---~ Science Club Activity Plan ~---

Radiation Zone How does radiation affect your body? Learn what to do in the event of a nuclear catastrophe. When was this activity last done in this particular school or program? (The suggested wait time before redoing an activity is about one year.) Month/Day/Year

Radiation Zone

PHYSICS Activity Summary: Review the electromagnetic spectrum and determine why some types of radiation are more harmful than others. Discuss historical nuclear disasters and determine what can be done if one finds himself or herself in the middle of one!

Age Range

Goals

Although this plan could be modified to accommodate students of any age group, it was created for students from 10 years old and older. Members will gain a better understanding of the physics behind ionizing radiation, its affects to the human body and know what to do in the event of a nuclear emergency.

Member Rating:

4/5 (Five stars being the most enjoyed and one being the least enjoyed in general)

Ages 10+ Average Duration:

About 1 hour Best Time

Budget Considerations

With its potentially grim tone, this activity may be most effective in October. However, it provides the basis of knowledge for historical, chemical and physics related curriculum and may be well suited for any time of the year.

There is no cost for this activity (unless making a number of copies will cost your particular program). There is a small chance that some printed handouts may be kept in storage. Approx. Total (for 30 members) = $0.00

Amount of Prep:

1/5 (Five being a great deal and one being very little)

No Cost

Science Club Activity Plan

“Radiation Zone”

 Stored supplies won’t be needed Materials Needed

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A working projector or large screen for slideshow presentations A printed handout for each member

Minimum Reccomended Advisors/Volunteers:

Adult #1 (Teacher) Adult #2 (Instructor) Preparation

1. Schedule this event well in advance and communicate that date with members and parents through email or a club calendar or newsletter. 2. Check over all sections of this activity plan before the day of this activity. 3. Create Prize-Bags (Information about how to create good Prize-Bags can be found on BurkScience.com or in your Advisor Manuel). 4. Review over the “Radiation Zone” slideshow presentation before the day of the activity. The presentation can be found here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13ixH7rBxLAE12AkCoHgaWv9k 58XUJI7amQrnYTPLle8/edit?usp=sharing 5. Print off enough copies of the “Radiation Zone Handout” so that each member of your club may have one (with a couple extras.) A copy of the handout can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6PsOpkiCHsMTnJRMVNNZkl4V1E/vie w?usp=sharing 6. Review your Curiosity Warmups for the day of this activity.

Volunteers

A parent or other volunteer who is donating his/her time could significantly help with this activity in these ways:  

Share personal experiences about what they thought when they heard about the Fukushima, Japan Nuclear disaster, or if they were old enough to remember it, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Help members stay on task by walking around the room and taking

By Nicholas & Connie Burk • Find accompanying presentations, handouts and more at BurkScience.com

“Radiation Zone”

Science Club Activity Plan

note of who may be the winner for that day’s prize-bag.

Science Journals

Curiosity Warmups

Presentation

Encourage members to have ready their personal Science Journals at the beginning of every meeting. In it they will keep copies of handouts given out, take notes and record any and all questions which come to mind, especially if there is not time enough to answer them in the meeting. 5 to 10 minutes Using a projector for large groups (or a screen for small groups) quickly go over the elements, dinosaur and space object of the day adding interesting context and fun facts you may know. Links to these presentations are found on BurkScience.com. Files may be available from your program administrators. The slideshow presentation for this activity itself can be found on BurkScience.com or through this link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13ixH7rBxLAE12AkCoHgaWv9k 58XUJI7amQrnYTPLle8/edit?usp=sharing This day’s activity will take place during the main presentation as members raise their hands and share questions, answers and comments to the material being presented.

Safety & Management

Activity

2 minutes Members who pay close attention to the presentation and participate will be better prepared in the event of an emergency. One member who is being a good example through his/her behavior will receive a prize-bag! 20 to 40 minutes Just after or durring the curiosity warmups, have a volunteer pass-out the handouts so that each member has one. Invite students to think of questions they have about radiation, nuclear fallout or related topics. If at any time they have a question or comment, they are invited to raise their hand to be called upon by an advisor. During the presentation, ask as many open-ended questions as possible to engage the members and allow them to think of the content of the slides on a deeper level. Ideally, this activity will be 40% presentation from the advisors and 60% input from the members. When the questions are asked in the slide-show presentation which can be answered from the handout, ask members to give just one step from the

By Nicholas & Connie Burk • Find accompanying presentations, handouts and more at BurkScience.com

Science Club Activity Plan

“Radiation Zone”

handout each and picture how they could implement the steps in a real situation. If you are low on time, you may wish to just send the handout home for members to look over rather than spend the time to go over it during the activity. If any parents or volunteers are present, having them share their experiences when hearing about nuclear disasters may be helpful. Snack and Discussion

10 minutes If your program provies snacks for your members, the time in which they eat tends to be a great time to ask questions or discuss what has been learned or observed. If no snacks are provided, continue to discuss the activity as a group. Members respond by raising their hands and wait quietly while others are talking. 

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Cleanup

Leftover Materials

How else can a person be exposed to radiation besides a nuclear weapon detonation or a nuclear power plant accident? (Answer: From cosmic radiation while in space, from proximity to a Uranium mine or nuclear waste, etc.) How prepared do you think we should be for disasters like those discussed today? What are some positive ways humanity has used radiation? (Ideas: Cancer treatment, clean energy, X-rays, to power space probes, etc.)

5 minutes  

Remember to award a Prize-Bag to a model student. Any mess created by snacks will need to be cleaned up.

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There are probably no items which can be placed in future Prize-Bags from this activity. Remaining copies of the handout may be kept in the science club storage. Remind members to keep their handouts inside their personal Science Journals. (Please keep this activity plan with any and all other activity plans together in storage.)

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By Nicholas & Connie Burk • Find accompanying presentations, handouts and more at BurkScience.com

“Radiation Zone”

Science Club Activity Plan

This Science Club Activity Plan was first created by Nicholas Burk and Connie Burk with help from a generous grant by the American Preparatory Education Foundation (www.americanprepfoundation.org) in March of 2015 on behalf of all after-school programs, home-schooling groups, community clubs or other organizations that see the benefits of having supplementary STEM programs. This material is available to the public to be printed, used and copied for free as long as it is used for the benefit of students. If there are any errors or outdated facts in this material, or if you have suggestions on how this material can be improved, please contact the Burks using the “Contact Us” page found on their website. This and other activity plans, suggested research sources, resources and more can be found online at www.BurkScience.com.

Notes

By Nicholas & Connie Burk • Find accompanying presentations, handouts and more at BurkScience.com