Science, Society and America's Nuclear Waste
Science, Society and America’s Nuclear Waste is a four-unit secondary curriculum. It is intended to assist teachers in presenting information related to the management and disposal of America’s nuclear waste. It is suitable for use in technology, science, and social studies classes in high school, middle school, and advanced lower grades. The curriculum’s content and focus are consistent with national goals to strengthen and update math and science skills and broaden public science literacy. It was developed, reviewed, and tested by teachers for use in grades 8 through 12. The content is organized in the following units: Unit 1 – Energy and Nuclear Waste The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management originally produced this curriculum in 1992. The original edition was field tested through team-teaching by science and social studies teachers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. Independent ReviewsThe first edition of the curriculum was reviewed by selected staff from
In addition, the first edition was reviewed at the First International Workshop on Education in the Field of Radioactive Waste Management. This workshop was co-sponsored by the multinational Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Swiss National Cooperative for the Storage of Radioactive Waste. This international workshop was attended by educators from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Basis for UpdatesThis curriculum was updated in 1995, 2004, and 2006. The updates were based on developments in the repository program at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The changes reflect information from the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada and the Yucca Mountain Science and Engineering Report. In addition, style and organizational changes were made in response to a focus group held in 2004 with secondary education teachers from Nevada and Idaho. Since the curriculum was first made available to the public in 1992, more than 50,000 copies have been requested by and distributed to educators of diverse disciplines in all 50 states and in 48 foreign countries. The curriculum was reformatted for the Web in 2007 to enable faster and easier acccess by educators worldwide. The Department of Energy’s Educational Outreach CommitmentThe 1977 Department of Energy Reorganization Act authorizes education and training activities necessary to ensure that the nation has an adequate technical workforce in energy-related research and production fields. These fields include mathematics, physics, geology, chemistry, zoology, biology, and other areas of basic and applied research. The 1991 Department of Energy Science Enhancement Act expands the department’s authorization to support science education and amends the 1977 legislation to make support for science education a major Department of Energy mission. The department’s educational outreach commitment includes providing graduate student fellowships and research appointments at department facilities and supporting precollege education and science literacy. The Department of Energy sponsors a number of national and local education programs through its national laboratories, energy technology centers, and various program elements. For further information about these programs, please visit the Department of Energy's Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists. |
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