This guide is focused on “three big ideas” that can provide a framework to help museum staff and visitors feel empowered to reflect on the relevance of nanotechnology in their lives through open-ended conversation. The guide considers how new nanotechnologies may affect people and the societies they live in and create. The three big ideas are illustrated with related videos and hands-on activities and further explored through very brief case studies of three nanospecific technologies, providing further examples of conversations that might occur on a museum floor. Finally, the guide explores strategies and tips for engaging visitors in conversations as part of their learning experience.
- Values shape how technologies are both developed and adopted
- Technologies affect social relationships
- Technologies work because they are part of larger systems
- Nanotechnologies—and their costs, utility, risks, and benefits—are closely interconnected with society and with our values.
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