So in reading the NYTime blog about Japan, one of the links provided lead to this interactive slider page that let you see satellite images of different locations before and after the quake and tsunami. I can't think of anything to make this diaster more real to students half way across the world. I think I played with this feature for a good 20 min more than I probably should have given the workload this weekend, but it was just too amazing to stop playing with. I will definitely be using this blog as a resource in the future, hopefully for less disastrous events.
In thinking about how to integrate this, with regards to planning a lesson plan, one of the things I would want my students to focus on is the loss of energy production because of these events. I think many student, esp those who drive and pay for their own gas understand how the BP oil spill can impact gas prices at the pump, be it because of loss of demand or not, but it may not be quite as clear what the loss of a nuclear power plant means in terms of energy rates, both short term as they need to come up with a replacement for the power produced there, and long term as other countries determine if they want to 'risk' nuclear power.
Other ideas include having them research death rates from coal fired power plants vs nuclear power, as well as research how different kinds of nuclear power plants work, think about why the power plant was built where it was and think if there were any ways, blue sky, that the disaster could have been diverted. Also, I would love for them to check out the Nuclear Regulator Commission's website here in the US and research their closest nuclear power plant (to Ann Arbor that would be the Fermi plant on Lake Erie) and then look at the maps on the site and try and deduce from what they know about nuclear power, why so many plants are where they are.
Probably a bit much for a day, but it said we could have more than one :)
Super thinking here. Rachel, one of our guests tomorrow, emailed me that slider, too -- great minds think alike! It is absolutely incredible to watch.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely - you can have more than one "day" to plan. And you get the luxury of getting to be in the moment. We won't ask you to read your lesson plan out loud, but instead ask you, "What did you learn?" which can come in all kinds of ways!
What a need resource that slider is! I think my trouble when devising lessons will be choosing among all the possibilities and finding the highest quality sources - there are so many to choose from!
ReplyDelete*neat, not need!
ReplyDeleteYour idea of using the NRC website as an information for activity on nuclear power was great. It really brings home the crisis occurring in Japan when students realize there is a nuclear power plant nearby in Detroit.
ReplyDeleteThose sliders are super scary. They really bring home what happened. Thank you for posting it after we discussed this in class. It was a lot of fun working with you in a group and seeing your passion to share the information you knew about power plants (and other).
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