• IUB Newsroom »
• Summer camp prepares high school teachers for nanotechnology in their classrooms

Summer camp prepares high school teachers for nanotechnology in their classrooms

• July 11, 2013

INDIANAPOLIS -- The IUPUI Nanotechnology Discovery Academy session for high school teachers runs July 15 to 19 at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

The weeklong summer camp for teachers is part of a program geared to instill high school students with the desire and capacity to excel in STEM disciplines and careers. The teacher camp is partially sponsored by NASA through Indiana Space Grant Consortium.

Up to 20 teachers from around Indiana are expected to attend the camp that will prepare them to present lessons in their classrooms this fall.

“The primary goal is to inspire students to pursue higher education and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines,” said Mangilal Agarwal, associate director of research development at IUPUI. “In teacher camps, in addition to lecture-based theory and hands-on learning, participants are introduced to nanotechnology-based teaching modules that are easily translated to the high school classroom, thus enabling the academy to potentially reach a much broader population of students.”

Nanotechnology involves the control of matter in the nanometer-scale dimensions -- one nanometer is 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair -- with a broad range of applications such as energy, medicine, information technology, space and aeronautics, and consumer goods.

The teachers’ schedule includes labs in solar cell fabrication and testing from 1:10 to 4:50 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, July 16 and 17, in Room 061 of the Engineering/Science and Technology Building, 723 W. Michigan St.

Camp sessions are open to media.  To arrange interviews, media should contact Diane Brown at 317-274-2195; Etta Ward at 317-278-8427; or Mangilal Agarwal at 317-278-9792.