Education in nanotechnology presents major challenges in science literacy. One of these challenges relates to conveying size and scale-related concepts. Because of the potential difficulties in conveying concepts and ideas that are not visible to the naked eye, multimedia for learning could be an appropriate vehicle to deliver curricular materials related to nanoscale science and engineering. This study used qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry to investigate how three different interactive multimedia tools for conveying concepts related to size and scale were perceived and experienced by two groups: (a) 224 novice/pre-service teachers, and (b) 8 instructional designers and trainers of pre-service teachers. Differences found between what these teachers and what instructional designers noticed about the interactive multimedia tools can inform the design of learning strategies for pre-service teachers training on the adoption and evaluation of multimedia for learning. Specifically, pre-service teachers focused on classroom management issues, but the instructional designers focused on aspects of instructional design and pedagogy. These issues are discussed, along with implications of the role of technology integration and the effective design of interactive multimedia in learning. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)