1Educational Tool for Nanophysics Using Multisensory Rendering

The presentation and the evaluation of an educational tool used to teach physical phenomena that take place at a nanometer scale are the central objectives of the work presented in this paper. Through concepts and tools, the real phenomena are connected to the virtual world, which furnish sensorial representations (haptic, visual, auditory) for the student who is experimenting. A computer representation of the nanoscene at the atomic level offers a multisensory tangible artifact of nanoworld inaccessible entities. The parameters accessibility allows students to design by themselves and perceive various contact interactions, to understand the origins of complex phenomena as the approach-retract nano-palpating effect. An interactive way for teaching and understanding the differences between the nanoscale physics and the macroscale physics is illustrated through an experience when students shake the Drosophilae leg. Real nanomanipulations on various samples by means of the developed multisensorial platform confirm better results in student comprehension and dexterity for achieving the same item as with the classical tools. 1