Nuclear Power from Kemi Jona, Northwestern Resources for Teachers

With the current situation in Japan involving nuclear power featured so prominently in the news, your students may have many questions and fears. A good way to bring these events into the classroom would be to use the iLabs curricula. It addresses many of the questions of radiation's effect on health by analyzing how radiation dissipates over distance. Below is a list of relevant labs offered on line, as well as a link to an informative video from the CNN website.

The following labs can be found at http://ilabcentral.org/

Cell Phone Radiation: How Close is Too Close? (Physics)
In the Lab Activities, you will conduct the Radioactivity iLab. With the real data you collect, you will perform analyses, discuss your results with classmates, and draw conclusions about how radiation changes as a function of distance. Am I frying my brain with my cell phone?

Radiation and Cancer: Cure or Cause? (Biology)
In this lab, you can explore how radioactive radiation changes as a function of distance. This curriculum sets the Radioactivity iLab in the context of radiation as it's used for cancer treatment, and asks you to consider: Is radiation harmful or helpful?

Investigating the Safety of Nuclear Energy Using Real Radioactivity Data (Chemistry)
In this lab, you can explore how radioactive radiation changes as a function of distance. This curriculum sets the Radioactivity iLab in the context of nuclear energy, and asks you to consider: How safe is it to live next to a nuclear reactor?

Mathematical Modeling Using Real Radioactivity Data (Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Statistics)
In this lab, you can explore how radioactive radiation changes as a function of distance. This curriculum sets the Radioactivity iLab in the context of mathematics curriculum, asking you to consider: How do mathematical patterns describe and predict scientific data?

Advanced Research Methods Using Real Radioactivity Data (AP Physics)
In this lab, you can explore how radiation changes as a function of distance. This curriculum sets the Radioactivity iLab in the context of cell phone radiation, and asks you to consider: In a highly complex and diverse universe, why do numerous phenomena behave the same in mathematical terms?
CNN also offered a good interactive video about the current problem:
Click Here!

Sincerely,

Kemi Jona
Northwestern University OSEP