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Re: Energy site & education
I share Bjorn's concern. I'd also like to share with RADSAFE my experience
talking to my granddaughter's 4th grade class in seattle. Now (not to brag
too much) these are the 100th percentile of fourth graders in Seattle, and
they are very bright. I talked about ionizing radiation, the atom bomb
(because they are studying WWII), the transuranic elements, and I left them
a Geiger counter and some minerals and vaseline glass. I held their
attention for more than an hour without a break (which is more than I can
say for some members of Congress). To summarize some high points:
I asked at the start who could tell me what radiation is, and two children
said essentially "we don't know, but it's bad." So I startled them by
saying it isn't "bad" or "good" but a phenomenon (yes, I used that word).
Good and bad depend on how it's used. We talked about food irradiation and
tooth irradiation. They asked lots of questions (and they can do mental
arithmetic, too). In sum, I believe they were impressed with someone who
talked about radiation and even weapons as if talking about them were the
most natural thing in the world. No expressions of horror, just
information. Telling them what science is about: observing and recording
and analyzing.
the teacher was also delighted to see this approach.
I believe we should take every chance we get to do this. No propaganda
(either pro or con), just description. And believe me, if you know what you
are talking about, and enjoy talking about it, you will hold an audience
without "talking down" or, worse "dumbing down." On a couple of occasions,
I made a mental shift to use a simpler word, but that wa all.
Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Bjorn Cedervall <bcradsafers@hotmail.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Sunday, December 24, 2000 1:49 AM
Subject: Energy site & education
>FYI: Ran across the following site by a chance:
>http://www.swifty.com/apase/charlotte/nuclear.html#RISKS
>It is at "Association for the Promotion and Advancement of Science
>Education, APASE". Nuclear risks are summarized as:
>
>"To understand the risks of nuclear energy, we need to know that uranium is
>radioactive, which means that it constantly gives off energy in the form of
>radiation. When plants, animals, or people are exposed to too much
>radiation, they can be burned, become sick, or even die. When uranium is
>mined, the leftover bits of uranium at the mine are harmful to plants and
>animals in the area, and pollute the soil and water."
>
>I find this level somewhat confusing, superficial, misleading and
>disturbing although worse stuff can be found in various media (including
>http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/moreinfo.html etc) - but here the
>agenda is "Advancement of Science Education". I doubt that a professional
>with a deeper nuclear/radiation background has been involved. There are
some
>other passages where text adjustments wouldn't hurt. As I have written
>before the disturbing part is that kids doing school projects etc find
these
>sites and they have no chance to filter out the relevant perspectives.
>Therefore we need to help clean up this type of stuff in a polite way -
with
>the right facts - the kids could probably often even teach their teachers
>something. I'll probably drop them a line.
>
>The origin is Vancouver: info@apase.bc.ca web@apase.bc.ca (webmaster).
The
>address etc is:
>APASE, 201-2929 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC V5N 4C8 CANADA
>phone (604) 687-8712, fax (604) 687-8715
>http://www.swifty.com/apase/charlotte/masthead.html
>
>OK, and Merry X-mas and all that - thanks to everyone contributing here,
>
>Bjorn Cedervall bcradsafers@hotmail.com
>http://www.geocities.com/bjorn_cedervall/
>
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