger students. Sweeney (2006) developed a the learning environment was positively correlated to stunanotechnology ethics seminar series that included an dents achievements in science but was negatively associanalysis of students and participating research facultys ated with continuing motivation. Supporting evidence for perspectives concerning social and ethical issues associPascarellas claim was described in the work of Vadderated with nanotechnology research. Weiss and Fortus (2011), who found a positive correlation Different pedagogical approaches were taken in the difbetween the school culture and the development of adolesferent programs; they varied from courses that focused cents motivation for science learning in school and out of on nanotechnology content and methods (Blonder, 2011), school. Another factor that was found to positively affect through lab courses (Brazell et al., 2009; Harmer and continuing motivation is the utility of science content and Columba, 2010; Samet, 2009; Walters and Bullen, 2008), science lessons (Pascarella et al., 1981). and even teaching nanotechnology using the ethics perThe advance of science, which is continuously taking spective via socio-scientic issues (Sweeney, 2006). place, includes attractive topics that have the potential to capture the interest of young people. Science educators 1.1.1. Pedagogy have tried to apply this potential in a variety of programs that were developed to bridge the gap between modern Although advanced and modern scientic contents and developments in science and currently taught high-school their technological applications are appealing and have the science programs. Outreach programs in different scienpotential to positively inuence and motivate students to tic areas were developed for that purpose. The subject enroll in science courses, they are absent from most highof nanotechnology has the potential to be appealing for school curricula, mainly because of the hierarchical nature high-school students as a modern research subject that has of science (Kapon et al., 2009). If we wish to incorporate many potential technological applications. Trying to introcontemporary science contents, such as nanotechnology, duce nanotechnology in high school resulted in several into high-school science lessons, we must think of a teacheducational programs, curricula, and modules in the area ing pedagogy that can bridge the gap between the students of nanotechnology. For examples, see (Alford et al., 2009; pre-knowledge and the advanced content. Avila et al., 2010; Crone, 2010; Greenberg, 2009; Harmer It was suggested that simple teaching models would and Columba, 2010; Hingant and Albe, 2010). assist high-school teachers in bridging the gap between Walters and Bullen (2008) developed a one-week interstudent knowledge and modern instrumentation. A simple session course on nanomaterials aimed at introducing stuteaching model for an X-ray detection method was sugdents to nanomaterials by explaining their synthesis and by gested (Peralta et al., 2008) to demonstrate how the X-ray characterizing them. In addition, the course enhanced stutechnique uses lm for X-ray detection. Santos, Luiz, and dents understanding of the potential implications of nanode Carvalho (2009) presented a simple model for teaching materials to society. Harmer and Columba (2010) explored 52
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

(1) reconsidering the chemistry contents that are learned in high-school chemistry, and (2) rethinking the teaching pedagogy.

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Teaching Nanotechnology Using Student-Centered Pedagogy for Increasing Students Continuing Motivation

