Staff and Volunteer training materials for NanoDays including orientation slides and materials as well as videos on best practices for how to interact with museum visitors.
Visitors "travel through time" with a host playing several characters: from the Future, 1900, 1945 and 1999. Visitors answer questions in a quiz about other people's predictions of future technology, and then are invited to make their own predictions.
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,...
"Treating Tumors with Gold" presents promising research being conducted at Rice University in Texas. Through videos and demonstrations, the program considers the following questions: What is a tumor and what causes it to spread? What is a gold nanoshell and...
"Nanoparticle Stained Glass" is a cart demonstration that introduces the connection between medieval stained glass artisans and nanotechnology. Visitors learn that the red and yellow colors in stained glass windows come from nanoparticles of gold and silver embedded in the...
This is a card game which can be played with museum visitors. Visitors will learn the relative sizes of various objects. They compete against each other (or you) to organize their hand of cards into lists of objects from largest...
Tiny Particles, Big Trouble explains why some nanoscale science and technology is done in the controlled environment of a clean room, what clean rooms are like, and how scientists help keep the clean room clean. During the program, visitors sniff...
Through hands-on activities, visitors learn how inkjet printers produce tiny, precise drops of ink. They examine printed paper with magnifying glasses, see a few demonstrations of how liquids behave differently at the small scale, and see an explosive demonstration of...
This cart demo is about Biobarcodes, a nanomedical technology that allows for massively parallel testing for disease diagnosis. Visitors learn about antibodies, how each antibody binds to a unique protein, and how biobarcoding uses nanoparticles, antibodies, DNA and magnetism to...
This is a cart demo about how nanoparticles behave differently, in part because they have a high surface area:volume ratio. Visitors learn that smaller particles have a much higher proportion of their atoms on the surface. Visitors unfold paper cubes,...
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.
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...
Presenter puts Mentos candy into soda to create a soda fountain. This is a dramatic demonstration of the effects of surface area. This demonstration isn’t heavily focused on nanotechnology,but can be a spectacular finale that you add on to other...
This report evaluates the program entitled "Treating Tumors with Gold" by looking at visitor feedback in an attempt to assess the success with which the presentation was able to educate the public on a particular study using nanotechnology.
"Snowflakes" is a public presentation that introduces nanoscale science through the subject of snowflakes. Visitors learn that the complex structure of snowflakes results from the nanoscale arrangement of water molecules in an ice crystal, and that snowflakes are examples of...