ICorps: Polymer Semiconductor Educational Kits

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响是改善材料科学领域的动手实验室体验，并提高9-12年级和本科水平的学生/教师对STEM的认识。该教育工具包架起了理论和实际分子材料技术之间的桥梁。该工具包是为跨学科实验室活动设计的交互式学习工具，可用于物理、化学、工程和材料科学教育环境。这些工具包提供了所有需要的材料、全面开发的课程和实施培训。教师专业发展研讨会有助于将实验室活动融入到S教师现有的科学课程中，同时满足国家和国际科学标准。目前大学一级正在调查和开发的包含当代科学实验的动手实验室活动有很大的市场。学区和科学/工程部门可能会对购买这些工具包感兴趣，使其成为一个具有商业影响力的重要教育平台。该试剂盒是灵活的，可以扩展到包括未来的实验和专业发展。这些工具包还可以用于科学博览会和竞赛等课外活动。这个i-Corps项目包括一个聚合物电子实验室工具包，以改善9-12岁和本科生的材料科学教育。这套由三个模块组成的工具包和课程使用聚合物半导体提供实践探究活动，结合了导电性、光发射和集光太阳能转换等主题。这些主题对当代材料科学研究和教育至关重要。该试剂盒包括评估导电胶体聚苯胺墨水的电学性能、使用聚苯乙炔构建聚合物发光二极管以及使用半导体聚合物和纳米二氧化钛构建聚合物太阳能电池的材料。这些活动最初是为高中科学课堂设计的，也符合新的大学本科教育对课程中大分子、超分子和纳米系统的要求，并可用于本科教学实验室。这些模块和工具包还被用于培训科学教育工作者的专业发展研讨会，以帮助将实验室活动整合到他们的课程中。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impacts of this I-Corps project are to improve hands-on laboratory experiences in the field of materials science and to increase STEM awareness for students/instructors at the 9-12 and undergraduate levels. The educational kit bridges the gap between theoretical and practical molecular materials technologies. The kit is an interactive learning tool designed for interdisciplinary laboratory activities and can be used in physics, chemistry, engineering, and material science educational settings. The kits provide all needed materials, a fully developed curriculum, and training for implementation. Professional development workshops for instructors help to integrate the laboratory activities into instructor?s existing science curriculum while addressing national and international science standards. There is a significant market for hands-on laboratory activities that incorporate contemporary science experiments currently under investigation and development at the university level. School districts and science / engineering departments will likely be interested in acquiring the kits, making them a commercially impactful and important education platform. The kit is flexible and can be expanded upon to include future experiments and professional development. The kits can also be used and developed for extracurricular activities such as science fairs and competitions.This I-Corps project involves a polymer electronics laboratory kit to improve materials science education for 9-12 and undergraduate students. The three-module kit and curriculum use polymer semiconductors to provide hands-on inquiry activities integrating themes of electrical conductivity, light emission, and light-harvesting solar energy conversion. These themes are critical to contemporary materials science research and education. The kit includes materials to evaluate the electrical properties of conductive colloidal polyaniline inks, to construct a polymer light- emitting diode using polyphenylene vinylene, and to build a polymer solar cell using semiconductive polymers and nanoparticulate TiO2. Designed initially for high school science classrooms, the activities developed also meet new collegiate undergraduate education requirements for macromolecular, supramolecular, and nanoscale systems in the curriculum and can be used in undergraduate teaching laboratories. The modules and kit have also been implemented in professional development workshops for training 9−12 science educators to help integrate the laboratory activities into their curriculum.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.