Developing a Learning Progression for the Nature of Matter as it Relates to Nanoscience. Paper presented at

The nature of matter as it pertains to nanoscience-Nanoscience research is rapidly developing strategies for creating new products and technologies by controlling matter at the nanoscale. New information and technologies from nanoscience research is and will continue to have broad societal implications that will be realized in many fields, including health care, agriculture, food, water, energy, and the environment. Moreover, nanoscience promises to have significantly greater impact on society than previous leaps in scientific knowledge because it represents a convergence of science disciplines on the nanoscale (Stevens, Sutherland, Schank, & Krajcik, 2006). Nanoscience and nanotechnology incorporate aspects of chemistry, physics, biology and engineering to create highly interdisciplinary fields (Roco, 2001). One of the major challenges for bringing nanoscience and nanotechnology, as well as most emerging science, into the classroom is their interdisciplinary nature, requires students as well as science teachers to be able t