Abstract:

The experience developed was performed with third-year students of the subject "nanomaterial characterization techniques 2", included in the nanoscience and nanotechnology degree” program, which is taught at the university of A Coruña (UDC, Spain). This is a practical subject in which students must acquire the necessary skills to understand the operation principles of scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) and their application in the nanometric materials characterization. These high-resolution imaging devices are bulky and very expensive and they are normally operated by specialised technicians. These factors avoid the usual lecture development in a conventional practical laboratory, which should be adapted to the situation through the use of new learning tools.

A new didactic experience was programmed in which the teachers of this subject combined a first stage, based on the use of simulations for teaching both, the basic operation principles of SPMs and the analysis and data treatment of simulated images; with a second learning stage, based on real situations in which the students could operate the SPMs available in the UDC’s auxiliary research services for the obtention of images from real nanomaterials.

In the first stage, students are provided with a basic SPMs prototype, based on the SPMs operational principles, and with a software that allows them to control the prototype as well as to generate a variety of simulated images of a nanomaterial. To understand how the SPMs operation principles, the student is asked to use the prototype to obtain simulated images of the 2 reference samples. After that, they are provided with some guidelines to follow with the aim of obtaining a wide range of simulated images with the software, carrying out the appropriate treatment of each one and extracting the adequate information from them in each case. At the end of this stage the student must give a report summarizing all the results. The aim of this stage of the experience is to encourage students self and active learning.

The knowledge acquired during this first stage by using the simulation, enabled them to get more out of the second stage of learning, in which real nanomaterials were characterised. The students were taken to the UDC’s auxiliary research service, where the SPMs are operating and the analysis of real nanomaterials were performed. The students could live the real experience and apply the knowkedge adquired previously in the simulation stage. They were provided with the resulting images and distributed in groups. Each group should analyse the images and extract conclusions on them, according to what they have learnt in the first stage. This activity is focused in encouraging the collaborative work. Finally, they are asked to present and defence the results obtained to a panel made up of lecturers from the subject areas involved in the subject.

The aim of this experience is to establish a dynamic in which the scientific methodology is integrated with the previous simulated practice. The final evaluation of the students will be carried out in three blocks: the evaluation of the report delivered from the work of the simulation experience, the evaluation of the defence act of the results obtained in real nanomaterials during the second stage of the experience to an examining board composed by expertise lecturers and finally, the evaluation of a final exam with multiple-choice questions and short questions about the SPMs studied.

Keywords:

Learning based on simulation, scientific methodology, simulated practice, active learning.