Use of Nanotechnology as a Phenomena to Motivate Secondary Students' Understanding of Proportions and Atomic Composition and Scale

Many students in secondary grade levels struggle with proportional reasoning. Calisici (2018) found that 48 percent of students were unable to solve a multiplication problem involving fractions. Furthermore, many students struggle with complex Chemistry topics due to the difficulty many students have visualizing the microscopic scale. "3D visualization media effectively improved students' critical thinking skills and scientific attitude (Astuti et al, 2020)." In another study done in Turkey, students were asked to draw static and dynamic models of an Oxygen atom. The study concludes, "Therefore, it could be suggested that generating animations as a modeling activity helps learners to improve their mental models of the atom. (Akaygun, 2016). "Thus, this study aims to address these misconceptions using a STEM Integration approach. A paper by Roehrig et al (2021) looked at creating a framework for STEM integration. The paper gave 7 key characteristics for integrating STEM: "(a) focus on real-world problems; (b) centrality of engineering; (c) context integration; (d) content integration; (e) STEM practices; (f) twenty-first century skills; and (g) informing students about STEM careers (Roehrig et al 2021)." This study examines how students understanding of proportions and atomic composition and scale develop throughout a week-long summer camp using Nanotechnology as the driving phenomena. Implications of this integrated STEM approach as well as students conceptual understanding is then examined and discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]