EAGER: MAKER: Nano-Makerspace to Make and Explore in the World of the Small

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ABSTRACTThis project will expose a broad community of high school students and teachers, undergraduate students and the public to the nanoscale "World of the Small" as well as the rules that govern the physical world at the nanoscale level. These rules are very different from what we generally experience in our everyday lives. The tools, know-how, and environment to explore at the nanoscale have been generally out of reach of typical Makerspaces. Institutions with such capabilities often limit facilities to graduate students and research scientists. While this supports excellent research, it does not support the Maker environment of informal, process-oriented approaches to self-discovery of interests and skills. The proposed project will provide the tools, environment, and the knowledge to "Makers" to explore the "World of the Small" by applying the principles of Making. Three research questions will be addressed in the course of the project: (i) What is the impact of the Nano-Maker space / mobile Nano lab exposure on students' ability to grasp "nano" and "quantum concepts" (ii) What is the impact across different student populations of introducing Nano-Makerspaces?, and (iii) How can the findings from the project be applied to positively impact traditional educational approaches?