Nuclear Chemistry: Attempting to Integrate an Empathy Approach

It's been a while since I've taught chemistry, and in all honesty, the content has always intimidated me a bit, in large part because I just couldn't relate to it on a human-level the way that I could in bio and even physics.  In order to help my chemistry students connect with our content on a more personal level, I decided to take an unorthodox approach to our study of atomic structure and nuclear chemistry: a focus on the nuclear arms race, research ethics and the nature of science.*

My original inspiration for this was a workshop I'd attended at the 2013 National Noyce Conference by Regina Toolin and Beth White of the UVM that was focused on teaching science for social justice.  During the workshop, the facilitators had us participate in a gallery walk reviewing photos of the devastation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, coupled with an audio experience listening to an interview of author Denise Kiernan talking about her book The Girls of Atomic City.  

I now use this experience as our unit hook, to emotionally engage students in the content.   I've modified their original activity to incorporate a 2-part gallery walk that includes two different photo sets: one has photos of the destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and other photos related to the bomb; the other ​​has photos of Oak Ridge and the female workers at Atomic City. 

​has photos of Oak Ridge and the female workers at Atomic City.  Students use a "Noticings & Wonderings" T-chart to record observations and questions about the gallery they observe, then engage in discussion about their gallery before viewing the other gallery.  Afterwards, students listen to the audio clip, then write a blog post reflecting on their perspectives regarding the ethics related to development of the bomb and hiring of workers to refine uranium without disclosing what they were doing (sample blog 1, sample blog 2). 

As part of our unit, my students also read the book Bomb:  The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon.  In the past, I've had students read excerpts of books, but have never tackled an entire novel in class, which required more reading support and time for sense-making activities (student reading guides based on reciprocal teaching roles, post-reading group discussions, summarizing sketchnotes and concept maps). 
​My goals in having them read the book as opposed to watching video clips, reading articles or texts, or other approaches were to have students:

• get to know scientists as everyday people
• discuss and debate the ethical issues related to scientific research and scientific progress (eg, should we use science and engineering innovation to develop weapons that can cause such destruction? when/how should these weapons be used?  was it right to employ workers to refine uranium without telling them what they were doing?)
• compare/contrast factors (then and now) that affect scientific progress 
• make personal connections with the science content we were learning in class (why should we understand atomic structure, stability and nuclear reactions?)
• compare/contrast the [cultural/political/social/ economic] climate then and now (eg, Russian espionage, perspectives on immigration, president's support of and belief in scientific evidence/data)
  
  

​While students navigated the reading outside of class, we focused on building models of the atom in class (PhET Build an Atom) and began investigating nuclear reactions through a POGIL-like activity that I developed and creation of stop-motion animations showing nuclear reactions (Sample Stop-Motion 1, Sample Stop-Motion 2). To wrap up our study of the book, students created podcasts to interview a scientist involved in the Manhattan Project, devising scripts to target our reading goals (above).  

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NGSS Standards Targeted in Unit

Disciplinary Core Ideas:  
PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter

• Each atom has a charged substructure consisting of a nucleus, which is made of protons and neutrons, surrounded by electrons.
• Stable forms of matter are those in which the electric and magnetic field energy is minimized. A stable molecule has less energy than the same set of atoms separated; one must provide at least this energy in order to take the molecule apart.

PS1.C: Nuclear Processes

• Nuclear processes, including fusion, fission, and radioactive decays of unstable nuclei, involve release or absorption of energy. The total number of neutrons plus protons does not change in any nuclear process.

PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life

• Nuclear Fusion processes in the center of the sun release the energy that ultimately reaches Earth as radiation.

Science and Engineering Practices

• Developing and Using Models
• Analyzing and Interpreting Data
• Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
• Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
• Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Although I think this approach was effective at helping my students to connect with the content and scientists, I think I would modify this in the future to better diversify the story line.  

• read only select segments of Bomb (discovery of fission, chain reaction)
• incorporate parts of Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb
• incorporate parts of Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women​

In the past, after studying fission/fusion, we have also investigated nuclear disasters and the impact of radiation on the human body, which I think I would bring back in lieu of focusing on the entire book.  

Well, you never know until you try, right?!

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