Social issues and nanotechnology
In this activity, students realise that they are growing up in a world in which nanotechnology could have a huge impact and explore some of the potential social issues that could arise.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
explain which existing products containing nanotechnology components they consider good or bad
explain which future products that may contain nanotechnology components they consider good or bad
develop a response to possible future products like ‘nanodocs’ that will enable medical tests or ‘nanocleaners’ that will enable cleaning of teeth, hair and skin throughout the day
discuss the positive and negative factors of nanotechnology enabling people to live to 200 years in the future.
A 'nanodoc' debate
What if a nanodoc was developed with tiny sensors placed under your skin? It could let you make medical tests whenever you want and be remotely linked to a computer, which is able to diagnose problems and suggest treatment, even prescribe medicine, without you needing to visit a real doctor. What do you think about this?
Download the Word file (see below) for:
introduction/background notes
what you need
what to do
extension idea
student handouts.
Related content
Nanoscience explained provides an overview of nanotechnology – its history and some future possibilities in the nanotechnology field. Nanometres and nanoscale gives practical explanations of these concepts.
Explore some of the research being undertaken in Aotearoa New Zealand into some of the industrial applications of nanotechnolgy
The Ethics thinking toolkit provides a structured framework for scaffolding student thinking about an ethical issue. For more about ethical frameworks and teaching ethical thinking, see Frameworks for ethical analysis and Teaching ethics.
Useful links
The activities in the download document make use of some New Zealand research into public opinion about nanotechnology.
Cook, A.J. and Fairweather, J.R. (2005) Nanotechnology – ethical and social issues: results from New Zealand focus groups. Research report No 281, Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University. This 56-page report can be found online at https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/6661c192-ce10-4b53-ab4b-e5138cabec26/content.
Further work is reported in: Cook, A.J. and Fairweather, J.R. (2006) Nanotechnology – ethical and social issues: results from a New Zealand survey. Research report No 289, Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, Lincoln University. This 56-page report can be found online at https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/f59500dc-9138-4368-9a6a-5758d7e2e488/content.
