52
CONFERENCE PROCEEDING
Awareness Of Nanotechnology Among Gifted and Talented Students In Kolej Genius Insan (Malaysia)
Hazimuddin Danish Asmadi1, Nur Syazwani Zainal1, Mohamad Azani Abd Khadir Jalani2*
1Kolej GENIUS Insan, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, 71800 Bandar Baru Nilai, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
As the world has grown in the field of technology, science, education and modernism, many countries have started to educate the young generation about the necessity of knowledge in terms of nanotechnology. In Malaysia, the Ministry of Education has developed a new syllabus in educating secondary level students (Form 1 to Form 5 within age from 13 to 17 years old) called Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah (KSSM). In KSSM, Form 5 students are exposed to nanotechnology in Chemistry subject, an elective subject studied by pure science students. The main objective in introducing this topic is to educate the young generation of the importance of nanotechnology in daily life. Therefore, this study was conducted in order to measure the level of nanotechnology awareness in Kolej GENIUS Insan’s students. The data was collected from 268 students by using online survey form.
The results briefly indicated that 72% of respondents agree that they do not receive enough exposure to have a good understanding of nanotechnology. However, 59% of respondents perceive that nanotechnology provides high benefits while 3% believe that this will provide high risks in industry.
Moreover, apart of the good efforts of Ministry of Education in including nanotechnology in KSSM syllabus, several ways that were suggested by the respondents to increase the awareness and exposure level of nanotechnology also will be discussed in detail.
Keywords: Nanotechnology; awareness; gifted and talented students
INTRODUCTION
Along with the development of the 4.0 industrial revolution, people need to know more about nanotechnology whose applications are growing rapidly in various fields of science such as physics, materials science, chemistry, biotechnology and many more (Gul, 2017). The word 'nano' itself means dwarf or very small which we certainly cannot see with the naked eye because it is a hundred thousand times smaller than the size of a strand of hair. Nanotechnology can be defined as a branch of science that focuses on matter at a size between 1 to 100 nanometres (1 nm = 10-9 metres). The various uses and benefits provided by nanotechnology to human beings including in the aspects of medicine, communication, manufacturing and many more aspects of modern society. Even though the strategies of technological innovation have been extensively studied, little research has been conducted on managing the innovation and exposure in nanotechnology (Igarashi, 2011; Shapira et al., 2011). Malaysia has begun its' initiative to develop the country by educating and exposing students to nanotechnology at a young age. One of the initiatives is by including nanotechnology in Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah (KSSM) syllabus where Form 5 students are introduced to nanotechnology in Chemistry subject. The learning standard of the
53
topic is to ensure that students can explain the meaning and describe nanotechnology with examples of its application in daily life. Kolej GENIUS Insan is one of the PERMATA programmes that provides gifted and talented students the opportunity to have the best education in Malaysia by providing formal education integrated with 'Aqli and Naqli knowledge in all academic subjects, including Chemistry. In the Quran, there are several verses that mentioned about particles including verse 7-8 of Surah Az-Zalzalah:
Here ة َّرَذ or zarrah means a very small entity. In this verse, Allah says that regardless of whether a person does good or bad things in the size of as small as a particle, Allah SWT still will certainly reward them accordingly. Nowadays, there are so many advanced instruments that can be used to measure the size of particles even in nano region by using Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and others.
METHODOLOGY
There are three main phases in conducting this study. The first phase is the development of questionnaire items that focused on the awareness of nanotechnology among students in Kolej GENIUS Insan. Next, the online survey was distributed to respondents in the second phase. The survey involved 268 respondents consist of 35.8% of age 14, 31.3% of age 15, 14.2% of age 16 and 17.5% of age 17 students.
Finally, the third phase involves data analysis based on the responses of the students.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 1 below shows the percentage of respondents that have heard about nanotechnology inventions. The data reveals that 25% of students used to know the nanotechnology in daily life while 75% of respondents rarely heard about nanotechnology inventions in daily life. The knowledge and exposure of nanotechnology among students are still not enough. Figure 2 summarized the student’s opinion on nanotechnology field. Majority of the respondents agreed that nanotechnology is important and need to be exposed since high school. Furthermore, they believed that nanotechnology would also give benefits to human and nature. On the one hand, positive impact of nanotechnology development is trusted to be a promising effect that would happen in the future rather than the negative impact of them. Hence, nanotechnology would give more benefits to the world in making human life easier and more convenient.
54
Figure 1. Percentage of respondents heard about nanotechnology inventions
Figure 2. Data of respondent’s opinion on nanotechnology
Figure 3 shows respondents' suggestions on ways to increase the awareness level of nanotechnology among students. First, 41.31% of the respondents suggested that programmes such as campaigns and conferences be organized. Furthermore, 18.92%
of respondents gave suggestions to incorporate nanotechnology into the curriculum and deepen students' understanding through a variety of classroom activities. In addition, 9.27% thought to host a competition, while another 6.56% suggested spreading awareness regarding nanotechnology at an early age.
Figure 3. Respondent’s suggestion on ways to increase the awareness level in nanotechnology between students
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the students of Kolej GENIUS Insan have been exposed to nanotechnology, but their knowledge still need to be enriched by organizing programs such as campaign and conferences to have a good understanding of this field of science. Along with the National Nanotechnology Policy and Strategy 2021-2030
55
(DSNN 2021-2030), it is hoped that this study can increase the awareness level of nanotechnology and develop interest among young generation to achieve the objective of DSNN 2021-2030 in transforming Malaysia from technology users to technology developers.
REFERENCES
Gul, S. (2017). Development of an attitude scale to measure the undergraduate students’ attitudes towards nanobiotechnology. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 26(5), 519-533.
Igarashi, K. (2011). Nanotechnology for new industry creation and lifestyle creation. AIST Tsukuba, 1- 28.
Shapira, P., Youtie, J., & Kay, L. (2011). National innovation systems and the globalization of nanotechnology innovation. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 36(6), 587-604.
