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Retrospective:
Lets Glow!:
An Illuminating Look at the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Nuclear Radiation.

I ran my unit during three weeks in December. My overall impression, based on student reaction, was that it was appropriately interesting and challenging for my students. It was also enjoyable for me, since I was passionate about it.

I did not run the unit exactly as planned. I condensed my "Bill Gates Freaks Out' activity into one day (the students did get into the spirit of the challenge). I was not organized enough to set up the field trip to the atomic museum, and I regret it. I'll plan better next year. I tried the "cloud chamber" lab, but was largely unsuccessful in getting students to see the alpha particles' vapor trails. I'll need to try this on my own to work out the bugs (we had fun with the dry ice anyway). I was unable to find enough of the black and white Polaroid "sheet film" (I think they stopped selling it?) for my "Rad art" project. I was able to do it as a demo (making a decent image of a radium clock dial), but it wasn't the creative hands on project I had originally planned. My school finally came through getting the science department a nice Geiger counter - one that detects beta, gamma, and alpha - along with making audible clicks (key, if you only have one Geiger counter and a large class). My students were impressed when I ripped open a smoke detector (the ionizing type with Americium in it) and proved to them that alpha could indeed be stopped by a sheet of paper. I would like to get a few more Geiger counters to let kids have more hands on opportunities. I must say that my unit would be less successful if I did not have so many radioactive and nuclear themed props that I have collected (mostly via ebay) over the past year.

My unit did have its problems. I was more interested in the topic than my

students at times. They got a little restless in the nuclear power lessons (including waste disposal). This might fit better into a broader energy theme comparing various energy sources. I'll need to think about this some more. My unit did not cover nuclear weapons in as much detail as some of my students would have liked. They were interested in the cold war (the movie Atomic Caf6 was well received) and the details of the bombs more than I anticipated. I also think I should have added more direct instruction about DNA, cell biology, and the cancer process. This would have made it easier for students to understand how nuclear radiation can both cause cancer and treat cancer.

Steven Kaestner

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Cloud Chamber Lab Questions
NAME:

1. Sketch the cloud chamber and a few of the tracks you saw that were formed as a result of the radiation.

2. Describe what you saw happening.

 3. What is the function of each of these parts of the cloud chamber?:

rubbing alcohol-

clear plastic container & lid-

dry ice-

dark paper-

lantern mantle (or other radioactive source)-

4. True or False: Radiation can be seen in the cloud chamber.

5. Describe what is happening in this experiment.

 6. What kind of radiation (alpha, beta, or gamma) is causing the observed effect? Why do you say this?

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1. True or False: Many policy makers feet that nuclear weapons prevent war.
2. What was the "Manhattan Project"?
3. True or False: The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed nearly 50,000 people instantly (and many more later).
4. True or False: Many feel that the atomic bombs dropped on Japan saved many lives by ending the war sooner, and averting an invasion of Japan.
5. True or False: The Soviet Union and the US were allies during WWII
6. True or False: Nuclear weapons prevented the Soviets from dominating Eastern Europe.
7. True or False: The first hydrogen bomb was around 1000 times more powerful than the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan.
8. True or False: The Soviets did NOT develop the hydrogen bomb
9. True or False: In the doctrine of "massive retaliation" nuclear weapons would only be used against the Soviets if they directly attacked the US.
10. True or False: "Sputnik" was the first US satellite.
11. True or False: The "flexible response" policy of the US and NATO did NOT advocate first use of nuclear weapons.
12. True or False: The Cuban missile crisis ended with the Soviets keeping missiles in Cuba to counter the US weapons based in Europe.
    Note: ICBM stands for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile - a type of long range weapon.
13. What does MAD stand for?
14. What is the logic behind MAD?
15. How were MIRV's considered to be destabilizing?
16. True or False: the SALT II treaty was widely believed to help the US more than the Soviets.
17. Briefly describe the idea behind the MX missile.
18. True or False: It was rational for the Soviets to think the MX, the Pershing, and the Cruise Missile as "first strike" weapons.
19. About when do you think this film was made?

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A little quiz on radiation

Choose the letter(s) of the best choice. Answers may be used more than once. Some questions have more than one answer. You must get the answer totally correct to receive credit (no partial credit given). Remember that visible light is a type of radiation.

