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Teacher Resources

Museum Education Staff
The Museum’s Education Department is staffed with professionals with years of experience in all levels of education and in multiple areas of curriculum.

The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History feels the following resources are beneficial and would like to provide a service to teachers but does not endorse any of the sites.

An online "Radiation textbook" which teachers were involved in producing a useful product that is consistent with National Science Education Content Standards. http://www.sandia.gov/ciim/ISA/1rad.html

The Harnessed Atom

The Harnessed Atom is a comprehensive middle school resource that provides students and teachers with an accurate and unbiased learning guide about nuclear energy.

The Harnessed Atom – Student's Guide reviews the basic scientific principles that underlie nuclear energy and focuses on atoms, radiation, the technology of our number two source of electricity, and issues concerning nuclear energy.

The Harnessed Atom – Teacher's Guide contains suggestions for using the materials and is designed to help teachers in scheduling and planning lessons that teach concepts and develop basic skills. Included in the book are discussion questions, answers to review exercises, a list of materials, and a list of additional resources.
http://www.osti.gov/speeches/doene0072.pdf

Weighing Environmental Risks

Weighing Environmental Risks has lots of information in PDF format. http://www.unm.edu/~abqteach/wer/index.htm

Science Fair Central

A little glitzier approach to the scientific method, but does have a good list of do’s and don’ts when doing experiments. http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/scifairstudio/handbook/scientificmethod.html

Chem4Kids

This site teaches kids about the atom basics. http://www.chem4kids.com/files/atom_structure.html

The Periodic Table of Comic Books

This is a periodic table of comic books, which also houses information on which comics involve which elements. http://www.uky.edu/Projects/Chemcomics/

Web Elements

An interesting interactive periodic table with more detailed information. http://www.webelements.com/webelements/scholar/index.html

EPA Website on Radiation Protection

The main EPA website on radiation with some useful links which contain more detailed information. http://www.epa.gov/radiation/index.html

Electromagnetic Spectrum

A diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum with wavelength, frequency and energy information. http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec2.html

ABC’s of Nuclear Science

This is a detailed description of Nuclear Structure even though it’s called basic nuclear science. Written primarily for high school students, it does include activities and information for all grade levels. http://www.lbl.gov/abc/Basic.html

NASA - Electromabnetic Spectrum

This NASA site looks at the various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html

American Nuclear Society

This is an interesting chart that helps determine your annual personal background radiation dose from the American Nuclear Society. Browse the website for more useful information. http://www.ans.org/pi/dosechart/

Idaho State University - Radiation & Risk

This is a really good resource about Radiation and Risk. After calculating your annual radiation dose visit this page to learn more about those numbers. http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/risk.htm

Halflife

This is a very simple applet which lets you choose one of 15 isotopes and watch them decay into their daughter products. http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/isotopes/radioactive_decay3.html

Radon Alert Lesson Plans and Activities

A Junior High version of Radon Lesson Plans. http://www.nj.gov/dep/rpp/radon/jsc.htm

The Radon Game

Middle School level Radon game in PDF format with teacher instructions. http://www.epa.gov/region01/students/pdfs/activ6.pdf

National Institutes of Health - Kid’s page

Site showing that there are many beneficial uses of radiation and radioactivity. This is a page for kids from the National Institutes of Health. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/uranium.htm

One Nuclear Place

This site provides links to nuclear websites for all aspects of nuclear energy. http://www.1nuclearplace.com/Links.htm

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission site with good information on nuclear energy and radiation. http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/teachers/unit3.html

How Nucelar Power Works

Sections on nuclear fission as well as the inside of a nuclear power plant. http://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-power.htm

Control The Nuclear Power Plant (Demonstration)

This site offers a nuclear power plant simulation that can be manipulated by students. http://www.ida.liu.se/~her/npp/demo.html

RadWaste.org - Teacher’s Corner

This site discusses the need to try and get a balanced view of information and resources concerning nuclear science. It provides a wealth of links for teachers to explore. http://www.radwaste.org/teacher.htm

DOE - Safety of Radioactive Materials

The Sandia National Laboratories web site, with a description of the crash tests and package certification for transporting radioactive waste. http://www.sandia.gov/tp/SAFE_RAM/TESTING.HTM

Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues

The Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues provides a web-based source of information on a host of interesting topics including nuclear science, the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, nuclear power, nuclear medicine, and nuclear waste. This library provides authoritative information that has been vetted through a National Advisory Board. This Board has been selected on the basis of their knowledge and experience in areas of importance to the library. http://alsos.wlu.edu/default.aspx

National Energy Education Development Program

The mission of the National Energy Education Development Project is to promote an energy conscious and educated society by creating effective networks of students, educators, business, government and community leaders to design and deliver objective, multi-sided energy education programs. http://www.need.org/

Chemistry Overview

This site introduces and explains the various components of Nuclear Chemistry. There are pictures, problems and case studies for teachers to use in their classroom. http://www.chemcases.com/nuclear/index.html

History of the Atomic Bomb

This site explores the complex history surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb. http://atomicarchive.com/

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

The Nuclear Files is one effort to provide the average person access to important documents that often disappear from the public realm and seem to be accessible only to specialists. There is a timeline and information on a variety of nuclear topics. http://www.nuclearfiles.org/

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/

This Department of Energy site teaches your students the importance of green energy while enhancing your required curriculum. Here you'll find many creative lesson plans, labs, projects and other activities for grades K-12 on energy-related topics. Incorporate them into your classroom. Prepare your students for a greener future!

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/education/lessonplans/default.aspx

ScienceEducation.gov connects teachers and students to free, federally-funded Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education resources. This site has links to hundreds of government sponsored websites including NASA, DOE, USGS and NIH.

http://www.scienceeducation.gov/

When teachers post a project on NLN, the e-matching platform links teachers to STEM professionals interested in the project. Add a professional to your teaching team.

http://www.nationallabnetwork.org/

Use one of these specific links as a teacher or student to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s site for easy to understand definitions and explanation about nuclear science, nuclear energy, and current events.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students.html

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/teachers.html

Investigate the Office of Nuclear Energy to find a simple half-life activity for elementary students using M&M’s. This site has activities for K-12 as well as teacher resources.

http://www.ne.doe.gov/students/Track_teachers.html

http://www.ne.doe.gov/students/teachers_middleschool_activities.html

The Nuclear Science Division together with CPEP (the Contemporary Physics Education Project) have produced the Nuclear Science Wall Chart. You can order classroom materials and request reproduction rights for printed materials.

http://www.lbl.gov/abc/wallchart/index.html

NBC Learn offers excellent free resources on energy as well as other subjects. It also offers the opportunity to purchase programs.
http://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn

http://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn/changing-planet

This US Environmental Protection Agency provides an on-line calculator for determing your annual average dose of radiation from natural and man-made sources. This is a perfect experiment for your computer lab.
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/calculate.html

The International Atomic Energy Agency site provides information about educational opportunities for youth from all countries. The school session uses international lecturers to provide information about topics including: nuclear power; nuclear fuel cycle and waste management; energy planning, economics and finance; nuclear safety, nuclear law, international conventions and relevant mechanisms; as well as nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards.

http://www.iaea.org/Resources/Youth/

For Teachers

Choose from museum classroom programs, tours, outreach at your site or professional development.

Kids Camp

Kids have so many questions about the world – down to even the smallest parts. We’re here to answer them with fun, creative activities that will also nourish their imaginations and - who knows – maybe even foster a career in science or medicine. The Museum offers a mulititude of possibilities each winter, spring and summer to enrich your child's life. Visit our camp pages and learn more about what your child can learn when "Science is Everywhere."