UNIT OUTLINE

Objectives:

  • Students will engage in interdisciplinary, inquiry-based learning to promote racial justice, challenge bias, and lead discussions through an inclusive, anti-racist anti-bias lens;

  • Students will be able to synthesize learning to develop an intersectional framework for critiquing systems of oppression and empower themselves to take lifelong actions against hate and racism.

  • Students will be able to engage in meaningful discourse about ethics and social justice in science and STEM as they interrogate the traditional understanding of what it means to be a STEM practitioner. Students will learn about the science of nuclear energy as well as the social and environmental impact of nuclear technology.

Intended Outcomes:

Through exposure to diverse and complex texts and learning materials, students will be able to deepen critical and creative thinking through inquiry-to-action projects and present their learning to a larger audience through their medium of choice.

This curriculum can be used throughout Chicago Public Schools and Illinois. In order to support teacher learning, our goal is to create professional learning opportunities for local educators to extend the scope and reach of the curriculum. 

Essential Questions:

  • Why are nuclear weapons used?

  • How do individuals resist acts of violence and oppression?

  • How is science used to perpetuate atrocities?

  • How does a community/society heal after widespread harm is perpetrated? 

  • What is our moral responsibility as scientists and social scientists?

Student Understandings:

  1. Students will understand that Black Americans played an important role in protesting the atomic bomb and use of nuclear energy;

  2. Students will understand that the atomic bomb was developed as a part of imperialist, colonist, capitalism, nationalist systems;

  3. Students will understand that use of the atomic bomb was racialized and there was intentional use of racism against Japanese people to justify use of the bomb;

  4. Students will understand that ways in which people of the Pacific Islands were impacted by atomic bomb testing;

  5. Students will understand that memorialization is important to societal healing and the choices we (as individuals and as a society) make moving forward; 

  6. Students will understand that the identities/representation of different peoples has an impact on inclusionary and exclusionary policies;

  7. Students will understand that data and science can be misconstrued to advance political agenda;

  8. Students will understand how scientific data can be used as part of propaganda that furthers nationalist agendas;

  9. Students will understand that there are complex perspectives illustrated by personal narratives that may disagree with widely-held data; 

  10. Students will understand the geopolitical context that lead up to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.