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

摘要该项目将向广大高中生、教师、本科生和公众展示纳米尺度的“小世界”，以及在纳米尺度上支配物理世界的规则。这些规则与我们在日常生活中所经历的非常不同。在纳米尺度上探索的工具、技术诀窍和环境通常是典型的创客空间所无法企及的。具有这种能力的机构通常将设施限制在研究生和研究科学家的范围内。虽然这支持优秀的研究，但它不支持制造者的非正式环境，以过程为导向的方法来自我发现兴趣和技能。该项目将为“创客”提供工具、环境和知识，让他们运用“制造”的原则探索“小世界”。在项目过程中，将解决三个研究问题：(i)纳米创客空间/移动纳米实验室对学生掌握“纳米”和“量子概念”的能力的影响是什么？ （ii）引入纳米创客空间对不同学生群体的影响是什么？以及（iii）项目的成果如何应用于对传统教育方法产生积极影响？

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?