The Explore Science: Let's Do Chemistry kit is designed to stimulate interest, sense of relevance, and feelings of self-efficacy about chemistry among public audiences.
What is Nanomedicine? This is the introductory component for the Nanomedicine exhibit package; but the video on it's own is also an informative stand-alone media piece for other uses. The structure includes a text panel and a narrated-and-captioned 2.5 minute...
Nano Future Tellers are origami-folded, interactive pocket game to educate visitors ages 7-12 about future nano products! Everyone's favorite fortune telling game brings potential future nano products to life!
"Exploring Earth: Investigating Clouds" is a hands-on activity in which visitors create a cloud in a bottle and explore it with laser light. The activity is connected to current and ongoing NASA mission research. Participants learn about ways that NASA...
"Cleaning Oil Spills with Chemistry" is a longer activity than many of the others in this kit. Participants will learn how different materials interact, and problem-solve to clean up a miniature model "oil spill." Which method (or combination of methods)...
"Molecules in Motion" explores how materials behave and change in a vacuum. Participants can experiment with putting various objects in a small vacuum chamber and then observing the objects as air is removed from the chamber.
This cart demonstration introduces the nanomaterial aerogel, a glass nanofoam. Visitors learn how aerogel is made, how well it insulates, and learn about its other unique properties. They see real aerogel and feel how well it insulates.
"Kitchen Chemistry" is a live stage presentation about recognizing and exploring the science that we practice every day in our very own homes. We take a look at the chemistry behind a seemingly simple bowl of spaghetti – from boiling...
"Lotus Leaf Effect" is a cart demo that demonstrates how nature inspires nanotechnology by sharing how nanoscale features on a surface can influence how a material behaves at the macroscale. Visitors learn that lotus leaves (and many other plant leaves)...
This hands-on activity will guide you in making a synthetic gecko tape with micron sized hairs that mimics that behavior of the gecko foot. The process is called "nanomolding." Also described is an easy setup using Legos for testing how...
"Nature of Dye" allows participants to create their own dyes and art while exploring how chemicals interact, and how these interactions can have real-world applications. Participants predict, observe, and share what they notice as they experiment with the dye. What's...
This cart demo is about piezoelectricity - how some crystals produce electricity when you squeeze them. Visitors learn about the history of piezoelectricity, how it's used, and how it's applied in nanotechnology. They make electric sparks, handle models and listen...
This is a large group version of the Surface Area program. In this interactive stage presentation, audience members are measured in nanometers and demonstrate the effectiveness of "nano" silver in killing germs. Other highlights include a fireball that starts and...
The Building with Biology kit is designed to help museum and scientist partners engage public audiences in conversations and hands-on activities about the field of synthetic biology and the ways this emerging technology is interconnected with society.
Initially developed by the New York Hall of Science to establish a partnership with a local Boys and Girls Club, this four-week After School Framework designed for children between the ages of 8 to 12 highlights NISE Net activities, demos...
"DNA Nanotechnology" is a facilitated, hands-on activity exploring deoxyribonucleic acid, a nanoscale structure that occurs in nature. Visitors extract a sample of DNA from split peas and put it in an Eppendorf tube to take home. They learn that nanoscientists...
Atoms to Atoms is an activity that can be used as a engaging game for training facilitators in talking about chemistry and our perceptions around it, or as a longer activity to supplement the hands-on activities in your kit. Atoms...
In this activity, learners make a toy bot with a surprising ability: it scribbles on a sheet of paper. The activity is designed to prompt conversation and reflection about responsible innovation, inspired by themes raised in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein.
"Exploring Nano & Society - Tippy Table: is an open-ended conversational experience in which visitors have additional blocks to place on the tippy table component of the Nano Mini-Exhibition. Conversations around where visitors place these new blocks lead them to...
Space telescopes can offer us better, clearer views of the universe (and of our own planet) than Earth-based telescopes can, but getting these large, delicate pieces of equipment into orbit is tricky. In "Exploring the Universe: Pack a Space Telescope,"...
"Exploring Earth: Rising Sea" is a hands-on activity demonstrating ways to use topographical mapping techniques to track changes in sea level. The activity is connected to current NASA research. Together, participants and facilitators can discuss the effects of rising sea...
"Forms of Carbon" is a cart demo that demonstrates how the nanoscale arrangement of atoms dramatically impacts a material’s macroscale behavior. Visitors learn about the structure and properties of four different forms of carbon. During the program, visitors interact with...
"Invisible Sunblock" is a hands-on activity exploring how nano-scale particles are used in mineral sunblocks to increase their transparency. Visitors compare nano and non-nano sunblocks to a visual representation of the effect of particle size on visibility.
Like all new technologies, nanotechnology has costs, risks, and benefits we cannot always predict. The Would You Buy That? stage presentation examines and explores ways our consumer behavior both impacts and is impacted by new technology. By looking at historical...