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Carolina researchers think they may have found a highly effective way to engage
middle and high school students in science -- and it all begins with the lowly,
much-maligned virus.
A new three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant will enable the
University, beginning in Februrary, to introduce nanotechnology and Carolina
researchers who work within this rapidly emerging scientific field to students
in two local schools. In the third year, this outreach effort will expand to
include hundreds of students throughout North Carolina and Iowa.
The $767,275 grant will allow University researchers to study the effectiveness
of nanotechnology, or the exploration and manipulation of objects at the atomic
and molecular levels, in helping students acquire and gain interest in
scientific knowledge.
Key to these efforts will be the nanoManipulator, a microcomputer system
created by Carolina physicists and computer scientists that uses virtual
reality technology to provide a visual, three-dimensional image of the sample
being examined. By using a joystick, students will have the opportunity to
manipulate, and even "feel," the three-dimensional image of a virus on the
computer screen -- an image projected through the Internet connection from an
atomic force microscope located here on campus.
The sensation of "feeling" DNA and viruses adds a dimension to investigations
and allows discussion between scientists and students on the stickiness,
viscosity or strength of the virus protein coat, according to the Carolina
researchers.
"We hope this experience will alter students' ideas of what scientists do,"
said Gail Jones, associate professor of science education and principal
investigator on the NSF-funded project. "Many students have never had a
scientist visit the classroom. We believe this interaction, plus the technology
component, will inform their knowledge of the processes and excitement
surrounding scientific study."
The first two years of the grant will center on Orange High School in
Hillsborough and McDougle Middle School in Carrboro. In the first year,
students in the study will have the opportunity to "feel" the textures of the
virus through the joystick. In the second year, students will conduct
experiments with the virus through a "real-time" connection to the Internet.
Researchers will investigate how these learning scenarios affect learning.
In the third year, the project will expand to encompass students at a variety
of other high schools in North Carolina and Iowa.
Jones said researchers will investigate the differences in how students use the
nanoManipulator and the impact of the technology on the classes to assess which
age of students is most responsive to nanotechnology.
"We are also interested in how the experience influences students' concepts of
science, scientists and science careers," said Jones.
To test the feasibility of using the nanoManipulator, a team of Carolina
researchers took a graphics computer, joystick and networked videocamera to
Orange High School for two exploratory studies, in 1998 and 1999. Students used
the nanoManipulator to explore such questions as whether a virus was "squishy"
and whether it would slide or crush as it was pushed across the surface.
Students saw and talked to the scientist monitoring the atomic force microscope
at the University through a camera mounted on the computer.
Student feedback on the experience was illuminating, said Russell Taylor,
research assistant professor of computer science and co-investigator on the
NSF-funded project. For example, one student involved in the second study
wrote, "I enjoyed my experience learning about viruses. It opened my mind to a
possible new path to a career as a scientist and gave me a definite new outlook
on viruses."
Taylor said the comments he saw indicated that students began to perceive
science as an enjoyable and rewarding pursuit. "Given the incredibly advanced
state of computer games these days, it is a real thrill to be able to one-up
them with a tool made for science and compete with mind-share with the
brightest students."
Richard Superfine, associate professor of physics and co-investigator, agreed.
"The students glow when they `feel' their first virus or DNA, and they
immediately understand why the scientists love discovery so much. Also, as much
as they enjoy the fancy microscope interface, the effect of having University
scientists in the room with them is at least as profound."
Most students, he added, have never met a scientist and cannot see themselves
in a role for which they have no experience. "They think that scientists are
insulated, narrow-minded, geeky and weird. While we may confirm many of these
stereotypes, they also see that we laugh and have fun, that we have families,
that we enjoy the same movies that they see, and that their naïve insights
and questions are identical to those we ask ourselves in our projects.
"One of the major impacts of the program is that the students learn to see the
possibility of themselves as scientists. Then they can allow themselves to take
their own innate interest in science seriously."
For more information on nanotechnology initiatives at Carolina, see
http://www.cs.unc.edu/nano
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