Lesson Plans
NATURE Program
Lesson Activities
Two lesson activities have been developed for the students participating in the NATURE program. This program is designed to generate interest in math, science, and engineering programs among Native American high school students in the state of North Dakota.
Why does hair turn grey, and how big is it at the nanoscale?
This activity will allow students to understand the reasons why the hair turns grey and measure its size.
Discovering the properties of nanomaterials
We will use an AFM to record an image of a CD-ROM. This will allow students to see how binary information is stored in this type of memory.
Nanoscience and Biotechnology Sample Activity
NATURE Outreach Activities
Dr. Zhao and Dr. Nuri have performed outreach activities to:
- Cankdeska Cikana Community College at Fort Totten, ND, 205 miles round trip
- Fort Berthold Community College at New Town, ND, 560 miles round trip
- Sitting Bull College at Fort Yates, ND, 700 miles round trip
- Turtle Mountain Community College at Belcourt, ND, 360 miles round trip
- United Tribe Technical College at Bismarck, ND, 540 miles round trip
The number of Native American high school students participated in the activities was varied in different tribes, between 20 to 10. They enjoyed the activities and gave very positive comments on the evaluation from.
Sunscreen Project
Students investigate the protection efficiency of sunscreens against UV light including UVA and UVB. They test different sunscreen samples with different Sun Protection Factor (SPF) ratings. By doing this project, students have a deeper understanding on the importance of wearing sunscreens. Two activities were designed for this project.
Activity 1
Analysis of oxybenzone using UV absorption: Oxybenzone samples (at least two, usually no more thanfive data points at 4.0, 8.0, 12, 16, and 20 ppm) should be prepared. According to Beer’s Law, if the length of the cell and the absorption coefficient is constant, the absorption is proportional to the concentration of oxybenzone. The maximum absorbance of oxybenzone recorded within the scanned wavelength range was used to generate the calibration curve and determine the absorbance for the samples. A wavelength of 288 nm was determined to be appropriate for the maximum absorbance after the baseline was subtracted.
Activity 2
The three sunscreens contained varying amounts of oxybenzone, which should be reflected in the SPF rating, will be tested. The SPF 30 sunscreen had 4 % oxybenzone, SPF 50 had 6 % oxybenzone, and SPF 70 had 3.5 % oxybenzone as well as other active ingredients. Theoretically, as the concentration of oxybenzone increases, the absorption should increase.
Light and Color Project
Light is electromagnetic radiation within certain range of electromagnetic spectrum. Only certain part of the spectrum is visible to the human eye which we call it visible light. Visible light has wavelengths in the range of 400-700 nanometers between ultraviolet (shorter wavelength) and infrared (longer wavelength). Three activities were designed on this project.
Activity 3: Rainbow
In optics, a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light is called a prism. The typical geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular base and rectangular sides. Prisms can be made from any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for which they are designed. Typical materials include glass, plastic and fluorite. A dispersive prism can be used to break light up into its constituent spectral colors (the colors of the rainbow). In this experiment, we use an equilateral triangle prism to break light up into its constituent spectral colors (i.e. the colors of the rainbow)
Activity 4: Adding and Subtracting Colors
By using filters of different colors, we will demonstrate that it is possible to add and subtract colors.
RED |
+ |
BLUE |
? |
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RED |
+ |
YELLOW |
? |
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YELLOW |
+ |
BLUE |
? |
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RED |
+ |
BLUE |
+ |
YELLOW |
? |
Activity 5: Solar Cell Current Measurements
By using a solar cell car, we demonstrate how solar cell works. By changing the intensity of light, we show that the effect of the light intensity on the energy produced by the solar cell. We also use different colors with the same intensity to show that light with different color have different energy, i.e. blue vs red light. This part is correlated with project 1 in the sense that the sun screens are designed to block ultra-violet light which packs more energy per photon.