Knowledge and Perception of Nanotechnology Among Students of Agricultural Faculties’ in Jordan

This study investigated Knowledge and Perception of Nanotechnology among Students of Agricultural Faculties’ in Jordan. The research was based on distributing a questionnaire. This study collected data from 485 respondents, of which 410 were analyzed. The results revealed that a very significant finding that the majority of the investigated students (45%) have already heard the word ‘nanotechnology’, though (72%) of those (45%) do not know about nanotechnology very well. The results of the present study indicated that students have basic or no enough knowledge about nanotechnology. The results also showed that students were with a very superficial knowledge of Nanotechnology. Moreover, none of the examined variables has no significant effect on the perception toward nanotechnology. Even though it is expected that students with higher years of study could show more expertise and acquire more developed topics such as the Nanotechnology concept, the students showed similar knowledge of Nanotechnology regardless of their year in study. The study recommends that the Jordanian educational policymakers in higher education should consider the inclusion of the Nanotechnology concept in the curricula of the different academic courses.


Introduction
Nanotechnology is becoming more and more popular every day. It is emerging as a leading field in the technological revolution in the new millennium. Nanotechnology research is likely to change the traditional practices of agricultural products. This issue creates a challenge for the academic community to educate agricultural students with the knowledge, perception, and skills to interact and provide leadership in the emerging world of nanotechnology (Ozel, 2008). In Nanotechnology, we are concerned with natural and synthetic materials (Kulkarni, 2015). However, there are concerns about the lack of an internationally accepted legal framework to regulate and govern the possible consequences of the application of nanoparticles. In governing the application of nanoparticle regulators; academics and researchers are divided into platforms to decide whether new legislation is required with minor or major modifications or whether the existing legislation is sufficient. Whatever the situation in this regard, the public understanding and acceptance must be considered as one of the primary steps concerning the introduction of nanotechnology as a new and emerging technology in the market, and to regulate it to avoid a situation such as genetically modified foods and nuclear energy that the international community witnessed in recent years (Karim et al., 2019). past ten years established programs, research units, academic and research institutes, centers, and laboratories. The steady growth of nanotechnology represents a challenge for the scientific community interested in universities and technical colleges to prepare the workforce to provide future job opportunities (Alhusani, 2019). Many developed countries have include nanotechnology applications in their school curriculum.
On the scope of Arab Countries, some research has emerged that discusses the topic of nanotechnology from an educational or evaluation perspective. Especially in the field of developing science education and upgrading the curricula to keep pace with modern scientific developments and exploring the extent of the ability of our current curricula to absorb the upcoming scientific change (Al-Rifai, 2019). Many studies were documented about nanotechnology-related issues such as awareness, perception, understanding, knowledge, benefits, and risks (Karim et al., 2017). Many studies investigated students perception toward nanotechnology revealed that even though there are some general concerns as to the risk, safety and Halal application of the nanotechnology, a large number of the investigated students, irrespective of gender, nationality, religion, and level of study are aware of the term 'nanotechnology'. They are able to identify the benefits of nanotechnologies to them as direct consumers. The majority of them are also aware of the presence of several Nano-enhanced consumer products including cosmetics, automobiles, and computer accessories in the local market. The results also confirmed that more than 80% of the respondents favor the application and introduction of this technology to other sectors. Ahmed (2015) in a study aimed at revealing the effectiveness of applications of nanotechnology in the environment among students of the Faculty of Education at Ain Shams University focused on the educational environment within universities. The results of the study showed that the proposed program was with a positive impact on the student's awareness of nanotechnology applications.
According to Taha (2014), there was a decrease in the level of public awareness of nanotechnology concepts and their various applications among students and teachers in the Agricultural Sciences department. A study conducted by Anderson (2013) revealed that sharing different definitions of individuals enabled them to come up with different levels of support for nanotechnology. The participants were given one of three definitions of nanotechnology i.e. the first definition focused on nanotechnology's novel applications, the second one considered its risks and benefits, and the last one included both applications and risks and benefits. A study conducted by Elmarzugi et al. (2014) about the "Awareness of Libyan Students and Academic Staff Members of Nanotechnology", based on a survey collected randomly from many campuses of Tripoli University (Alfateh), and two governmental research centers (polymer and plastic) in Tripoli over a period of about five months (March -July), concluded that of 330 participants, 156 knew about nanotechnology and 174 have no idea. Also, A study conducted by Toqeer et al. (2015) in Pakistan, revealed that the majority of the respondents (77%) had heard about nanotechnology but only (47%) had read about it and a slightly lower percentage (44.4%) had an awareness of the applications of nanotechnology. Nurettin and Emel (2013) investigated Turkish middle school students' awareness, factual knowledge, opinions, and risk perceptions toward nanotechnology. The results showed that there is no significant difference between males and females in the level of awareness about nanotechnology. However, for some of the demographic and affective domain factors, and achievement in science courses, significant differences were found.
The main problem in this study is that the development of any nation depends largely on the level of its technological advancement and the level of the exposition of its citizens to the use of modern technology. Modern technology such as Nanotechnology is of great importance to society. Knowledge and application of Nanotechnology can be achieved through the faculty of Agriculture instruction, more especially as naturally occurring nanomaterial existed in ashes and smoke which man is familiar with but ignorant of it as a nanomaterial. And the lack of studies about the perceptions and knowledge of agricultural students in Jordan, despite the vital role that the agricultural faculties' students play in raising awareness of agriculture-related issues there is a lack in studies knowledge about the subject. In addition, in Jordan studies have been conducted targeting agriculture regarding practical, but the studies to Student awareness are few in the nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is related to Agriculture Education, but how much of Nanotechnology is being knowledge and perception in faculty of Agriculture by the students, Therefore, understanding, knowledge, and perception of the Jordanian students from faculty of agriculture toward Nanotechnology Given this work, the objective of the present study is to examine the perception and knowledge of the Jordanian students of agricultural university faculties, as they considered as the best sample for such study, as these students are the future leaders and at the same time conscious segment of the citizens. The objectives of this study are as follow: This was achieved through, (1) To explore whether the university students are familiar with the 'nanotechnology', (2) To determine their level of knowledge regarding 'nanotechnology', (3) To find out their perception about nanotechnology, and To identify the relationships of familiarity with nanotechnology with the respondents' demographics.