results but also experience increased personal values, mass spectroscopy using basic physics concepts, so that such as exibility, self-condence, and social skills. This high-school students will have contact with recent topics approach, also known as experiential learning, requires of modern research. Planini & Kova (2008) developed c c specic personal attitudes on the part of the instructor, who a teaching model for demonstrating the working principles takes over the role of a facilitator (ONeill and McMahon, of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Since AFM plays 2005). an important role in developing nanotechnology, using this These attitudes are highly transparent; instructors open teaching model supports the introduction of nanotechnolup channels of communication and have positive attitudes ogy for the high-school level (Blonder, 2011). The above toward students and their search for deep understanding examples provided teachers with teaching models whose (Rogers, 1983). Although the positive effects of the pure aim was to assist them in introducing contemporary scistudent-centered approach have been proved in a numence in their lessons. ber of case-studies and are well-documented in the litLearning advanced scientic issues can also be achieved erature (Chase and Geldenhuys, 2001; Lonka and Ahola, by discussing socio-scientic issues, or teaching about 1995; Rogers, 1983), its combination with advanced modethics and dilemmas that are based on scientic content, ern content as a resource for acquiring knowledge and as as recommended by (Hingant and Albe, 2010). Societal a medium for supporting communication is a novel asset. implications of nanotechnology can be applied in a variIn light of these considerations, two decisions were ety of areas, including technological, economic, environincorporated into the design of the current teaching mental, health, as well as educational, ethical, moral, and module: philosophical. Sweeney (2006) developed a nanotechnolDelivered by I. To design a teaching module in which the control in the Ingenta to: ogy ethics seminar series, concerning social and ethical Library Luis Angel Arango be shifted from the teacher to the students, classroom will issues associated with nanotechnology research. The semIP : 200.30.82.201 using student-centered pedagogy. inars focused on giving examples of potential social and Thu, 03 May 2012 21:57:38 teaching module around a modern topic II. To build the ethical issues associated with basic concepts of nanotechin chemistry and nanotechnology that represents high use nology. In a survey of students and faculty members, he of chemistry. found that students indicated a high level of interest in the topics raised and discussed in the nanoethics seminars, which, it appears, had prompted them to think more 1.2. Description of the Module: LED via about the social, ethical, and environmental implications of Student-Centered Pedagogy nanotechnology research than they otherwise might have (Sweeney, 2006). A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light A different way to adapt advanced contents to highsourcea . LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices school students level is to use constructivist pedagogy, and are increasingly used for other lighting. LEDs present in which the students are at the center of the learning many advantages over incandescent light sources includprocess. Moving from teacher-centered to student-centered ing lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved pedagogy switches the control of the learning environrobustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater durament from the teacher to the learners, and according to bility and reliability, and are one of the know nanotechPascarella, et al., (1981), it should affect students continnology application. uing motivation. Structure: The module was built around three guided inquiry activities that were designed to trigger the students questioning behavior. Each of the activity lasted two 1.1.2. Student-Centered Pedagogy lessons and was followed by two lessons involving small The concept of student-centered learning has been credited groups work and a summary in the plenary session. During the last two lessons of the activity, the students received to Deweys work (Dewey, 1902). Carl Rogers, the father a worksheet summarizing the whole module. This lesson of client-centered counseling, is associated with expanding ended with a concluding summary of the module. Student this approach into a general theory of education. In his worksheets and nal assignment were translated and are book Freedom to Learn for the 80s (Rogers, 1983), he shown in the Appendix. described the shift in power from the expert teacher to The activities within the module: As previously mentioned, the student learner, driven by a need for a change in the the module included three guided inquiry activities. Table I traditional environment where in this so-called educational presents the three experiments, their activities, goals, and atmosphere, students become passive, apathetic, and bored. the reasons for choosing them as the triggering activity The student-centered approach is based on the hypothduring the module. The students working sheets for the esis that students who are given the freedom to explore areas based on their personal interests, and who are accoma panied in their striving for solutions by a supportive, LED denition was retrieved from: dictionary.com: http://dictionary. understanding facilitator, not only achieve higher academic reference.com/browse/led
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Table I. Three triggering activities that comprised the module, their description and goals. Activity name Description The triggering effect

Blonder and Dinur

Goals Triggering the students curiosity regarding the diode structure, which determines its unique properties. Triggering the students curiosity regarding the concepts of light and color.

RESEARCH ARTICLE

1. Diode as a component in an electric circuit.

Measuring the conductivity of different A diode is a component that only components and different materials, and allows electricity to ow in one examining the conductivity direction. direction.

2. Color mixing versus light (a) Students mix gouache and create (a) In contrast to the mixing mixing. different colors. They also use white and gouache primary colors, mixing black color to create light and dark colored light beams produces colors. different resulting colors. (b) Students mix different colored light (b) Mixing together all the gouache beams in an educational experiment. primary colors results in black, They try to create the same colors as but mixing the light beams results they made from the gouache. in white 3. Comparison of the (a) Examine the efciency of each lamp by In contrast to the reasonable concept Understanding the advantages of standard lamp to the LED illuminating an object within a black box. that luminosity increases with the LEDs and their unique lamp. (b) Disassembling the lamps and examining size of the bulb and with the applications. their bulb size and battery size. strength of the battery, this experiment reveals that the LED lamp is as efcient as an incandescent lamp that is three times bigger than Delivered by Ingenta to: the LED.

