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Nuclear Energy
Damage to nuclear reactors in Japan caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami have raised questions about the safety and use of nuclear power. Understanding how nuclear power is created and contained is vital to your students’ overall understanding of the situation in Japan. Explore Thinkfinity.org’s special collection of classroom resources on nuclear energy, and provide your students with a detailed understanding of how these current events impact not only those in Japan, but their lives as well.
Recommended Nuclear Energy Resources:
- Low-Level Nuclear Waste: A Geographic Analysis, provides information on how the environment can be impacted by a radiation leak at a nuclear power plant. (9-12)
- Three Mile Island: The Inside Story, details past problems at a nuclear facility in Pennsylvania and shows steps taken to prevent a greater disaster. (9-12)
- Share The Chernobyl Disaster with students and help them understand the 1986 complete nuclear power plant meltdown. (9-12)
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Nuclear Energy Lesson Plans and Primary Sources
The Chernobyl Disaster
Science NetLinks | Lesson Plan | 9-12
In this lesson, students discover how a nuclear accident can affect biological systems.
Converting Energy
Science NetLinks | Lesson Plan | 6-8
To introduce students to energy through the idea of energy transformations and conversions, and to develop students’ ideas of what energy is and how it can be measured.
Cuban Missile Crisis
History Explorer | Lesson Plan | 9-12
Students learn how the U.S. and Soviet Union came to the brink of a nuclear war.
Fallout from Chernobyl
Xpeditions | Lesson Plan | 6-8
Students read and analyze several articles describing the consequences of the 1986 explosion.
Family Fallout Shelter
History Explorer | Artifact | 9-12
Show students an actual fallout shelter built in the 1950s.
Low-Level Nuclear Waste: A Geographic Analysis
Xpeditions | Lesson Plan | 9-12
Students analyze the problems surrounding nuclear waste. They compare and contrast low- and high-level nuclear waste.
Nuclear Bomb Effects Computer
History Explorer | Artifact | 9-12
The circular slide rule describes the effects of a nuclear explosion on people.
Splitting the Atom
Science NetLinks | Lesson Plan | 9-12
To use the Internet to research the history of the splitting of the atom. To use that research to prepare a presentation on an aspect of that topic. The focus of the "splitting-the-atom" story should be on the discovery of nuclear fission and its impact on world affairs.
Three Mile Island: The Inside Story
History Explorer | Lesson Plan | 9-12
Students learn about America’s worst accident at a civilian nuclear power plant.
Three Questions About Japan's Nuclear Plants
Science NetLinks | AAAS ScienceInsider Article | 6-12
Learn about the key questions experts are grappling with in trying to contain the nuclear crisis within the Fukushima power complex.
Zeolites
Science NetLinks | Lesson Plan | 6-8
Learn how scientists use Zeolites to trap and seal up toxic waste.