Answer choices:	A. Alpha
	B. Beta
	G. Gamma
	L. Visible Light
	N. None of the above

1. Which type(s) of radiation have a negative charge?
2. Which type(s) of radiation have no charge?
3. Which type(s) of radiation have no mass, are pure energy, and travel in waves?
4. Which type(s) of radiation move the slowest?
5. Which type(s) of radiation move at the speed of light?
6. Which type(s) of radiation becomes Helium after it stops moving and picks up two electrons?
7. Which type(s) of radiation would normally be stopped by a cubic foot of distilled water (pure water)?
8. Which type(s) of radiation can make ions in human flesh?
9. Which type(s) of radiation is given off as Potassium-40 decays to Calcium-40?
10. Which type(s) of ionizing radiation is given off by radioactive elements and does NOT result in a different element being formed?
11. Which type(s) of radiation is stopped by a piece of plastic wrap (saran wrap) or cellophane?
12. Which type(s) of radiation will make you radioactive if they hit you?
13. Which type(s) of radiation have the potential to cause cancer (by possibly damaging DNA) in living organisms?

 

 

 "Science, Society and America's Nuclear Waste" is a four-unit secondary curriculum. It is intended to provide information about scientific and societal issues related to the management of spent nuclear fuel from generation of electricity at nuclear powerplants and high-level radioactive waste from U.S. national defense activities. The curriculum, supporting classroom activities, and teaching materials present a brief discussion of energy and electricity generation, including that produced at nuclear powerplants; information on sources, amounts, location, and characteristics of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste; sources, types, and effects of radiation; U.S. policy for managing and disposing of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste and what other countries are doing; and the components of the nuclear waste management system. The four units are:

 

Unit 1 - Nuclear Waste

Unit 2 - Ionizing Radiation

Unit 3 - The Nuclear Waste Policy Act

Unit 4 - The Waste Management System

In the study of nuclear waste management, or any other scientific and social subject, individuals are encouraged to seek differing perspectives and points of view.

This resource curriculum was produced by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) and has been reviewed by selected staff, faculty, and/or workshop participants from: Louisiana State University; the University of Nevada, Reno and Las Vegas; the University of Tennessee; Pennsylvania State University; Hope College in Michigan; the University of South Florida School of Medicine; the New York State Department of Education, Science, Technology, and Society Education Project; the Nevada Science Project; the National Council for the Social Studies, Science and Society Committee; and the First International Workshop on Education in the Field of Radioactive Waste Management - At the Crossroads of Science, Society, and the Environment - co-sponsored by the multinational Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/ Nuclear Energy Agency, U.S. Department of Energy's OCRWM, and the Swiss National Cooperative for the Storage of Radioactive Waste (NAGRA). The international workshop was attended by educators and information specialists from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This curriculum was field tested through team-teaching by science and social studies teachers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.

For further information about this curriculum, please call 1-800-225-6972 (within Washington, DC, 202-488-6720) or write to:

OCRWM National Information Center
Attention: Curriculum Department
600 Maryland Ave., SW
Suite 760
Washington, DC 20024

The 1977 DOE Reorganization Act authorizes education and training activities necessary to ensure that the Nation has an adequate technical work force in energy-related research and production fields. These fields include mathematics, physics, geology, chemistry, zoology, biology, and other areas of basic and applied research. The DOE Science Enhancement Act (part of the 1991 National Defense Authorization Act) expands the Department's authorization to support science education and amends the 1977 legislation to make support for science education a major mission of the Department. Traditionally, the DOE educational emphasis has been on university-level education, with the agency providing graduate student fellowships and research appointments at DOE facilities. More recently, the education mission was expanded to include precollege education and science literacy.

 DOE has been working diligently to make its contribution toward achieving our National Education Goals since their development following the 1989 Education Summit in Charlottesville, Virginia. Although DOE's work indirectly supports all the goals, DOE is especially involved in Goal # 4: "By the year 2000, U.S. students will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement."

DOE sponsors a number of national and local energy education programs, in addition to this curriculum, through its national laboratories, energy technology centers,and various DOE program elements. For further information about these programs, please write to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science Education and Technical Information, Washington, DC 20585.

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