Nanotechnology in Jordan
Jordan among the Middle East, considered as an economically and politically stable country compared to other states. The overall youth literacy rate is 99.22%. Youth literacy rate definition covers the population between the ages of 15 to 24 years (World Bank, 2019). In the early 1960s, Jordan realized the importance of science and technology to the socio-economic development of the country so the Scientific Research Council was established in 1961. The council was responsible for planning, promoting, and financing research; identifying the national research priorities; promotion of scientific research culture; and enhancing science and technology cooperation with the other countries (Alfeeli et al., 2013). The Jordanian educational system is well-developed. UNESCO ranked Jordan education system 18th out of 94 nations in 2018. The rate of public spending on public education in Jordan as a percentage of the government budget in 2018 was 12.2%, Jordan has 29 universities and 40 community colleges. There are over 342,000 Jordanian students enrolled in universities. An additional 35,000 Jordanians pursue higher education abroad (MOHE, 2020). In Jordan there is considerable interest in the development and production of nanotechnology; where major institutes were established such as: "Nanotechnology Research Center" at the Jordan University of Science and Technology/Irbid, and Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research at the University of Jordan in Amman, in addition to the Royal Scientific Society. There are also many different efforts in Jordanian universities in scientific research on nanotechnology. At least, 200 scientific publications were published in the field of nanotechnology by Jordanian scientists (UNEP, 2018). The majority of nanotechnology research articles were published by academics at public and private universities. Public institutions account for about 97% of the total published articles, while private institutions contribute to the rest. The University of Jordan and Jordan University of Science and Technology were the pioneers in the field of nanotechnology with more than half the total published articles (Alshamaileh et al., 2016).

