When it comes to the world of nanos, WOW! Children's Museum education director, Renee Guerrero, who stands at 5 feet tall, feels on top of the world.
"I am one billion, five hundred and twenty million nanometers tall. I feel much bigger in nanometers," she said, measuring herself Monday, March 17, at one of stations that is part of the upcoming NanoDays exhibit. "Kids love this activity."
WOW! Children's Museum, at 110 N. Harrison Ave., in Old Town Lafayette, will participate in NanoDays, a nationwide festival about nanoscale science and engineering, with educational programs organized by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network.
"WOW! has been a part of the NanoDays program since 2008," Guerrero said. "It's a nationwide event. NanoDay is celebrated nationwide starting (March 29), but we're celebrating it a few days early because Boulder Valley School District's spring break starts next week."
WOW!'s NanoDays activities run 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 25-27.
The program is the largest national public outreach effort in nanoscale informal science education, according to information provided by WOW!, and involves science museums, children's museums, research centers and universities from Puerto Rico to Hawaii.
For those not in the know, objects at the macro level can be seen with the naked eye. The nano level is the minuscule world of atoms, molecules and nanoscale forces, like wavelengths and light.
NanoDays events will have kids examining tools that nanoscientists use and also participating in hands-on activities that demonstrate unexpected properties found at the nanoscale.
For example, children will discuss what life might be like with an invisibility cloak — the article of clothing from the Harry Potter books that, when worn, make people disappear — and will participate in activities and crafts that play with the properties of light to make something disappear. They will also create "oobleck," the green slimy substance from Dr. Seuss's "Bartholomew and the Oobleck," and attempt to determine whether it's a liquid or solid.
Guerrero didn't want to give too much away, but said, "It's things that are happening at the molecular level that are making (the oobleck) behave that way."
So why is all this important?
"We're getting children and their families excited about science, technology engineering and mathematics ... early on to help them better understand the science behind everyday things," Guerrero said.
In addition to WOW!'s NanoDays program in Lafayette, the museum will present NanoDays activities from 2-4 p.m., Saturday, April 5, at Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library in Broomfield.
WOW!'s NanoDays exhibit is included in the museum's general admission, which is $9 for children ages 1 to 11. Admission is free for children under a year old and also for museum members and adults.
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