Library Luis Angel Arango IP 200.30.82.201 activities are presented in the Appendix. These three:activthe differences between a conductor, semiconductor, and Thu, 03 May 2012 21:57:38 explained the way in which electrons are ities were selected because they gradually build the basic isolator. She
content matter for understanding the uniqueness of LED and the way it works. The learning process in this module was based totally on students questions, aiming at guiding them to nd the answers to their own questions. The rst activity (Table I) revealed the students lack of basic knowledge regarding electric circuits. Their questions helped the teacher focus on the knowledge they wanted to learn (Baram-Tsabari et al., 2006), as presented in Table II. In the next meeting, the students received two adapted scientic texts about the following: (1) the electric circuit and what ows within it, and (2) silicon: its properties and its behavior as a semiconductor. Reading these papers aided students in nding answers to their own questions that were asked after the rst experiment. The new knowledge was summarized by the teacher, who highlighted the concepts of conductivity and
Table II. Examples of students questions during the different activities. Experiment name 1. Diode as a component in an electric circuit Example of students questions What ows within the electric circuit? What is a diode? What material is it made of? Why does the diode allow electricity to ow in one direction? Why there is a difference between mixing gouache primary colors and mixing colored light beams? What is color? How could it be that mixing all the colored light beams gives white color and not black? How could it be that a small size LED gives a high intensity light like a big standard lamp? Why the batteries used for LED lamp are smaller than a standard lamp? What is LED? And from where does the light come from?

organized in a semiconductor and the effect of p-doping and n-doping. The second activity (Table I) led to learning the topic of light as consisting of electromagnetic waves and different light colors and their correlation to their photon energy. Students questions resulting from this activity are presented in Table II. In trying to understand the source for different light colors, the teacher demonstrated an experiment in which re was lit in different colors by using different metal salts. This experiment involved the LED, which emits light as a result of recombining an electron and a hole. The students compared the regular diode they had encountered in the electric circuit that emits heat and the LED, which emits light. Before the third activity (Table I), which dealt with the advantages of the LED, the students received a paper that described the different applications of LEDs. Students questions resulting from this activity are presented

2. Color mixing versus light mixing

3. Comparison of the standard lamp to the LED lamp

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in Table II. In summarizing the experiment, the students prepared a table that presented the advantages of LEDs derived from the experiment. They tried to explain those advantages and to base their explanations on the previous lessons. The applications that were based on each of the advantages were added to the table in the plenary session.

1967; Glesne, 2006), the main categories was determined according the research questions and the subcategories emerged from the data. We also used a pre-post semantic differential (SD) test and a students nal assignments and follow after the enrollment percent of the students into chemistry. In the following section we will elaborate on each analysis of the data collection. 3.3. Quantitative Tools

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2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

