Space – the final frontier. This Star Trek
slogan could apply not only to space in a large, cosmological sense,
but also to the frontier of very small spatial dimensions. The frontier
of the small is currently being opened by advances in the field of nanoscience.
Almost 400 years ago, the invention of the telescope opened up the possibility
to explore vast distances beyond our normal human perception, whereas
the microscope similarly opened up whole new worlds for study. In this
case the very tiny. As reflected in the following quote by a high school
student in one of our earlier research studies related to scale conceptions,
scientific investigations focused on distance scalesbeyond everyday
human scale continue to intrigue people, much as it did in the early
1600s.
"It's strange the way you can learn about how things can be tiny, tiny, and huge"
-a high school student
The development of these two scientific instruments and their
many successors has led to gigantic scientific advances, and such advances
continue unabated even today. As humans have developed the ability to
extend their sensory perceptions into previously unimaginably large
(cosmic) and small (nanoscale) realms, they have also had to develop
ways to conceptualize these very different scales.
Scale: A Theme Across the Science Domains
Scaling conceptions are one of four recommended unifying themes in
the AAAS Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy (1993).
Understandings of unifying themes such as scaling may serve as a solid
framework for students to anchor further learning in a variety of disciplines
and allow students to make cross-curricular connections between seemingly
disparate topics.
Research: Teaching and Learning Scale and Scaling Effects
With support from the National Science Foundation we are researching
how students learn scale and scaling effects. We are examining what
students at different levels know and how they learned concepts about
size and scale.
“The distance from the sun to the nearest star is close because
there are stars all around it [the sun]. The distance from the sun to
the nearest star is the same as the thickness of a staple.”
(Fifth grade student)
“The quarter and the blood cell are the same size because
I don’t know the size of the blood cell, but I've seen pictures
in my book of the cell and they [cells] looked a little bigger than
a quarter.” (Middle School Student)
Our studies are examining:
• What existing cognitive frameworks do students and teachers
have with respect to conceptualizations of scale and scaling effects
• How do individual and sociocultural factors such as ethnic
background (e.g., African American, European American, Hispanic American),
mathematical ability, or gender influence students’ scale conceptualization’s
framework?
• How do educational experiences influence students’
conceptual ecology of scale?
• How do adults in a variety of professions conceptualize
and apply scale and scaling effects?
Scale and Scaling Effects on the Web.
http://www.vendian.org/envelope/dir1/scaling_to_desktop.html
Scaling the Universe to your Desktop -- Jumps by three orders of magnitude
to develop a sense of relative scale within those three orders of magnitude,
then links from one jump to the next larger or smaller. “Rooms”
each contain objects spanning 3 orders of magnitude within them.
http://www.vendian.org/envelope/dir0/scales.html
Starting point for “Back of the Envelope” web site related
to scale and scaling. Great links to other websites.
http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/cosmicview/pages/page35.html
Has “Cosmic view: The universe in 40 jumps”
http://www.powersoften.com/
Powers of Ten -- From the “Time” portion of the website
(at 10 ^19 seconds), LINKS BETWEEN LARGE AND SMALL 10+19 seconds is
300 billion years or 100 times the age of the Moon--a time period far
beyond our realm.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html
Another version of a powers of ten jump (java applet with either automatic
or manual mode)
http://invsee.asu.edu/Modules/size&scale/unit3/unit3.htm
Good scale charts (logarithmic with images of objects and which microscopes
function at which scale). Has figure captioned “Scale of our material
world: from galaxies to atoms.” Also has diagram “overview
of the history of microscopes” including chart of when developed
and scale of use.
http://cern.web.cern.ch/CERN/Microcosm/P10/english/P-2.html
An interesting site where you can jump powers of ten
http://www.miamisci.org/ph/hextend1.html
Relates pH to powers of 10 (an example of a logarithmic scale)
http://acept.la.asu.edu/PiN/rdg/powers/powers.shtml
Basic Math, Scientific Notation, and Astronomical Dimensions, Dealing
with Numbers Great and Small
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/15jan_nano.htm
Voyage of the Nano-Surgeons -NASA-funded scientists are crafting microscopic
vessels that can venture into the human body and repair problems –
one cell at a time.
http://www.nano.org.uk/images.htm
Institute of nanotechnology. Lots of great nanoscale images.
