Meet Nanoscientist Jim Tour
An interview with James M. Tour, Ph.D., a synthetic organic chemist (and the creator of NanoKids) at the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice University, Houston, Texas.
Q. How did you get the idea for NanoKids?
Dr. Tour: I was bothered by press reports about nanobots, that they will reproduce, do bad things, even eat us as a source of carbon! No matter how many times I said, “No, this is not going to happen. Nanomaterials are smaller than DNA; they are not going to function like that.” the reporters didn’t write about that.So I thought, “Okay, you want nanobots, I’ll give you nanobots!” I had noticed that when my kids saw me working with chemistry drawings, they’d recognize a shape and say, “Nice spider.” Or nice whatever. One day, my six-year-old son said, “Nice boy.” And he started putting hair on the drawing and limbs.
I thought, why not teach chemical concepts by attaching arms and legs to molecules. That’s how we make molecules, by attaching things. Students could see a very logical progression to chemical synthesis through building these molecules. One of my graduate students, Stephanie Chanteau, had told me that she planned to leave her scientific studies because she loved art. I thought this NanoKid project would be a perfect way for her to combine her love of art with science. Then a high school student who was gifted in animation started animating the drawings. And a university music student agreed to write an original score.
We asked school-aged children what kind of music they liked. They said rock, pop and rap. So this is the music we used.
With the addition of the talents of producer Suzanne Lamminen, the educational package was built.
Q.What does the NanoKids program consist of?
Dr. Tour: The 2-D interactive online program and a DVD that provides a stepping stone for conversations and for teaching to start. We zoom in to smaller and smaller scales. Smaller than a mosquito, smaller than a mosquito hair. You go deeper and deeper and you are one of the NanoKids, dancing, holding hands, boys and girls! Just like in video games, you become a part of it.
And the music is intense. One mother called me and asked, what is this song my son is singing, “Bond with me?” Well, that’s what molecules do! We don’t have to decouple music and fun from education.
We’ve also got a NanoKids card game now that’s played a lot like Uno. There are 109 cards for the 109 elements on the periodic table.
Q. What was the response of the kids when you introduced NanoKids?
Dr. Tour: Kids love it. Little kids and big kids. My college students ask, “Why can’t we learn like this?” It can be used at almost any level. It’s fun.
I often tell audiences when I present NanoKids, that if someone doesn’t like it, it’s because they’re too old. Now, no one says they don’t like it! But really, I have had to stop seminars because kids were clapping so much. When I talk about my nanotechnology research and NanoKids, I get tons of e-mail about NanoKids!
Q. What do students think about science today?
Dr. Tour: My daughter was doing her chemistry homework one night and said to me, “I can’t believe you do this for a living, Dad!” I said, “I don’t do that for a living!” We lose kids when we fill them with facts they can’t do anything with.
Science is exploration! I explore for a living. I think up an idea and go to my lab and explore it. No other profession is like that. I can explore an idea and get results the very same day.
A physician can’t say to his patient, “Hey, I’m going to try something new today.” Can you imagine a pilot telling his passengers, “Well, I’ve decided to do something new today”?
I told my daughter, “Look at the fibers in this carpet. I know why they are stiff and spring back when stepped on. I know why a tree has this enormous strength and yet bends in the wind. You don’t. But when you see things at the nano level, you know.”
NanoKids allows you to see what I see. That’s what I did with NanoKids. I said, let them see what I see.
Q. Do kids learn from NanoKids?
Dr. Tour: I hope so. We’re having a professional evaluation of it conducted in January 2004, so we’ll have more information on learning then. If we find that it is a good learning tool as well as fun, we’ll release the program for general distribution.
The program has been approved by the Texas Independent School Board and is in Beta testing in eight public schools this fall along with three private schools. We held a teacher-training program for it last summer.
I think this program might be especially good for middle school students. When we ask kids in elementary school how many would like to be scientists, about one-half raise their hands. In high school, only one or two students do. We’ve got to do a better job of engaging students in the in-between years.
Learn more about NanoKids on the Rice University Web site.
Also visit Dr. Tour's laboratory Web site for more information on his research.