NSTA - National Science Teachers Association

Whether we are imagining microbes or mammoths, dinosaurs or diatoms, molecules or stars, people of all ages are fascinated with the very large and the very small. New technologies have enabled scientists to investigate extremes of science previously unknown. An understanding of scale and scaling effects is of central importance to a scientific understanding of the world.

Help your middle and high school biology, Earth science, chemistry, physics, and mathematics students develop quantitative evaluation with Extreme Science. Authors Gail Jones, Amy Taylor, and Michael Falvo offer a detailed look at types of scale, measurement, powers of ten, estimation and models of scale, surface area to volume relationships, limits to size, and behaviors at different scales.

Scaling conceptions are one of the four recommended unifying themes in the AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy. A knowledge of scaling will serve as a solid framework for students to anchor further learning and allow them to make cross-curricular connections between seemingly disparate topics.

The investigations in this book are designed to help students develop a comprehensive and flexible sense of scale through experiences with the quantitative units and tools of science. Investigations build on our research that has documented how people learn scale. To aid in comprehension, Extreme Science uses the 5Es (engage, explore, explain, extend, and evaluate) to illustrate each topic. By using this learning method, the activities help students learn to invent scales, develop benchmarks, estimate, and apply body rulers (estimating using fingers, arms, or pacing off distances). In so doing, students will come to understand scale on an intrinsic level and will appreciate that no problem is too big or too little to be scaleable. Comprehending scale at the largest and smallest levels is where a quantitative understanding of the world begins.


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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.
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