NanoDays
CELEBRATE NANODAYS WITH US
MARCH 27 - APRIL 4, 2010!
NanoDays is our nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science and engineering and its potential impact on the future. NanoDays events are organized by participants in the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), and take place at over 200 science museums, research centers, and universities across the country from Maine to Hawaii.
(If you're not already a part of NISE Net, it's easy to join!)
What could YOU do for NanoDays?
NanoDays activities often bring university researchers together with science museum educators, creating unique learning experiences. NanoDays engages people of all ages in a miniscule world where materials have special properties and new technologies have spectacular promise.
Cornell researcher Sharon Gerbode talks about "squishy science" at Sciencenter in Ithaca, NYMany NanoDays celebrations will combine simple hands-on activities for young people with events exploring current research for adults. One popular activity involves visitors working together to build a giant balloon model of a carbon nanotube. (Real carbon nanotubes, which are 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair, have extraordinary strength and unusual electrical properties that make them useful in electronics and materials science.
Other NanoDays activities demonstrate different, unexpected properties of materials at the nanoscale -- sand that won’t get wet even under water, water that won’t spill from a teacup, and colors that depend upon particle size.
Some NanoDays participants host public forums, discussions about the risks and benefits of particular appllications of nanotechnology. Many participating universities host public tours of their laboratories that work with nanoscale science and technology.
For lots of ideas about what you could do for NanoDays, browse our online catalog.
We'll soon have the entire 2010 Nanodays kit available for download, complete with new activities and updated signage!
New NanoDays kits will be ready for shipping in January, 2010! Many of the resources have been updated, and there are some great new activities to try. Fill out the online application now to be considered for one of these new kits. Here’s what you need to do to apply:
Read the eligibility requirements to make sure you know which version of the kit is right for you
Fill out the online application. Whether you have participated in the past, or if this is your first NanoDays, we ask you to fill out an application. This helps us share information about the NISE Net community and report back to the National Science Foundation about these activities.
Why Nano?
Affordable clean energy, highly effective medical devices, personalized drugs, new environmental cleanup techniques...Many scientists and engineers believe advances in nanotechnology can bolster the U.S. economy with products like these and many others.
Despite this promise, the public knows little about nanotechnology or the research and development being carried out by numerous federal agencies and by universities and corporations right in their own communities.
Who cares about nano? Educators all over North America! See our list of NanoDays 2009 participants.
Who's online
NISE Net
SECTIONS
Grant No.
ESI-0532536