Pieter B. students see the unseen at the RCS Community Library’s Nano Exhibit

A small group of students look at two disks as they spin.
Students spin disks containing small and large plastic beads to compare the relative effects of static electricity and gravity on the different size beads.

“It’s a chance for students to see science and get a hands-on feel for what’s out there,” Pieter B. Coeymans Curriculum Content Specialist, Tony Lintner said about the RCS Community Library’s Nano Mini-Exhibition.

The exhibit, on loan from the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology, took students through various stations that show the basics of nanoscience and engineering and introduced kids to real world applications of the science. Groups rotated through hands-on displays where they worked with magnets exploring progressively smaller magnetic materials, built a giant model of carbon nanotube, searched for real nano products, and more.

two girls hold magnets on cylindrical tube
Ali and Spencer explore how different magnetic materials react to their magnets.

“We got to do a scavenger hunt and I’m excited about making science experiments and building,” fourth-grader Aamiyah Ali said as the first groups rotated through the exhibit.

Classmate Cadence Spencer chimed in.

“I’m excited about the science experiments, because I love science.”

four students and a teacher kneel around carbon building blocks.
Fourth-graders work together to create a giant model of carbon nanotube.

Director of the library, Judith Wines, said they work diligently to find interactive exhibits and community activities for students and their families.

“The more hands-on things we can do, the more excited we are,” Wines said. “So we are thrilled to have the exhibit here.”

Lintner watched as students worked together at the different stations and added.

students sit on couch and in a chair as they listen to a teacher.
Lintner discusses nanoscience with fourth grade students.

“It also gives students an idea of what is going on in our future as far as engineers go, how things are made, how things are created. It was fun for them to actually be able to touch and see it, learn a little bit about it.”