Report date:
April, 2007
Permissions
Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
General Description:
The Nano Fabrics activity was presented April 19th and 30th, 2009 at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The objective or main idea of the Nano Fabrics activity is to share that special fabrics are coated with nanometer-sized “whiskers” that protect them from stains. The activity has two learning goals. The first is the same as the big idea; in the second, visitors should learn that nano fabrics are an example of nanotechnology that mimics the water-repelling “lotus effect” of some plant leaves. Fifteen visitors completed self-administered surveys about the activity.
Major Findings:
In order to evaluate how well the activity fulfills its objectives, visitors were asked to explain what they thought the activity is trying to show. Most visitors answered more generally about nanotechnology. One fifth (20%) of visitors talked about fabrics and nanotechnology (first learning goal), and even less (13%) mentioned plants and nanotechnology (second learning goal). Almost all of the visitors thought that the activity was interesting, enjoyable, and easy to understand. Some visitors had questions about how material with nano properties is made.
Type of product(s) studied:
- Program
Method(s) of data collection:
- interviews
