The K-12 education area is extremely important in that it is the key means of engaging children and youth iwth science. A study published recently found that unless children were engaged with science before the age of 7, it was unlikely that they will be interested in learning more about it or making a career of it. With our society becoming more technologically based, especially as nanotechnology transforms business and industry, it is imperative that we grow more workers for careers in science and technology.

• Goal #1, then is to engage youth with science and nanotechnology.

Another study pronounced that approximagtely 40% of middle and high school science teachers do not have a certificate in science. How inspiring can it be to learn science from someone who doesn’t know it very well?

• Goal #2, then is to engage teachers with science and nanotechnology in an effort to bring to them, first-hand experiences that will translate to inspiration in their classrooms.

Even those not employed directly in scientific jobs need to understand science to the extent they can make informed decisions about it. Our national, state, and local government leaders and bureaucrats need a better understand than they typically have today to be able to sort out the hype from the valid retoric. Environmentalists must understand the big picture of how things interact so forests don’t get wiped out for saving a tree, for example. In the past, our educational systems have failed to ground enough people in science to understand the basics of the world we live in and thus we are bound by decisions made by well-intentioned people for good reasons that have consequences far beyond those intended.

Key Benefits

• Improved science exposure and learning.
• More scientists and engineers graduated in future.
• While fixing the K-12 educational area won’t be a quick fix to some to these problems, it will have long term benefits that will enable better policy-making decisions.

Some results in Rushford already...

RINTek has already encouraged results by suggesting a nanotechnology curriculum in the Rushford-Peterson High School. Through diligent efforts the instructional staff at the school has implemented a Nanotechnology Curriculum. This is the first in the Nation. It has been cited as a model by the Undersecretary of Commerce in speaking about nanotechnology around the country. And they are now working under a grant to develop a national curriculum for high schools.

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For information send email to info@rinteknano.com