Welcome to the February Nano Bite, the monthly e-newsletter for the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net).
Upcoming Activities!
2014 will be the 7th year of nation-wide NanoDays events! Whether this is your first NanoDays or you hosted events previously, the NISE Net is thrilled to have you join our week of public educational activities about nanoscale science and technology at science museums and research centers all across the nation. The 2014 NanoDays physical kits have been shipped and educators around the US are excitedly unwrapping their activities and prepping for their upcoming programs. Didn't receive a physical kit this year? Don't worry because the NanoDays 2014 digital kit includes all the written resources and activity materials lists to host a NanoDays event.
- *Important update* You might have the wrong ammeter in your physical NanoDays 2014 kit! Due to an ordering mix-up, the wrong ammeter may have been included with the Exploring Properties-Electric Squeeze activity [read more].
- NanoDays 2014 digital kit is now available for download. Download all the written materials and activity materials lists that are included in the physical kit.
- Physical kit information. Find out what activities are being included in this year’s physical kits or join an upcoming brown-bag conversation.
- NanoDays 2014 training videos now available
- NanoDays event planning guide. This detailed planning guide will ease your NanoDays planning. Take advantage of the suggested planning calendar, activity ideas and promotional materials to use in advertising your event.
- NISE Net promotional materials, logos, and publicity images, including the NanoDays 2014 Press Release.
→ Are You Getting Ready for NanoDays 2014?
Are you new to hosting a NanoDays event, unfamiliar with some of the new 2014 activities, or just looking for a fun refresher? Then consider joining the upcoming spring online brown-bag conversations that cover a wide-range of NanoDays-related topics! We'll be opening up the kits together, exploring the science behind NanoDays activities, going over techniques for engaging visitors in conversations about nano and society, and discussing strategies for delivering programs for multiple-language visitors without speaking their language.
Spring 2014 Online Brown-Bag Conversations - Get Prepared for NanoDays
See full details and RSVP for brown-bags here.
- February 4, 2014: What’s Coming in Your NanoDays Kit
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February 19, 2014: The Science Behind NanoDays – Part 1
- Brown-bag to highlight activities on oobleck and ferrofluids!
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March 4, 2014: Nano and Society
- Also check out the Nanotechnology and Society Guide, which can help provide the framework for museum staff and visitors to discuss the relevance of nanotechnology in their lives through open-ended conversations.
- March 11, 2014: Presentation Tips for Reaching Diverse Audiences
- March 18, 2014: The Science Behind NanoDays – Part 2
- January 9, 2014: Nano for Summer Camps (view recording)
- January 15, 2014: Hosting a Bilingual NanoDays (view recording)
→ Speed-ucate Video or How to Have an Effective Science and Society Conversation
→ America’s Next Top Presenter Video
Partner Highlight:
Author credit: Hardin Engelhardt, Marbles Kids Museum
Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, NC is exposing students to worlds too fast, too slow, too small, too vast and simply invisible through National Geographic’s new documentary Mysteries of the Unseen World 3D. With support from a 2014 NISE Net Mini-grant, Marbles Kids Museum developed a 45-minute hands-on learning lab that expands on the movie’s content and immerses students in the exploration of things invisible to the naked eye.
In the learning lab, students pretend that they have just been hired to work for a technology company that makes invisible worlds visible. Students rotate through four "labs" to explore the electromagnetic spectrum, microscopy, nanoscale science and technology, and product testing and development. The goal of the learning lab is to spark curiosity about STEM content and expose students to STEM career pathways.
Marbles launched the film and learning lab with a teacher preview of Mysteries of the Unseen World and workshop on integrating nanoscale science and technology content across the K-12 curriculum....[read full Partner Highlight].
To find out more about Marbles Kids Museum, please visit http://www.marbleskidsmuseum.org/, or contact Brad Herring of the Museum of Life and Science, and the Southeast Regional Hub Leader.
→ The iPhone DIY Nano app has recently been updated and now includes all 12 activities with the addition of several other updates, and is now on par with the iPad version. Keep an eye out in March for the release of a newer DIY Nano version and 3 new activities! For DIY Nano updates, click here.
→ Upcoming conferences and meetings
If you're planning to present at a conference on NISE Net-related projects and want to make the community aware of these activities, please notify Kayla Berry at [email protected]. Upcoming meetings and conferences that include NISE Network participation are indicated with an asterisk.
- AAAS – Chicago, IL – February 13-17, 2014
- 4th American Society for Nanomedicine (ASNM) Annual Meeting – Rockville, MD - March 28-30, 2014
- *Materials Research Society – San Francisco, CA- April 21-25, 2014
- ACM Conference – Phoenix, AZ – May 14-16, 2014
- AAM Conference – Seattle, WA – May 18-21, 2014
- Cyberlearning Research Summit - Madison, WI - June 9-10, 2014. The deadline to apply as a participant is March 1, 2014 [learn more about summit].
- Visitor Studies Association Conference 2014 – Albuquerque, NM – July 15-19, 2013
- *ASTC – Raleigh, NC – October 18-21, 2014
- AAAS – San Jose, CA – February 12-16, 2015
In addition to equipment, snow is an essential part of the winter Olympic Games. Scientists have been studying snow for centuries; how it's formed and how it reacts. Watch Science of Snow, to learn why contingency efforts of storing snow after two mild winters for use during Sochi's winter games may not stack up to the real thing.
→ New Museum of Science Current Science and Technology podcast discusses the use of piezoelectric nano foam that could be used in football helmets to measure forces to the skull and help identify concussions. Listen now!
- See NISE Net Program "Self-Assembly in Crystals"
- See NISE Net Program "The Electric Squeeze"
- See NISE Net Program "Exploring Products – Liquid Crystal Displays (NanoDays 2013)"
- See NISE Net Program "Exploring Materials – Liquid Crystals (NanoDays 08, 09, 10)"
- See NISE Net Program "Nano Ice Cream"
- International Year of Crystallography
- Valentine’s Day - See NISE Net Program "Sweet Self-Assembly"
- National Engineers Week, Search the NISE Net catalog by "Materials, Tools, and Applications"
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Great Backyard Bird Count. Find out what makes some bird feathers, such as peacock feathers, iridescent!
- See NISE Net Program "Exploring Materials – Thin Films"
- See NISE Net Program "Colors at the Nanoscale: Butterflies, Beetles and Opals"
- See NISE Net Video "Butterfly Blues"
- See NISE Net Program "Biomimicry: From Nature to Nanotech"
*Answers located at bottom of newsletter*
Between 2008 and 2014, the NISE Network has distributed physical kits to over how many different sites across the nation?
a) 200
b) 300
c) 400
*Trivia answers: Between 2008 and 2014, the NISE Network has distributed physical kits to over how many different sites across the nation? Answer: 400