Search: 11 and up

“Nanosilver: Breakthrough or Biohazard?” is a public presentation which introduces audiences to the increasingly frequent use of silver nanoparticles in consumer products. During the presentation, visitors are guided through questions such as: What is nanosilver? Why is it used in consumer products such as teddy bears and food containers? How safe is nanosilver, and how might it affect the environment? Visitors are engaged with samples of nanosilver products, various images and graphics that tell the story of nanosilver, and a demonstration that uses a plume of diet cola to show how particle size affects reactions.

“Nanostained Glass” is a classroom activity that has three parts: a presentation, a lab activity and an art activity. During the presentation, students are introduced to the connections between art and science, with a focus on the connection between stained glass and nanotechnology. Students also learn that gold and silver behave differently at the nanoscale. During the lab activity, students synthesize nanoparticles of gold and silver. Lastly, students use the nanoparticle solutions they synthesized to create a stained “glass” window to take home with them.

"Nanotechnology: What's the Big Deal?" is a video introduction to the Intro to Nanotechnology exhibition. Get a broad overview of the unique challenges and opportunities presented by nanoscale science, and dive into the super tiny scale of nanotechnology.

What is Nanomedicine? This is the introductory component for the Nanomedicine exhibit package. The structure includes a text panel and a narrated-and-captioned 2.5 minute video which plays on demand in either English or Spanish on a 32-inch LCD screen. The video's colorful animation and researcher commentary complements the accompanying text panel to provide a brief overview of some of the basic ideas and goals of nanomedicine.

This cart demonstration reviews the basics about nanotechnology. Visitors learn that nanoscale objects are very small and have surprising properties because of their size. They also learn about some of the possible technologies that may lead to. They mix chemicals, turn potatoes black, generate electricity, and see invisible light in their exploration.

This is a stage presentation, designed for audiences of 11 and up, intended to give a broad overview and introduction to the subject of nanotechnology. The talk attempts to answer three basic questions about nanotech: How is It New, What Can It Do, and Do You Care?

“Cleaning Our Water with Nanotechnology” is a public presentation about our drinking water and how we can make contaminated water safe to drink using a variety of technologies – including 3 new nanotechnologies for water purification. During the presentation, audiences consider the following questions: Which contaminants do we have in our water that makes it unsafe to drink? How do we typically purify our water – and what are the shortcomings/limitations of those technologies? How can new nanotechnologies purify our drinking water in new ways to help us in situations where large-scale water treatment isn’t appropriate? The presentation includes a variety of demonstrations to illustrate how these technologies work and some models to help visitors visualize what’s happening with these technologies at the nanoscale.

"Macro AFM" is a series of hands-on activities to build and use a tabletop AFM simulator to investigate the surface features of various samples using contact, tapping and magnetic modes.

This poster aligns zooms into three familiar objects - a human heart, a butterfly's wing, and a laptop computer. Using the conventions of visual perspective the image travels in one continuous “landscape” from the human scale at the top to the atomic scale in the foreground. As the scale gets smaller and smaller, these disparate objects resolve to individual atoms, highlighting the concept that everything is made of atoms.

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.