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Gallery/Captions/index.html
Lots of cool nanoscale images from the nanomedicine art gallery. Most
are biology-related, but not all.
http://home.nc.rr.com/enloephysics/enloephysics/Scaling/Page_1x.html
Liz Woolard’s “Physics of Scaling” page (Enloe HS)
http://hep.ucsb.edu/courses/ph6b_99/0111299sci-scaling.html
Of Mice and Elephants: A Matter of Scale -- Good overview of the development
of scaling laws in the 1980s and 1990s, including an extension from
the animal world into the plant world. Nice discussion of the universality
of these laws revealing underlying pattern and structure.
The link From the Small to the Huge, how body size and energy consumption
differ on this site goes to a picture of a log-log graph and elephant
comparing the metabolic rates of mammals which shows that bigger mammals
are more efficient in energy consumption.
The link Like an Ant, Only Bigger?, strength vs. proportion
on this site goes to a picture of Superman and an explanation from DC
Comics that Superman’s strength comes from different scaling laws
on his home planet of Krypton.
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/sizeandscale/
Discovery Channel school web site with lesson plans (mostly involving
scale models of the solar system). Has suggestions for a variety of
books related to scale and scaling effects along with discussion questions
related to the lesson that look promising. Also has a link to a video
“Size and Scale – Skyscrapers.”
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/earthmag/peek/pages/clock.htm
This link portrays geologic time on a 24 hour clock = 4.5 billion years
of Earth's existence, but maybe same thing could be done with size scale.
http://www.amnh.org/rose/scales.html
Hayden Planetarium scale exhibits
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explotime.html
Has explorations through time including “Understanding Geologic
Time.”
http://www.concord.org/newsletter/2001spring/zoomin.html
Molecular Workbench project. Describes software that allows students
to enter the atomic-scale world and see what the results of their experimentation
in the macroworld, such as increased salinity, has on the atomic-scale
world.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/activities/perspectives.html
Examines Powers of 10 and tools scientists use to objects of different
sizes.
Includes a link to a “Power of 10” type java interactive
tutorial where students soar through space, and a second link to a “Virtual
Scanning Electron Microscope” java interactive tutorial where
students explore the microscopic world.
http://www.wehi.edu.au/education/wehi-tv/illustrations.html
Cool illustrations and movie animations of biomolecular processes (DNA,
nerve cells, white blood cells, malaria, etc.) Some animations include
jiggle to simulate Brownian motion at that scale.
http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/
Site that discusses “Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics” in
a humorous manner. It's an old movie gimmick; a misguided scientist,
radioactive fallout, pollution, or some other folly of mankind abnormally
shrinks or expands someone or some creature. While we must admit to
being entertained by such gimmicks, the physics are another matter.
http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/default.asp
The MegaPenny Project aims to help by taking one small everyday item,
the U.S. penny, and building on that to answer the question: "What
would a billion (or a trillion) pennies look like?" Site provides
a nice concrete anchor for students’ conceptions of quantity.
http://www.msa.microscopy.com/ProjectMicro/PMBooks.html
MICROSCOPY, Project MICRO (Microscopy In Curriculum - Research Outreach).
MICRO’s goal is to put MSA members, teaching materials, and microscopes
in middle school classrooms nationwide.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/virtual/virtual.html
Molecular Expressions Virtual Microscopy Website includes an interactive
Java-powered virtual microscopes that we have constructed. These virtual
microscopes explore specimen focus, illumination intensity, magnification,
and translation---operating essentially in a manner that is identical
to real-life microscopes.
Read more About Scale and Scaling
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