As mentioned, teaching the topic of LED by using student3.3.1. Students Attitudes: Semantic Differential (SD) centered pedagogy has the potential to increase students Student Questionnaire continuing motivation. LED is an example of a modern topic in nanochemistry, which has many applications. Use of the SD questionnaire was developed by Osgood, According to Pascarella et al. (1981), learning relevant topSuci, and Tannenbaum (1957). In the SD questionnaire, ics that are useful to the students positively affect their we used sets of words that could be used by students to continuing motivation. The student-centered pedagogy will describe a learning situation (e.g., Easy vs. Difcult; also contribute to the development of continuing motivaEnjoyable vs. Not enjoyable; Monitored by the teachtion since it shifts the focus of control from the teacher ers vs. Monitored by me as well as by the teachers). to the learner and, according to Pascarella etDelivered by The students were asked to complete two SD questional. (1981) Ingenta to: and Vedder-Weiss and Fortus (2011), this shift also has a Angel Arango Library Luis naires: one before learning the module and one immedipositive effect on students continuing motivation. In: the ately after IP 200.30.82.201 learning it. Both SD-questionnaires contained current study we will examine those assumptions. 03 May 2012same 28 sets of bipolar terms. In the pre SD, stuthe 21:57:38 Thu, Thus, our research questions are as follows: dents were given the following instructions: Below are (1) How did teaching a modern nanotechnology topic descriptive pairs of words relating to studying chemistry in (LED) affect students continuing motivation? my class. The terms of every pair were opposite in their (2) How did using a student-centered pedagogy while meaning. Students were asked to mark the appropriate teaching a modern nanotechnology topic (LED) affect stusquares between the terms. In the post SD, students were dents continuing motivation? given the following instructions: studying the LED module. The words in every pair are opposite in their meaning. Please write an X in one of the squares between the words 3. METHODS that most express your attitude toward the two words. The SD questionnaire was developed by seven chem3.1. Participants istry teachers and a researcher in Chemistry Education; it covers six categories, as described in Table III. The Thirty-six girls aged 15, in 10th grade, in two classes Cronbach Reliability Coefcient was used to analyze 280 (N = 36), were chosen for the research. The second author questionnaires (including the experiment group) in order was the chemistry teacher of these classes; she had ten to determine the validity of the categories, as presented years of experience in teaching chemistry all of them in Table III. Table III indicates that the six categories had at this school. These groups were chosen because they acceptable alpha reliabilities. consisted of students that did not enroll in chemistry, and who had low attitudes toward chemistry in general (as was 3.4. Enrollment in Chemistry obtained from the pre-attitudes questionnaire). The school is a high school for religious girls, located in the center of The number of students that enrolled in chemistry will be the country. recorded and compared to previous years. The comparison is reliable since this school has the same type of students 3.2. Research Tools every year: religious girls that come from the same community. This tool will enable us to compare how the interThe data that we were interested in referred to the main vention affected students continuing motivation in relation goal of the study, namely, determining how the teachto previous years in which no intervention was taken. ing module inuenced students continuing motivation in chemistry. The data consisted of a pre-post attitudes test, a 3.5. Qualitative Tools summative knowledge test, students interviews, and classroom observations documented by records and transcrip3.5.1. Students Interviews tions of the course. The analyses of the interviews, the survey, and the transcriptions were done according to basic The student interview is a powerful qualitative tool used methods of qualitative data analysis (Glaser and Strauss, in educational evaluation and research. A large proportion
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Table III. Descriptive information for and reliability of the SD questionnaire.

Blonder and Dinur

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Category Was the module relevant to students lives? Was the module interesting? Was the module student centered? Did the module develop cognitive skills? Did the module promote continuing motivation? Did the module present chemistry as a modern subject?

Number of items 6 5 3 4 6 4

Sample item In the Chemistry lessons I learn about topics concerning my own life. I nd the chemistry lessons very interesting. I contributed to the way the lessons were developed. The Chemistry lessons include activities that help me understand the subject. I read at home about the subject that was taught in the chemistry lessons. In chemistry lessons we learn about contemporary science.

-Cronbach reliability coefcient 0.82 0.82 0.63 0.62 0.78 0.70

focused on continuing motivation, preparing and submitof educational investigations utilize interview data, especially when the aim is to investigate students percepting the nal assignment was not compulsory. The nal tions (Glesne, 2006). With the present research, nine assignment included a scientic text about LED that was students (25%) were interviewed after they had learned taken from a web-article Weaving with Light (Sohn, Delivered by Ingentawhich was followed by questions from different to: the LED module. A structured interview was used; all 2007), Library Luis Angel Arango levels (based on Blooms taxonomy (Bloom the participating students were asked a series of specic understanding IP : 200.30.82.201 questions: and David, 1956)). The teacher used this assignment to Thu, 03 May 2012 21:57:38 Can you indicate some differences between the LED evaluate students understanding of the learned topic. In module and regular science lessons? the current paper the nal assignment was used as an indi Did you share the learned knowledge with someone not cator of students motivation, as will be presented in the in the class? Results section (4.5). Does learning the module inuence your plans regarding enrollment in chemistry next semester? Do you recommend teaching this module next year (for 4. RESULTS other students)? 4.1. Students Attitudes: The Semantic Differential We elected to begin the interview by asking the stu(SD) Student Questionnaire dents to indicate the differences between the LED module and a regular science lesson because we wanted to capThe Semantic Differential (SD) questionnaire was aimed ture the differences they would nd without help from the at mapping students perceptions after they learned the interviewer. LED module. The SD questionnaire was analyzed using All interviews were recorded and transcribed before the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, and the change in stuanalysis. The interviews were analyzed according to two dents perceptions (post-pre) is presented in Figure 1. main categories: continuous motivation and the factors that A signicant, positive change in attitude regarding the affect students motivation. relevance items in the SD questionnaire was recorded 3.6. Transcriptions of the Course Meetings The course meetings were audio recorded and the discussions held during the lessons were transcribed. From reading the transcriptions, we learned about the students perceptions regarding their learning and their learning environment, as well as their specic difculties. These transcriptions also helped us triangulate the data that were collected from the interviews and analyzed according to the same categories. 3.7. Students Final Assignments At the end of teaching the module, the students received a summative assignment. Since the goals of the intervention 56
Fig. 1. How learning the LED module affected students attitudes toward the six examined categories. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was applied to the SD results. p < 0 05, p < 0 01, p < 0 001.

