Product Detail: NSTA Press Book

Details

Type of Product:	NSTA Press Book
Average Rating:	based on 3 reviews
Publication Date:	1/1/2007
Pages:	155
Stock Number:	PB210X
ISBN:	978-1-93353-105-2
Grade Level:	Middle School, High School
Read Inside:	Read a sample chapter: Biological Nanomachines: Viruses
Podcast:	A brief discussion with Gail Jones, Amy Taylor, and Mike Falvo, three of the authors of Nanoscale Science: Activities for Grades 6–12, conducted by Tyson Brown, Director, New Products and Services, NSTA. Play / download podcast (mp3 format, 7'50'')
Our reviewers—top-flight teachers and other outstanding science educators—have determined that this resource is among the best available supplements for science teaching. [Read the full review]

Description

Futurists predict that nanotechnology will be the next major scientific revolution—one with an even greater impact than the Industrial Revolution. Nanoscale Science will help your middle and high school students understand the big implications of tiny technology.

Using guided inquiry with open-ended exploration where possible, the book’s 20 investigations teach students about the unique properties and behavior of materials at the nanoscale—one-billionth of the size of a meter. The activities are organized around five themes: scale, tools and techniques, unique properties and behaviors, nanotechnology applications, and societal implications.

All activities use readily available materials and provide clear background, instructions, and formative assessments. They also explore questions sure to engage both students and you, such as:

• Just how small is one in a billion?
• How might manipulating matter at the nanoscale lead to everything from stain-resistant fabrics to improved means to clean water to tumor-targeting nanoshells?
• And how will society change when we use nanolabels to track where people, animals, and materials move around the world?

For the first time in human history, we have the ability to manipulate and build materials from the atom up. NanoScale Science—written by experts at developing effective ways to teach about nanotechnology—is a pioneering instructional guide to this important subject. Use it as a fascinating supplement to studies of biology, physics, chemistry, math, and the environment.

Ideas For Use

The goal of the book is to introduce the essential concepts that students need to understand nanoscale science while maintaining a broad inquiry approach. The activities of this introductory book may serve to whet the student’s appetites to know more. The book is organized around five themes: scale, tools and techniques, unique properties and behaviors, nanotechnology applications, and societal implications (see key concepts listed in Table 1).

Additional Info

Contents

The Authors
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Introduction

Chapter 1.
Fact or Fiction: Exploring the Myths and Realities of Nanotechnology

PART 1. SIZE AND SCALE
Chapter 2.
That’s Huge!
Chapter 3.
One in a Billion
Chapter 4.
Nano Shapes: Tiny Geometry
Chapter 5.
Biological Nanomachines: Viruses

PART II. TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
Chapter 6.
What’s in Your Bag? Investigating the Unknown
Chapter 7.
NanoMagnets: Fun with Ferrofluid
Chapter 8. Scanning Probe Microscopy

PART III. UNIQUE PROPERTIES AND BEHAVIORS
Chapter 9.
It’s a Small World After All: Nanofabric
Chapter 10.
Biomimicry: The Mystery of the Lotus Effect
Chapter 11.
How Nature Builds Itself: Self-Assembly
Chapter 12.
Physics Changes with Scale
Chapter 13.
Shrinking Cups: Changes in the Behavior of Materials at the Nanoscale
Chapter 14.
Limits to Size: Could King Kong Exist?

PART IV: NANOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS
Chapter 15.
NanoMaterials: Memory Wire
Chapter 16.
Nanotech, Inc
Chapter 17.
NanoMedicine
Chapter 18.
Building Small: Nano Inventions

PART V: SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS
Chapter 19.
Too Little Privacy: Ethics of Nanotechnology
Chapter 20.
Promise or Peril: Nanotechnology and the Environment
Appendix
Index