Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Do you know where your children are?


You thought New Math was hard? Wait until your kids come home talking nanotech. For parents who are worried that their kids' exposure to nanotechnology will go no further than The Hulk, Invader Zim or Jimmy Neutron (just chill, by the way), the nonprofit National Science & Technology Education Partnership and the NanoBusiness Alliance are getting together to introduce real nanotechnology instruction into K-12 classrooms.

Educators and parents might also want to take a look at what The NanoTechnology Group is doing. The nonprofit education consortium is putting together pilot schools for its "Nano Science Modules" and "Interactive Virtual Nano-Labs," looking at NSF funding proposals and sponsoring a student essay contest.

"We are submitting many proposals this year to get the funding for our education prototypes," says Judith Light Feather, the group's founder and president. "In the meantime, kids are introduced to the negative side of nanotechnology in 'Spiderman' and 'Space Kids II.' I attempt to combat this by putting many educational links on the site specifically to interest kids."

Well, it's certainly a start, anyway. You want to really reach them, though, grab them where they live.

Discuss

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