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(p < 0 001), more specically, the items related to Modern chemistry (p < 0 05), the items related to Continuing motivation (p < 0 01), and the pedagogy of emphasizing student-centered activities was scientically positive (p < 0 05), as shown in Figure 1. 4.2. Enrollment in Chemistry

In the previous years the number of students that enrolled in chemistry was stable: around 10 students (out of two classes of 30 students each). As a result of the intervention, the number of students who enrolled in chemistry jumped to 25, as presented in Figure 2, which shows the enroll4.4. Transcriptions of the Course Meetings ment percentage of chemistry compared with all other subThe analysis of the transcriptions revealed that most of the jects. students worked very seriously according to the instrucIt is important to note that during the last ten years the tions. During group work, some of the students had difgirl students that had studied at that school came from culties, and they needed personal guidance, which was the same community and shared similar socio-economic given by the teacher. The following sentences might serve conditions. Therefore, we are able to assess the change in Delivered by as an example of some issues that were raised during the Ingenta to: the number of students who chose to major in chemistry Library Luis Angel Arangoissues are presented in the same categories lessons. These during these years. IP : 200.30.82.201 as the interview analysis and support the results of the Thu, 03 May 2012 21:57:38 interview. 4.3. Students Interviews The LED content: Students interviews were analyzed according to two main categories: continuous motivation and the factors that affect students motivation. Table IV presents the analysis of the interviews and shows the development of continuing motivation. The students were not directly asked about their continuing motivation; they spontaneously related to the motivation aspect. Motivation was captured by examining the following emergent sub-categories: sharing with family and friends, reading additional material at home, and motivation to enroll in chemistry. Most of the students (78%) stated that they shared their new knowledge with their family and friends. They all stated that they learned useful knowledge and that they are sure that they will use this knowledge in the future under different circumstances. Some of the students (55%) declared that the module induced them to enroll in chemistry, and none of them thought that the module repelled them from future chemistry studies. A clear separation between the pedagogy and the content was detected in the interviews. The students knew It is a challenge for me to understand advanced matter. I love to learn about this subject. We have LEDs at home and it is challenging to understand how they work. I wish that all chemistry lessons were about a subject like this, which is useful for me outside the classroom too.

how to distinguish between them and to indicate how each inuenced their continuing motivation. All the students stated that the student-centered teaching pedagogy enhanced their motivation and most of them (67%) found that the advanced topic learned was the source of the motivation, as presented in Table V. The combination of advanced content that is relevant to students life and the student-centered pedagogy inuenced the students continuing motivation. Moreover, the students were able to distinguish between these two parts of the intervention, as presented in Table V.

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Two themes regarding the LED content emerged from the students informal discussion during the lessons: the utility of the selected content that was taught during the LED module, and the cognitive challenge of the material learned. Student-centered pedagogy: The students appreciated the student-centered pedagogy and referred to their experience with this learning method, which shifts the control of the leaning from the teacher to the students. During one of the rst lessons, one of the students stressed: I dont understand what I am supposed to do here, I dont understand the experiment and I dont have any questions to ask. However, since they understood the learning method, this student said: I like to learn this way. In the regular chemistry class we listen and listen and Im bored.

Fig. 2. The number of students that enrolled in chemistry throughout the last three years. The described intervention was taken during 2011.

