Recent Submissions

  • Nanotechnology ethics and policy education: learning and sharing across boundaries

    Mitcham, Carl; Packard, Corinne E.; Holles, Cortney; Rolston, Jessica Smith; Heller, Laura; Hudson, Derrick; Nan, Wang; Qin, Zhu (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2013-12)
    This abstract describes the published paper that documents a case study of the emergence and expansive adaptation of the ethics education component of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The case study began with a brief overview of nanotechnology as a U.S. federal policy initiative and the Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) Program. Using nanotechnology as a framework, an interdisciplinary faculty team of more than 20 members at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) developed the Nano-Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy (NanoSTEP) project to better understand the effectiveness and influence of ethics and policy learning in the undergraduate engineering curriculum, and to graduate more effective contributors to 21st century engineering practice. NanoSTEP also examined relationships between emerging technologies and underrepresented populations, with respect to the potential for environmental and social justice deficiencies, both in access to opportunities for research and education, and in regard to benefitting from nanotechnology research and design. The NanoSTEP project components include a poster, a presentation, and a two-part curricular module, all of which may be found in the Mines Institutional Repository.
  • Nanotechnology, ethics and policy education: research and pedagogy

    Mitcham, Carl; Packard, Corinne E.; Heller, Laura; Hudson, Derrick; Holles, Cortney; Nan, Wang; Qin, Zhu; Delborne, Jason; Schneider, Jennifer J.; Woodson, Sandra (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2013-03)
    This panel discussion on the creation of interdisciplinary modules about the social, ethical, environmental, and economic impact of nanotechnology was presented in three parts: the background of federal support for nanotechnology research; the pedagogy, practice and outcomes of the course modules and faculty workshop; and a review of the literature on social justice and ethics in nanotechnology with respect to belief systems and underrepresented groups. The presentation was delivered at the 2013 Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) conference.
  • Workshop and module design part one: nature and human values

    Delborne, Jason; Heller, Laura; Hudson, Derrick; Holles, Cortney; Mitcham, Carl; Packard, Corinne E.; Preston, Christopher; Schneider, Jennifer J.; Woodson, Sandra (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2014-10)
    This learning module on ethical impacts of nanotechnology was developed for an existing core course with an interdisciplinary teaching team. The module incorporates a set of materials used to develop a faculty training workshop, develop a new curricular module on nanotechnology, and assess student knowledge. It consists of a workshop agenda, bibliography and other resources for faculty, descriptions of class activities, lecture slides, and assessment materials including a survey and interview protocol.
  • NanoSTEP: nano-science, technology, ethics, and policy

    Holles, Cortney; Packard, Corinne E.; Heller, Laura; Delborne, Jason; Schneider, Jennifer J.; Hudson, Derrick; Mitcham, Carl (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2012-03)
    This poster, presented at the NSF EEC Awardees conference in March 2012, explains the funded project called NanoSTEP (Nano-Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy) at the Colorado School of Mines. It highlights the project objectives and timeline, classroom interventions and modules, proposed methods for the project, publication and dissemination plans, and expected outcomes.
  • Workshop and module design part two: human systems

    Delborne, Jason; Heller, Laura; Hudson, Derrick; Holles, Cortney; Mitcham, Carl; Packard, Corinne E.; Preston, Christopher; Rolston, Jessica Smith; Schneider, Jennifer J.; Woodson, Sandra (Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2014-10)
    This module on policy for nanotechnology development was created for the sophomore-level course, Human Systems, a history of sociological, religious, political, and economic systems. It was developed as an extension of the freshman module on ethics described in the Workshop and Module Design Part One: Nature and Human Values. For the Human Systems course, the focus of the module was on policy and international relations in technology development. Students read and wrote about nanotechnology development in the context of their historical and sociological study and were then assessed for resulting changes in their thinking. This entry contains the assignments, assessments, and development materials for the module.