Population and Sample
In Jordan, three public universities and one private offer Agricultural Studies through a Faculty of Agriculture in each one of these universities. The four universities include The University of Jordan in the Middle Province of Jordan, Mutah University in the Southern Province of Jordan and Jordan University of Science and Technology as well as Jerash University (Northern Province of Jordan). A total of 4534 students study at undergraduate and graduate levels at these four universities resembled the population of the present study. A well-structured questionnaire was electronically administered to all of the 4534 students. A total of 485 students responded (around 11% of the population). The respondents' volume considered being enough as a sample. According to Gay et al. (2006), "If the population is 50,000, a sample of 1% would be more than adequate". The sample size was 485 out of 4534, thus the sample size for the present study is more than adequate that can truly represent the total population. Table 1 shows respondents' distribution among the included universities. The returned rate was only 10.7% due to the spread of coronavirus and due to the conduction of online learning in all universities in Jordan during the period of data collection. Data from 410 respondents were analyzed as 75 questionnaires were found incomplete.

Data Collection and Analysis
A well-structured questionnaire was designed to obtain information from respondents. The questionnaire contained items related to the demographic and personal characteristics of the respondents, items related to nanotechnology perception and knowledge, and items related to student's attitudes regarding Nanotechnology. The items included in the questionnaire have been developed regarding previous researches on' views on nanotechnology. The questionnaire validity was tested and a Cronbach's value of 0.81 was obtained indicating high reliability of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was translated into Arabic due to the presence of English language difficulties among the participants.
Data analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software SPSS (version 26). The analysis was descriptively focused on examining relationships between variables. One-way statistical differences due to gender, specialization, and academic level were determined using Student t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and LSD multiple comparisons test. To measure perceptions of students towards nanotechnology, respondents were asked to provide their overall assessments of their understanding and knowledge, about nanotechnology. The assessment was based on their degree of agreement with the statements related to nanotechnology using a fivepoint Likert -type scale ranging from 1 = not agree to 5 = totally agree.

Study Variables
Dependent Variables: Understanding, Knowledge, and Perception of the Jordanian Agricultural Students toward Nanotechnology at Universities in Jordan.
Independent Variables: Gender, specialization, academic level, educational stage (to be indicated as undergraduate or graduate).

Demographics of the Participants
The results of the study revealed that 53.2% of the participants were male and 46.8% were female. The result also revealed that 14.4% of the participants were fresh students, 24.4% and 24.9% were in the second and thirdyear levels respectively and 28.8% were in the final stage of the study. The results showed that 92.4% are undergraduate students while 7.6% were postgraduates. According to results, the majority of students were in Food Science and Nutrition (42.7%) specialization, followed by (26.6%) Plant Production, and only (0.50%) of the students were in Landscaping and Floriculture specialization. Table 2 presents the demographic data of the participants.  Table 3 shows participants' responses to the question of whether they have heard the word 'nanotechnology' before. The results showed that 45.4% of the participants replied that they have heard the word 'nanotechnology' before, while 14.4% of them stated that they never heard the word before. About 33% of the participants replied that they might have heard, and the rest (7.6%) were not sure whether they have heard this word or not. About 47% from Jerash University heard nanotechnology, and 49% from students of (UJ) heard the word, while, 40.2% of respondents were from Mutah University, furthermore, 7.8% respondents from (JUST) never heard the word. This results agrees with Toqeer et al. (2015) in Pakistan, who revealed that the majority of the respondents (77%) had heard about nanotechnology but only (47%) had read about it and a slightly lower percentage (44.4%) had an awareness of the applications of nanotechnology. It is very aspiring to reveal that Jordanian university-level students are the perception of nanotechnology as more than 45% of the total respondents in this study had already heard the word 'nanotechnology', while 32% had might have heard the term, this means that when the student increases their learning and expand their knowledge in science, this will be reflected in his understanding of the terminology. Source: Statistical analysis output. Figure 1 shows the results related to the source of the participants' knowledge about nanotechnology. The results indicated that 17.9% of the participants confirmed that the source of their knowledge about nanotechnology is personal knowledge, and 40.9% confirmed that their knowledge is from the media, while 24.6% confirmed that jas.ccsenet.org Vol. 12, No. 8; the source of their knowledge is from the university courses that they studied at the university, and 16.6% is from scientific researches. The academic background of the students has been shown to play a major role in shaping their perception and knowledge regarding any technology (Weisenfeld & Ingrid, 2011). It was found that academic courses and Social media had significant role to make students aware of nanotechnology. This might be regarding to that some students are now using smart apps and social media to attract knowledge and distance learning. Therefore, it can be assumed that the students got such information from other types of scientific research and personal knowledge.   Source: Statistical analysis output.