For the students, feeling comfortable with a new pedagogy took time. The module was gradually developed and the complete answers to the students questions were not 57

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Table IV. Interview analysis and sample sentences that explained reasons for the development of continuing motivation. Sub-Category Number of students (percentage) 8/9 (78%) Sample sentences

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Sharing with family and friends

Reading additional material at home Motivation to enroll in chemistry Recommending to teach the module next year

2/9 (22%) 5/9 (55%) 9/9 (100%)

I told my friends about what we learned; I also taught my older sister who studied chemistry, but did not have the opportunity to learn about LED. I saw at home LED lamps and I told my father what we learned about that. I thought at home about the questions that were raised in the lesson, and I searched for the answers. This learning is intriguing and convincing. Therefore, I considered choosing chemistry. I recommend teaching this module next year! It induced many girls to be interested in chemistry.

always given at the end of each lesson, but rather, at the rise (p < 0 01, Fig. 1) in the continuing motivation cateend of the subject learned. The students felt unsatised gory was obtained. Students interviews showed the same at the end of the lessons if they did not receive a full trend. Most of the students (78%) stated that they shared answer to their questions. However, at the end of the modtheir new knowledge with their family and friends. Some ule, when they were able to understand all the parts of the of the students (28%) even read additional material at puzzle, they stated: home without Delivered by Ingenta to: being asked to, as presented in Table IV. The LED is a wonderful invention. It has so many The enrollment Library Luis Angel Arango data also revealed a change in the students advantages. continuing IP : 200.30.82.201 motivation (Hofstein and Kempa, 1985): the Additional information was gathered by analyzing the number of students who enrolled in chemistry this year Thu, 03 May 2012 21:57:38 transcriptions of the course meetings: information about jumped dramatically to 25 from an average number of students difculties. Since the transcription was done 10 students, obtained in the last six years (Fig. 2). The immediately after the class, we were able to ascertain stusummative assignment was submitted by all of the students dents difculties and to address those difculties during even though it was not obligatory. This further supports the next meeting. For example, the rst activity Diode as the notion of the students willingness to participate in a component in an electric circuit was designed to trigthe activity and reects their motivation. All the evidences ger students curiosity regarding the diode structure, which indicate that the students continuing motivation increased determines its unique properties. However, the students as a result of learning the student-centered module about discussions in small groups during the experiment revealed LED. In the following section we will try to distinguish that their previous knowledge about the electric circle is between the inuence of the teaching pedagogy and the very low. They did not even know that electrons ow in module content according to the research questions: an electric circle, and they thought that the fact that the How did teaching a modern nanotechnology topic current ows only in one direction of the diode was an (LED) affect students continuing motivation? experimental error. The teacher decided to begin the next The students were able to determine how the learned lesson with a short article about the nature of an electric topic, LED, contributed to their motivation. During the circle, and its components. interviews 67% of the students (Table V) stressed that the learned topic, LED, was interesting and that it was the 4.5. Students Final Assignments source of their motivation to learn at home and to enroll in chemistry. The students described the LED subject as The students summative assignment was given at the challenging, modern, and applicable and therefore, it conend of the module, but preparing and submitting the tributed to the development of continuing motivation. The nal assignment was not compulsory. A most amazing minutes of the course lessons showed the same trends. Two result was noted here: All the students chose to submit themes regarding the LED content emerged from the stuthe assignment. The higher achievers completed all parts dents informal discussion during the lessons: the utility of of the assignment, and naturally submitted it. However, the selected content that was taught during the LED modalso those students with lower achievements in chemistry, ule, and the cognitive challenge of the material learned. who were not successful in understanding all the concepts This nding is in agreement with Hofstein et al. (1977), regarding LED, chose to submit the nal assignments, who studied the factors that affect students enrollment in which were partially completed. chemistry and physics courses. They found that the utility of the subject is positively correlated with students 5. DISCUSSION enrollment choices. Pascarella et al. (1981) described the same effect of utility on students continuing motivation. The continuing motivation of the students increased. According to the SD questionnaire results, a signicant The selection of a modern topic, LED, which is one of the 58
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Teaching Nanotechnology Using Student-Centered Pedagogy for Increasing Students Continuing Motivation

Table V. Interview analysis and sample sentences that explained reasons for the development of continuing motivation. Number of students (percentage) 6/9 (67%)

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Sub-Category Motivation arising from the LED subject

Sample sentences The LED subject is a modern area that gives practical knowledge for life. The LED subject is very challenging during this period we gradually learned the subject and we met the challenge. The way we learned was more interesting than learning other modules because we were active participants. Some parts of the subjects I learned on my own, and some parts were explained by the teacher; I have a sense of ownership of the subject. I like the experiments & questions method; at the beginning it was difcult. But I got used to the method and I received answers to my questions.

