"Exploring Products - Computer Hard Drives" is a hands on activity in which visitors use floating ring magnets to store data. They learn that computer hard drives are one of the most common applications of nanotechnology.
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 Nano & Society - You Decide!" is a hands-on activity in which visitors sort and prioritize cards with new nanotechnologies according to their own values and the values of others. Visitors explore how technologies and society influence each other and how people’s values shape how nanotechnologies are developed and adopted.
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.
Step into the world of nanotechnology with Tiny Tech. Tiny Tech is a series of short radio episodes focusing on the science and engineering of the very small. Each episode presents an aspect of nanoscale objects, ranging from the effects of size on chemical and physical properties to new technological applications in fields as diverse as electronic devices and medicine.
Tiny Tech is a production of WUFT and the Center for Nanostructured Electronic Materials (CNEM), a National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation. Modules are written by CNEM faculty and students, who carry out research on the chemistry of nanotechnology at the University of Florida, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Georgia (http://cnem.chem.ufl.edu/).
Nanooze is a magazine to get kids excited about science and especially nanotechnology; the magazine and website has been created by the Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility, a project of the National Nanoscale Infrastructure Network (NNIN) with support from the National Science Foundation. Printed copies of Nanooze magazine are available free for classroom teachers!
Please email your request for copies to info@nanooze.org
This creative video from Science Alberta, explores the possible careers in nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. Their educational site, wonderville.ca, includes additional education videos, games, activities, and comics.
This hour long classroom program introduces nano science and nanotechnology as a leading, cutting edge science with an emphasis on nano in nature, health, energy and the environment. The class includes a PowerPoint presentation, three minute video, nine self-guided activities set up as “stations” around the classroom along with a concluding, teacher facilitated class discussion. This program was created for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s (OMSI) Outreach Unit. It has been designed for 4th – 8th graders and travels to elementary and middle schools in seven states around the Pacific Northwest.
"Nanotechnology: Small Science, Big Impact!" provides an overview of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology, and includes a variety of hands-on activities and demonstrations.
