6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Science: “Should or Should Not the U.S. Use Nuclear Energy as a Main Source of Energy to Reduce Carbon Emissions?”
Overview:
This structured academic controversy lesson is designed to teach students to critically engage with the debate about which energy sources are the most sustainable, safest, and do the least harm to the environment. This lesson is embedded within our ongoing climate change and climate justice unit. Prior to this lesson students will have gained background knowledge about the carbon cycle, fossil fuel extraction, and the greenhouse effect. Students will have also had the opportunity to engage in learning the basic science behind nuclear energy through models and videos.
Students will begin the lesson by watching two videos that introduce the debate about the safety and sustainability of nuclear energy. They will use a note catcher to document their beginning understandings.
Then they will be divided into groups of four with two students presenting arguments for the side in favor of using nuclear energy to reduce carbon emissions and two students presenting arguments for the side against using nuclear energy. Students in each group will be presented with evidence to support their claims/arguments, with scaffolded guidance to help students develop these claims.
Evidence resources for the anti-nuclear energy side will include arguments for other sustainable energy sources, resources that explain how mining for uranium impacts the environment and people, and evidence about the devastating impact of nuclear power plant disasters.
Evidence resources that support the use of nuclear energy will include data sets about low carbon emissions from nuclear energy compared to fossil fuels, and resources about new innovations in safety. Each side will be given time to present while the other side listens quietly.
Then the side that listened will have an opportunity to ask clarifying questions. The arguing and listening roles will then be reversed and the process repeated. After the initial round of exchanges students will switch positions on the issue and have to present arguments for the side opposite of which they initially argued. The presentation and listening process is repeated. Finally, the whole class comes together for a final discussion and consensus building.
Download the Curriculum Plan PDF
Download the Student Graphic Organizer PDF
Collaboration with college students
Freshman students at the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) who enrolled “Nuclear Problems and Society” class visited NTA to have small group discussions with 7th graders. They discussed the documentary “Atomic Bamboozle” and prepared questions for the Director of the film, Jan Haaken, and exchanged brainstorming ideas for developing a discussion guide for the documentary.
Download a Collaboration Worksheet PDF
Discussion with filmmakers 2: Jan Haaken (Atomic Bamboozle)
The film focuses on the story of the Columbia River and the “ecosystem” of activists working to dismantle the false promise of small module reactors (SMRs).
Joint Zoom session with Director Haaken, NTA students, and SAIC students.
Director Haaken emphasized the role of “social memory” in the film, not only in relation to the stories shared by anti-nuclear activists that a younger generation can learn from, but also in the way the film focuses on the Yakama Nation’s deep ecological connection to the Columbia River as a powerful driving force for resistance.
Students continued to synthesize their prior science knowledge from lessons/research about the effects of radiation on soil, water, and the bodies of living things with the power of narrative as resistance to nuclear propaganda. The film supported students as they explored answers to our core unit questions “How can we use our knowledge to critique government policy and resist corporate propaganda? How do we as ecologists and environmental scientists communicate the ecological impact of nuclear fallout and nuclear waste?”
After discussing Atomic Bamboozle with SAIC students and Director Haaken, students began to create a comprehensive discussion guide for the film. In this discussion guide, students added resources about SMRs, nuclear policy, and Indigenous experiences. Key topics they included in the guide are: Costs and Who Profits, Effects on Ecosystems and “Sacrifice Zones,” Indigenous Experience and Resistance, Propaganda, Generational Effects, and Scientists’ Dilemma.
A smaller group of students began to plan for a letter (that includes their research) to present to representatives of the Illinois State Assembly as well as to our Chicago City Council members imploring them to consider the ramifications of lifting the moratorium on building new nuclear reactors in Illinois.
Download Students’ Notes from Discussions PDF
Download Discussion Guide and Resource Board for Atomic Bamboozle PDF
Field Trip to the University of Chicago
To conclude the unit, students took a field trip to the University of Chicago, the birthplace of nuclear energy. Students visited several sites of the Manhattan Project: Chicago Pile 1, “Nuclear Energy” sculpture by Henry Moore, Eckhart Hall, and Hutchinson Commons. The field trip was guided by Professor Emeritus, Norma Field, who gave students a detailed history of the Manhattan Project and its relevance to today’s nuclear problems.