Source of Knowledge
In Table 4, 72% of the respondents know a low about nanotechnology. The students who know about nanotechnology could answer that nanotechnology can be utilized in the field of science such as agriculture and others. Therefore, policymakers should consider to take initiative to make students and other stakeholders informed about nanotechnology. Such an initiative will enable policymakers to help raise public awareness, provide information regarding research findings, provide input for future policymaking, and attract younger people to science, etc. The Jordanian policymakers can consider the Planning Guide for the organization in nanotechnology developed (OECD, 2012).

Nanotechnology Importance to Be Included Within the Agricultural Disciplines at the University Level
Based on the results of Figure 1, Figure 2 shows the majority of students (82.9%) in the Faculties of Agriculture in Jordanian universities confirmed that they did not study nanotechnology subjects within the curricula in agriculture faculty in the course. This is reflected to adding nanotechnology courses, part two in this figure, it can be seen that (85.5%) of the respondents who have there is importance to include nanotechnology in the curricula of the Faculty of Agriculture, because of its importance in all applied sciences. This means, there is a necessity to update agriculture college science curricula by integrating nanotechnology-related concepts that are both relevant and meaningful to students. The integration of nanotechnology in agriculture science curricula comes in response to nanotechnology development and our mission as educators to instill and arouse students' curiosity in learning about both what is and what will be more dominantly occupying the marketplace (Ghattas & Jeffrey, 2012).

Perception of Nanotechnology
The results of the statistical analysis regarding students' perceptions of Nanotechnology are presented in Table 5. The table shows the mean scores and standard deviations of respondents. The results revealed that the overall mean score is 3.44 which is more than the judgment score value (3). According to the decision rule that serves to judge students' perception, the overall mean score value indicates that we can accept the null-hypothesis. (No significant difference between students perception of nanotechnology at less than or equal 0.05) (t = 10.018, Sig = 0.000). Results in Table 5 also show that the maximum mean score (3.61) of Al-Balqa' Applied University students indicating a high level of nanotechnology perception. This was followed by (3.52) for JUST students, then Jerash students with (3.47), and (3.32) for the students of the University of Jordan, and least perception (3.28) for Mutah University students.

Perception According to Gender
According to the results presented in Table 6 below, among the 410 students; 218 were males and 132 were females with mean scores of 3.50, and 3.38 for males and females perceptions respectively. The results indicated that there is no significant difference between males and females' perception of nanotechnology (p = 0.182 > 0.05). Participants were able to identify nanotechnology even though males do have higher mean scores than females. Source: Statistical analysis output.  Source: Statistical analysis output.

Perception According to Gender to a Year of Study
The participants were divided into 5 groups according to their year of study as shown in Table 8. The convergent values of the mean scores for the five groups suggest that there is no significant effect of student year on his or her perception toward nanotechnology. ANOVA test results shown in Table 9 confirm the results obtained in Table 8 with p = 0.175 > 0.05.  Source: Authors own analysis. Table 10 shows the results of students' perceptions according to the location of the investigated universities. The convergent values of the mean scores for the investigated universities suggest that there is no significant effect of the location of the university on students' perception toward nanotechnology. ANOVA test results shown in Table  11 confirm the results obtained in Table 10 with p = 0.175 > 0.05.  Source: Authors own analysis.

Conclusions and Recommendations
This study was an attempt to assess the knowledge and perception of the agricultural faculties' students among the Jordanian universities. It is a very significant finding that the majority of the investigated students (45%) have already heard the word 'nanotechnology', though (72%) of those (45%) do not know about nanotechnology very well. The results of the present study indicate that students have basic or no enough knowledge about nanotechnology. This confirms the research hypothesis of this study. The results also showed that students were with a very superficial knowledge of nanotechnology. This result is not consistent with the hypothesis of the study. Moreover, none of the examined variables has No significant effect on the perception toward nanotechnology. Although it is expected that students with higher years of study could show more expertise and acquire more developed topics such as the nanotechnology concept, the students showed similar knowledge of nanotechnology regardless of their year in the study. The study recommends that the Jordanian educational policymakers in higher education should consider the inclusion of the nanotechnology concept in the curricula of different academic courses. Future research may also consider the citizens' impression and perception of nanotechnology.