NISE Network Blog

NanoDays kits will be shipped in early January, 2012. Please note that the kit will come in three separate boxes this year:

Regional hub leaders are contacting NanoDays physical kit applicants individually regarding awards.  As always, making decisions was a difficult process with only 225 physical kits to award.  We encourage all those who were not awarded a physical kit to utilize the digital materials in their ongoing education efforts.  The new digital kit will be posted here by January 15th: http://www.nisenet.org/nanodays/kit/digital

Day 2 of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Grantee Conference in DC on December 6 had a signficant focus on education.  As a discussant following one of the panels, Bob Chang, Director of the Nanotechnology Center for Learning and Teaching, made a compelling presentation on the need for nano education.

Where is the research happening?  Is the National Nanotechnology Initiative continuing to grow?  What are the focus areas? Mike Roco, who leads NSF's nanoscale science and engineering work, shared the following images at the annual Nanoscale Science and Engineering Conference in DC on Dec 5. (Click the "read more" link to the right of the map for the other images.)

The deadline for applying for NanoDays physical kits is Thursday, December 8th!  Similar to past years, we expect to reeive many more applications than kits, and once again this will be a competitive process. If your organization is not awarded a kit, we will have all the materials available online for download.

Located within a public school system where 73% of the students are Hispanic, the Las Cruces Museum of Natural History (LCMNH) in Las Cruces, New Mexico strives to find new and successful ways to reach their vastly diverse and often underserved audiences.

Looking for ideas for NanoDays 2012? I'll be highlighting some examples of NanoDays activities from the 2011 NanoDays reports in the NISE Net blog over the next few weeks.

A number of partners last year included science theater in their NanoDays offerings, with many adding the 10-minute Attack of the Nanoscientist play to their lineup:

Before Troy Dassler was coordinating outreach and labs at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, he was an elementary school teacher helping his students explore nanoscale science.

Did you catch the new Nano mini-exhibition on display in the NISE Network booth at ASTC this year? After the exhibit hall closed down, the mini-exhibition made its way to its new home at Port Discovery Children’s Museum in Baltimore. Port Discovery has actively been building a platform of STEM learning for their young audience, focusing on stimulating curiosity and self-direction through authentic first-hand encounters with objects, images, and processes upon which science is based. Their partnership with the NISE Network has strengthened this platform, creating an ideal opportunity to debut the mini-exhibition.