• 6-8: 1C/M6. Computers have become invaluable in science, mathematics, and technology because they speed up and extend people's ability to collect, store, compile, and analyze data; prepare research reports; and share data and ideas with investigators all over the world.

• 6-8: 3A/M2. Technology is essential to science for such purposes as access to outer space and other remote locations, sample collection and treatment, measurement, data collection and storage, computation, and communication of information.

• 9-12: 3C/H6. The human ability to influence the course of history comes from its capacity for generating knowledge and developing new technologies—and for communicating ideas to others.

• 6-8: 4D/M9. Materials vary in how they respond to electric currents, magnetic forces, and visible light or other electromagnetic waves.
• 9-12: 4D/H10. The physical properties of compounds reflect the nature of the interactions among its molecules. These interactions are determined by the structure of the molecule, including the constituent atoms and the distances and angles between them.

• 9-12: 8B/H4. Increased knowledge of the properties of particular molecular structures helps in the design and synthesis of new materials for special purposes.
• 9-12: 8B/H6. Groups of atoms and molecules can form structures that can be measured in billionths of a meter. The properties of structures at this scale (known as the nanoscale) and materials composed of such structures, can be very different than the properties at the macroscopic scale because of the increase in the ratio of surface area to volume and changes in the relative strengths of different forces at different scales. Increased knowledge of the properties of materials at the nanoscale provides a basis for the development of new materials and new uses of existing materials.

• 6-8: 11B/M1. Models are often used to think about processes that happen too slowly, too quickly, or on too small a scale to observe directly. They are also used for processes that are too vast, too complex, or too dangerous to study.
• 6-8: 11B/M4. Simulations are often useful in modeling events and processes.

What is microscopy and what sort of careers are available to a microscopist? This web page features animated tutorials that illustrate the basics of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and the Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM). It includes interviews with practicing scientists from a wide variety of fields, who talk about career paths that utilize microscopy.

• Physical Sciences K-8 Microscopy: Observing at the Nanoscale Unit
• Physics First Microscopy: Observing at the Nanoscale Unit
• Conceptual Physics Microscopy: Observing at the Nanoscale Unit
• Algebra-Based Physics Microscopy: Observing at the Nanoscale Unit
• AP/Calculus-Based Physics Microscopy: Observing at the Nanoscale Unit