"The teachers will learn a set of experiments to get their students excited and motivated about learning science," said Sarah Tolbert, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), and a UCLA associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, who is heading this nanoscience program, working closely with a group of CNSI graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. The nanoscience program is part of the summer offerings of the UCLA Science Project.
Science is on the brink of a revolution at the nanoscale, with breakthroughs occurring at the atomic level. Nanoscience is done at the scale of a nanometer -- one billionth of a meter. The DNA molecule is two nanometers wide -- roughly 1,000 times smaller than a blood cell or 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
"Size matters," Tolbert said. "Scientists working at the nanometer-length scale have the potential to change the properties of materials just by changing their dimensions. This makes work in the field exciting and makes the experiments fun and challenging for both scientists and students."
The high schools that will be represented at the UCLA sessions include Crenshaw, Fairfax, Carson, Franklin, Jordan and Verdugo Hills.
"Our goal is to improve science education for all students in Los Angeles," said Irene Swanson, director of the UCLA Science Project. "The program provides a collegial network for science educators from all levels to share expertise and new ideas. Additionally, the curriculum enables urban students and teachers to see the relevance of science concepts to their own lives."
The teacher professional development program is sponsored by the UCLA Science Project in UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS), in conjunction with CNSI and UCLA's National Science Foundation-sponsored Materials Creation Training Program. The cost of building the nanoscience experiments is supported through a UCLA Community Partnership grant.
The nanoscience sessions are taking place through July 24. The professional development program continues through Aug. 7, with the teachers receiving education in "active physics" for the remainder of the program. The teachers will be designated as "UCLA Science Fellows," and will attend follow-up sessions during the school year.
A joint enterprise of UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, CNSI will explore the power and potential of manipulating structures atom-by-atom to engineer new materials, devices and systems that will dramatically change virtually every aspect of our technology.
"CNSI will help propel the future of California's economy with revolutionary advances in fields as diverse as health care and medical treatment, manufacturing, information technology, high technology, aerospace, environmental protection, communications, multimedia entertainment and household lighting," said CNSI director Fraser Stoddart, who is also UCLA's Saul Winstein Professor of Chemistry.
Possible nanosystems applications include smaller, faster and more efficient computers; medicines that target the molecular errors that cause disease while leaving healthy cells unharmed; lighter, stronger, more durable building materials that may make cars, buses, planes and other forms of transportation safer and more energy-efficient; a lamp that uses one-tenth as much energy as modern light bulbs and never burns out; and new products and materials created with a molecular-level precision that have characteristics well beyond what can be manufactured today.
One of 11 professional schools at UCLA, GSE&IS consists of two academic departments, the Department of Education and the Department of Information Studies. The Graduate School of Education was founded in 1939 and was UCLA's first professional school. The Graduate School of Library Service was founded in 1958. The two schools merged in 1994, forming the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. UCLA is the only major research university in the country that combines departments of education and information studies. GSE&IS shares its findings with practicing educators and information professionals through classes, seminars and workshops offered at UCLA and in the community, and through reports, studies and articles featured in publications nationwide.
More information on the UCLA Science Project is available at csmp.ucop.edu/csp/ucla/about.php, and more information on UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies is available at http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/.
More information on the California NanoSystems Institute is available at the CNSI Web site at http://www.cnsi-uc.org/.
CNSI is part of Gov. Gray Davis' California Institutes for Science and Innovation program. For more information about the California Institutes for Science and Innovation, visit http://ucop.edu/california-institutes/welcome.html.
More information on UCLA's Materials Creation Training Program is available at http://mctp.chem.ucla.edu/.