Nanoeducation: Zooming into Teacher Professional Development Programmes in Nanoscience and Technology

In this chapter, we present four different professional development programmes for in- and pre-service teachers and the accompanying research in the area of nanoscience and technology. First, we will present a review of the literature to lay out the field of conditions and approaches introducing nanoscience and nanotechnology into programmes for in- and pre-service teachers. This introduction will be followed by the four projects. The first study explores the goals and preconditions of introducing nanoscience into pre-service teacher education programmes; the second reports experiences from a programme for pre-service teachers. The third programme offers teachers authentic insights into research facilities. The fourth project reports about the design of an in-service teacher training programme focusing specifically on the use of models to teach and learn important nano techniques, such as atomic force microscopy. Those exemplary projects have been accompanied by different qualitative and quantitative research approaches which will also be outlined. The results of all four programmes clearly show the need for further investigations and course developments, based on the pre- and in-service teachers’ needs. They also give hints on successful tools and structures that could be used in other programmes on nanoscience, in modern scientific areas of interest for education as well.