Search: Facilitated activity

"Exploring Materials - Nano Gold" is a hands-on activity in which visitors discover that nanoparticles of gold can appear red, orange or even blue. They learn that a material can act differently when it’s nanometer-sized.

"Exploring Tools - Mitten Challenge" is a hands on activity in which visitors build a Lego® structure while wearing mittens. They learn that it is difficult to build small things when your tools are too big.

"Exploring Size - Memory Game" is a card game exploring the different size scales - macro, micro and nano - objects within these different scales and the way these objects are measured. Visitors compete to find matching pairs of cards.

Visitors will engage in a variety of survey type questions focusing on different aspects of nanotechnology. For each question posed, they will be provided short descriptions about the possible options. They will then place their vote using a marble in the container labeled with their selection. Throughout the day the public will be able to visualize how others have answered the same question by looking at the quantity of marbles in each container. Museum staff can use the data to chart trends in public knowledge about nanotechnology.

"Exploring Products - Sunblock" is a hands-on activity comparing sunblock containing nanoparticles to ointment. Visitors learn how some sunblocks that rub in clear contain nanoparticles that block harmful rays from the sun.

Scientist Speed Dating is a facilitated, yet informal and high-energy, social activity to encourage a large group of people to speak with one another, ask questions, and learn about specific areas of research and practice within the field of nanoscale science and engineering, as well as the related societal and ethical implications of work in this field.

Nano Around the World is a card game designed to get participants to reflect on the potential uses of nanotechnology across the globe. Players each receive three cards: a character card, a current technology card, and a future technology card. They are asked to assume the role of their character to find nanotechnologies that might benefit them. After game play there is a facilitated discussion to help players reflect on the choices they made, the difficulty in finding appropriate technologies for many of the characters, and the possible nanotechnologies that could benefit a wider array of people than current nanotechnologies do.

"Exploring Materials - Liquid Crystals" is a hands on activity demonstrating that the way a material behaves on the macroscale is affected by its structure on the nanoscale. Visitors investigate the properties of a heat sensitive liquid crystal and make their own liquid crystal sensor to take home.

"Exploring Size - Scented Solutions" is a hands on activity illustrating how small nano is. By sniffing a series of diluted scent solutions, visitors discover that nano-sized particles may be too small to see, but they're not too small to smell!

This hands-on activity will guide you in making a synthetic gecko tape with micron sized hairs that mimics that behavior of the gecko foot. The process is called "nanomolding." Also described is an easy setup using Legos for testing how much weight the gecko tape can hold. Significant amount of research is ongoing in the field of synthetic Gecko tape due to its wide variety of applications. This program gives a glimpse of one of the methods used by researchers for making a synthetic gecko tape and its properties.