Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology

The April 2015 issue of the Nano Bite (newsletter from the Nanoscale Information Science Education Network [NISENet]) includes notice of a session for post NanoDays activities,

→ Stay Connected! Upcoming Online Brown-Bag Conversations
Beyond NanoDays – New Ideas for Presenting the Smallest Science
Monday, May 18, 2015
1 pm – 2 pm ET [Sign up]
Everyone loves NanoDays festivities but how do you keep visitors excited about nano the rest of the year? Join this discussion to discover the innovative ways your colleagues are incorporating nano outside of NanoDays such as into nature detective activities, in take-home workbooks shared at public events, and more!

As noted in this post’s head,

→ Oil Spill Clean Up Simulation – This linked product is a short hands-on activity that features the “nano sand” or “magic sand” product that was originally invented to help clean up oil spills in water due to its hydrophobic properties. The activity would be great to pair with April’s national events such as Earth Day or National Environmental Education Week. This product was created by the University California Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC CEIN) at UCLA.

→ Science Writing Workshop: How to tell a story, How to conduct and interview – A NISE Net product, prepared by a team of professionals at the Materials Research Society, is a workshop and program designed for researchers, scientists, science educators, and students with an interest in journalism and science writing. This full-day workshop, with a modifiable instructional design, focuses on writing science stories that engage both the general public and other scientists.

For a real life connection to the oil spills and cleanups, there’s my April 16, 2015 post on an oleophilic/hydrophobic (oil-loving/water-hating) device being researched at Ohio State University

There are a number of ‘days’, ‘weeks’, and ‘months’ in April,

→ April is raining down bucketfuls of learning opportunities, just look at all these activities to incorporate nano into! For a more comprehensive list of NISE Net activities, see NISE Net’s list of seasonal activities.

National Robotics Week website (April 4-12)

Shrinking Robots! program

Robots and People program

World Health Day website (April 7)

National Environmental Education Week website (April 19-25) and Earth Day website (April 22)

Tiny Solutions to Our Big Energy Problem stage presentation

Energy Challenges, Nanotech Solutions forum

Cleaning Our Water with Nanotechnology program

Does Every Silver Lining Have a Cloud video

Global Astronomy Month website (April)

Exploring Nano & Society – Space Elevator (NanoDays 2013) short activity

Exploring Nano & Society – Flying Cars short activity

Exploring Size – Powers of Ten Game (NanoDays 2011, 2012, and 2014) short activity

Aerogel short activity

Astronomy Day (April 25)

National Poetry Month (April) – Nano-themed haiku often featured in NanoBite newsletters

For the first time in a while, there’s a nano haiku,

Nano Haiku submitted by Fahad Rahmat, Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology

It shocked me to see
A cloth bag that can conduct
Electricity!

You can find the whole April 2015 newsletter here.

The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) in Syracuse, New York is hosting a five-day summer science camp that combines nano haiku and education about nanotechnology. From the July 28, 2011 NISE (Nanoscale Informal Science Education) Net blog posting by Vrylena Olney,

Betty Jones from the Science Education department at MOST told me that she and the other educators have been interested in figuring out how much of the nano content the kids are retaining. To get a sense of that, they’ve had the campers keep journals and created the haiku activity.

The haiku activity involved about 20 minutes of discussion. To prepare, educators printed out big copies of some of the Nano Bite haikus to post near their cafeteria. On the last day of the camp, the campers and educators visited the Nano Haiku Fence and campers were invited to find one haiku that they could explain. They removed their haiku from the fence and brought it back to the classroom where either the camper or educator read the haiku aloud. The camper then explained what the haiku referred to and, if possible, an activity that they had done that related to the haiku. According to Betty, every camper was able to interpret their haiku correctly!

There are sessions for 8 – 11 year olds and, at least one session for 10 – 14 year olds.

FrogHeart

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Tag Archives: Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology

April 2015 issue of the Nano Bite (from the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network) : Beyond NanoDays; oil spill cleanup activity; and a science writing workshop

Nano haiku and MOST summer camp