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Make a Microfluidic Device to Investigate Properties of Solutions
07 Apr 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Greg Hair, NNCI Nano
This lesson focuses on having students design and test a microfluidic device to investigate the properties of solutions. The lesson activities combine concepts learned in the previous semester (energy, frequency, wavelength, and bonding) together with the aforementioned concepts of solutions to...
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Mystery Molecules: Identifying Materials with Nanoscale Characterization Tools
18 Mar 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Maude Cuchiara, NNCI Nano
In this lesson plan, students will be given several similar looking materials and asked to identify them by observing them at the macro and micro-scale. They will then be exposed to different analytical tools and describe how they can be used to explore materials at the nanoscale. ...
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Achoo! Pollen Does More than Make Us Sneeze
18 Mar 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Holly Leddy, NNCI Nano
Harness the power of a scanning electron microscope to let students see that pollen is more than just the yellow dust that makes us sneeze sometimes! Students will learn to use scale bars to interpret size on microscope images, thus meeting math as well as science standards. Using that...
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Introduction to Back Propagation
13 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Mauricio Segovia
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Understanding Waveguides: Light at the Nanoscale
13 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Marilyn Garza, NNCI Nano
There are three lessons for this activity that help students understand how light can travel through a waveguide for communication purposes. Students will first explore the angle of refraction. Next they will create a gelatin waveguide to explore issues associated with light and waveguides....
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Water Filtration and Purity of Water - Getting Down to the Nanoscale
13 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: David Mann, NNCI Nano
This is a three part lesson which begins with familiarizing students with SI prefixes and the nanoscale. In Lesson 2 students test a local water supply. It is designed to be used as an extension to classroom activities related to treating foul water for consumption. This activity should...
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NNCI Reference Sheets
11 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Joyce Allen, Nancy Healy, NNCI Nano
This is a series of 5 reference sheets for high school students that have a summarized version of important concepts for courses in: Physics, Physical Science, Chemistry, Biology, and Genetics. These are two sided, with one side introducing nanotechnology and the other containing facts,...
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What's the Smallest Thing You Know? A Size and Scale Activity
10 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Joyce Allen, NNCI Nano
This lesson is designed to have elementary level students develop an understanding of size and scale. It uses the book What’s Smaller Than A Pygmy Shrew? by Robert E. Wells to help students see that a pygmy shrew is among the tiniest of mammals and that a ladybug is even...
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Understanding Wave Motion and Power Loss
10 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Richard Moore, Angela Berenstein, NNCI Nano
This lab is designed to help students understand how light waves interact with matter. This activity is analogous to light traveling through optical media having different indices of refraction (densities). This is a two part lesson. In part 1 students use slinky and snaky toys to explore wave...
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NNCI Outreach Demonstration Guide
10 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Nancy Healy, NNCI Nano
This compendium of demonstrations includes 17 activities that can be used to demonstrate topics to students and the general public. They are useful for science festivals, family science nights, and science cafes. ...
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What's in your Neighborhood: a size and scale activity
07 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Marilyn Garza, NNCI Nano
This activity gives students a sense of size and scale using their classroom and their neighborhood as a frame of reference. The activity focuses on measuring length, for this is the most common feature when presenting nanoscale structures or nanoscale science. Understanding size and scale is...
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Nanocrete
06 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: kim Grady, James Marti (editor), Deb Newberry (editor), Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education
This module introduces students to the nanotechnologies, processes, and methods being tested by industry to prepare strong and lightweight cementitious products and systems. The module takes the learner through processing a material (called microgrinding or powder milling) to reduce its size...
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Photolithography (Option A)
06 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: James J Marti, Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education
This module presents an introduction and demonstration of photolithography, the process of copying a high-resolution pattern onto multiple substrates. Students replicate key steps in the process of photolithography and learn how these processes fit into the fabrication of micro- and nanoscale...
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Photolithography (Option B)
06 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: James J Marti, Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education
This module presents an introduction and demonstration of a key step in photolithography, the process of patterning a substrate used in the manufacture of integrated circuit chips. Students replicate some of the steps in the process of photolithography, and learn how these processes fit into...
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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
06 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education, Frank Fernandes, University of Wisconsin MRSEC
In this module, you will construct a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). This device is essentially a photo-electrochemical cell, which means that a photo-induced chemical reaction causes electrons to travel from one material to another. DSC’s consist of a nanostructured semiconductor film...
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Encapsulation & Controlled Release
05 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: James J Marti, Kyle Forgette, Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education
This module introduces the process of forming macrocapsules and the concept of self-assembly. Forming capsules at the macro, micro, and nano levels have very important applications in drug delivery, cosmetics, food technology, and cleaning up environmental toxins. The module includes a...
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Design Challenge: Incorporating Shape Memory Alloys into Rube Goldberg Devices
05 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Joyce Allen, NNCI Nano
This lesson consists of two parts. In Part 1, students determine which of set of wires is a unique metal alloy called Nitinol. Nitinol is called a shape memory alloy (an SMA) because it can “remember” its original shape under certain conditions after being bent, twisted, or...
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Micelles
05 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Dr. Lisa Siedman, Jeanette Mowery, Kyle Forgette, James J Marti, Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education
This module introduces micelles and the concept of critical micelle concentration (CMC). Micelles have important applications in biotechnology. Micelles are sometimes used to deliver drugs to their target in the body. Micelles are also sometimes used to deliver genes into plant cells in...
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Aerogels
05 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Carol Bouvier, James J Marti, Deb Newberry, Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education
This module introduces aerogels, nicknamed “blue smoke.” Using exploratory activities this module introduces the nano structure of aerogels and the resulting extreme physical properties exhibited such as: thermal conductivity, transparency, and impact resistance. These properties...
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NanoFiltration
05 Feb 2020 | | Contributor(s):: Sandra Weeks, Laura Arndt, Nano-Link Center for Nanotechnology Education
Contaminated water supplies have become local problems in communities across the United States and the world. Though dramatic situations in Flint, Michigan, and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina catch the headlines, neighborhoods, and communities across our country are facing water quality...