Motivation arising from the student-centered pedagogy

9/9 (100%)

she would love every topic being thought like that, and all well-known topics in nanotechnology, was found to be an effective tool for elevating students continuing motivation. of them indicated that they would recommend it to their Delivered Ingenta Nevertheless, noted that we cannot differentiate between by friends. to: Library Luis how the topic of LED itself affected the students contin- Angel Arango The use of student-centered learning appears to reect uing motivation and the effect of the pedagogy IP : 200.30.82.201 through todays society, where choice and democracy are imporwhich it was learned. The results indicate Thu,the stu- 2012 concepts (Vedder-Weiss and Fortus, 2011). Similar to that 03 May tant 21:57:38 dents perceptions, as reected from the interviews and our results, other studies found it an effective approach the transcribed discussions taken during the lessons, were to learning. Lea et al. (2003) reviewed several studies on inuenced by both parameters. student-centered learning and found that overall, it was How did using a student-centered pedagogy while teachan effective approach. Hall and Saunders (1997) found ing a modern nanotechnology topic (LED) affect students that students increased their participation, motivation, and continuing motivation? The SD questionnaire category, improved their grades in an information technology course. related to the student-centered pedagogy, resulted in a sigIn addition, and in correlation with our results, 94% of the nicant increase in the student-centered pedagogy charstudents indicated that they would recommend it to others acterizations of the LED module in comparison with the over the more conventional approach (Hall and Saunders, traditional chemistry lesson (p < 0 05, Fig. 1). During the 1997). interviews and lessons, students revealed their perceptions of the student-centered pedagogy. The students appreciated the experiments and questions method. They thought 6. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS that student-centered pedagogy is a very good teaching The current paper presents a teaching module about approach and all of the students mentioned this pedagogy nanotechnology and LEDs; it was designed as a as a motivating factor (Table V). Their appreciation of student-centered approach. The results indicate that this the pedagogy not only emerged in the interview: indicacombination of selected content and pedagogies greatly tions of their attitudes toward the learning methods were contributed to developing continuing motivation to learn found in the lessons, as reected in the transcribed discuschemistry. However, we did not perform control experisions during the lessons. At the beginning of the learning ments in order to control the two variables of content and experience they found the method difcult and unfamilpedagogy. We can claim that the nanotechnology content, iar; they said: I dont understand what I am supposed together with the student-centered pedagogy, positively to do here, I dont understand the experiment and I dont affects the continuing motivation. However, we cannot have any questions to ask. The students were not used evaluate the contribution of each of the components, and to their new role as being the center of the learning in whether the combination of the two was additive or synthe student-centered pedagogy and this shift was not easy. ergic. More research should be done to learn how each Nevertheless, when they experienced this approach for a factor affected students continuing motivation. longer period (the current experience lasted 14 lessons), it Another limitation is the student population. This study enhanced their motivation to learn chemistry in and outtook place in a girls high school. We were not able to side the school setting. One of the students even said to extend the results to other high schools with mixed gender her friends during the lesson that she likes to learn this students, nor to boys schools. Future research could shed way. In the regular chemistry class we listen and listen and Im bored. Another student stressed in the interview that light on the gender issue and should investigate whether
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Dewey, J. (1902). The child and the curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Glaser, B. & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Glesne, C. (2006). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (3rd ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc. 7. CONCLUSIONS Greenberg, A. (2009). Integrating nanoscience into the classroom: Perspectives on nanoscience education projects. ACSnano, 3(4), 762769. Teaching advance scientic topics such as nanotechnology Hall, J. & Saunders, P. (1997). Adopting a student-centred approach to at the high-school level is not a trivial task; however, it management of learning. In C. Bell, Bowden M. & Trott A. (Eds.), is worth the effort. Our study shows that students appreImplementing exible learning. London: Kogan Page. Harmer, A. J. & Columba, L. (2010). 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both genders like the student-centered learning of the LED module, as did the girls class in the current research (Brotman and Moore, 2008).

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Received: 22 July 2011. Accepted: 2 November 2011.

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