Clark University 12/13/2016

Clark University 12/13/2016

Clark University 12/13/2016

Learning Activity Plan

Chemistry, Mrs. Phillips

  1. Content: Nuclear Chemistry

In today’s lesson, students will be transitioning into the topic of radioactive waste and safety around radioactive sources. This will lead us into a discussion about what types of radiation are harmful vs. what types are beneficial to human life. The lesson will begin with an activity in which students will be simulating the disposal of radioactive waste and seeing which team can come up with the most effective means of disposal. Following the activity’s completion, a class discussion will help students see the connections between this activity and radioactive waste disposal, following which talk about the half-life of radioactive isotopes and begin our exploration of some of the largest nuclear disasters in history.

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  1. Learning Goals:
  2. SWBAT work collaboratively as a team to come up with the best way to transport their team’s radioactive particlesfrom one containment to another, limiting exposure and using only available resources.
  3. SWBAT draw connections between this activity and the real-life disposal of radioactive waste and the issues involved with this –such as safety, long-term implications, etc.
  4. SWBAT describe the term “half-life” and perform calculations to determine what the half-life of a radioactive substance is.
  1. Rationale:

Nuclear chemistry is a very relevant and interesting topic in chemistry – radiation is used in many everyday processes and there are many misconceptions surrounding it as well that we will work to correct during our time in this unit. From medical technology to the microwaves used to cook our food – radiation is everywhere. This unit will help students to be informed about both the benefits and potential dangers of radiation in their everyday lives. Today’s lesson will help students to explore the safety protocol and regulations in place to prevent contamination from radioactive sources and help students to understand why radioactive waste is so tricky to contain.

  1. Assessment:

The assessment for this lesson will be a formative assessment through verbal discussion and class participation in the waste disposal activity. I will also assess understanding by walking around the room and listening as students plan out their disposal techniques before we move on to our class discussion on radioactive waste. I will also walk around the room and assess student understanding of half-life as students begin to work with this new concept. The final assessment for this topic will be in the form of a final exam on nuclear chemistry.

  1. Personalization and Equity:

The collaborative waste disposal task that is used a starter for class will help get all students engaged in the lesson and serve as a transition into our new topic of nuclear chemistry. This willalso serve as an easy entry point into today’s lesson, as all students can participate in this activity. The hands-on, visual approach to describing waste disposal will help my IEP and ELL students (particularly Kennedy, Brandon, Dan, and Clay) to visualize and make connections to radioactive waste disposal, and I will check in frequently with these students during the activity to ensure they are understanding these connections. The collaborative nature of this activity will be beneficial to students who work best in groups, while the individual writing time will help students to process their thoughts after the task.Finally – the radioactive waste visual will help students to get an idea of how much waste is created per person to show them the growing problem that radioactive waste has become.

  1. Activity Description and Agenda:
  2. Agenda

Time / Teacher: / Students: / Rationale:
0:00 – 0:10 / Teacher will begin the lesson by telling students that they are going to become managers for a nuclear power plant today – and that there has been a disaster at their plant. There has been an unplanned for overproduction of radioactive waste – and it is going to be the students’ jobs to make sure this waste is properly and safely taken care of – before time runs up and everyone becomes exposed! To limit exposure, students will be working in small teams – and they can only use those tools available to them at their plant – and they can NOT touch the radioactive waste with anything BUT these tools. After the introduction, teacher will tell students who their group mates are and what their assigned roles will be for the activity, and then will set students up at their stations. / Students will enter and listen to the instructions for the radioactive waste activity. Students will obtain a copy of the day’s instructions before gathering at their assigned station with their groupmates. / This will serve to engage students in the day’s activity and topic – radioactive waste and its disposal.
0:10 – 0:13 / Teacher will inform teams that they have two minutes to dump out their supply bag and strategize, and then the timer will start. Students will have six minutes to move as many radioactive particles from their plant into containment as they can – and the fastest and safest team wins. / Students will gather in their groups and plan their strategy for the first round. / This will serve as a verbal assessment of student knowledge on this topic and will serve as a review for those who are still trying to grasp the different types of decay.
0:13 – 0:19 / Teacher will start the timer and the individual timer in each group will start their stopwatch –teams will begin moving their radiation to the containment bag, noting any mishaps and adding this to their final time. / Students will begin moving their radioactive particles to the containment bag, using their group roles to complete the task. / This will get students actively engaged in a process simulating waste disposal.
0:19 – 0:24 / Teacher will tell students that time is up and ask them to tally their total time with contamination leaks. Students will then alternate roles and again receive two minutes of prep time to regather their materials and get ready for round two. / Students will tally their total times and regather their materials to prepare for round two in which students will alternate roles. / This will give all students a chance to be the lead manager and test their plan of action.
0:24 – 0:30 / Teacher will begin the timer and inform groups to do so as well. Teacher will circulate the groups while they work, ensuring that groups are marking off contaminations and working productively. / Students will begin the second trial, minimizing contamination and moving as quickly as possible. / This will give all students a chance to participate as the lead manager of the plant.
0:30-0:35 / Teacher will tell students that time is up and ask them to tally their total time with contamination leaks. Students will then alternate roles and again receive two minutes of prep time to regather their materials and get ready for round three. / Students will tally their total times and regather their materials to prepare for round three in which students will alternate roles. / This will give all students a chance to be the lead manager and test their plan of action.
0:35 – 0:41 / Teacher will begin the timer and inform groups to do so as well. Teacher will circulate the groups while they work, ensuring that groups are marking off contaminations and working productively. / Students will begin the third trial, minimizing contamination and moving as quickly as possible. / This will give all students a chance to participate as the lead manager of the plant.
0:41 – 0:45 / Teacher will ask students to tally up their final trial time and calculate the average of all three trials - the team with the lowest time wins a prize from the prize bucket. Teacher will ask students to put all materials back in their starting bags and return the bags to their starting locations. / Students will calculate their final time and average time, and then clean up their areas. / This will serve as the motivation for students to try their hardest in each of the trials.
0:45 – 0:60 / Teacher will ask students to return to their seats and spend a few minutes jotting down their thoughts about the activity and radioactive waste disposal. Why is waste disposal so controversial and difficult? In what ways do students think contamination spread is minimized? For how long can radioactive waste be contained? Any general thoughts on the activity? Teacher will lead a discussion on how this activity connects to radioactive waste disposal and introduce students to the idea of half-life, a discussion that will continue in the next lesson. / Students will return to their seats and reflect on the activity, writing down their thoughts and discussing the connections to radioactive waste disposal. Students will write down notes on half-life and continue working with this in the next class. / This will serve as the closing for the day’s activity, and will allow students to reflect on what they learned. It will also serve as the jumping point into the following day’s activity – half-life calculations.

Homework:None

  1. Challenges:

I anticipate that some students may have difficulty drawing connections between the activity and real-life nuclear waste, and so I will use a class discussion and leading questions at the end of the period to help students to make these connections explicit. I also anticipate that some students may have trouble remaining on task throughout the activity and so have assigned roles to help students remain focused throughout.

  1. Frameworks:

2.5 Identify the three main types of radioactive decay (alpha, beta, and gamma) and compare their properties (composition, mass, charge, and penetrating power).

2.6 Describe the process of radioactive decay by using nuclear equations, and explain the conceptof half-life for an isotope (for example, C-14 is a powerful tool in determining the age of objects).

SIS2. Design and conduct scientific investigations.

SIS3. Analyze and interpret results of scientific investigations.

  1. Reflection:

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