Process
1. Introductory Activity:
Hello everyone. Now please imagine that you are a reporter in a local newspaper office. Your manager asks you to write a brief report of the nuclear disaster happening in Japan recently. Please collect information online then organize an objective report.
Requirements:
One: The report should cover these following questions:
1. When and where did the nuclear disaster happen?
2. What is the direct cause of this nuclear disaster?
3. What has the Japanese government done to limit the damage?
Useful websites for searching news:
Searching news:
How to write a news report:How to write a news report eg. 1
Two: You can add some pictures in your report to make your readers have a more direct feeling of this disaster.
Three: During this project, you will finish all the tasks on our blog. The teachers' blog is "Mocha and Linlin's wonderland". (http://mochaswonderland.blogspot.com/)
You can post your report by replying to the thread titled "Introductory Activity". The deadline for posting your own ideas is 1 May, 2011, but you can comment on your classmates' reports at anytime during the whole project.
Four: After finishing the report, please list all the questions you have about nuclear energy and post them on the thread is "Questions to Nuclear Energy" on the blog. With the learning of this project, maybe you can answer some of your classmates' questions. Please feel free to share your answers or discuss your answers by replying to the message.
Now we will begin the wonderful exploration of the most formidable and mysterious power in the world! Enjoy your adventure in the nuclear world!
2. Learning Section One:
*Before class, the teacher will separate the class into four groups. Each group should sign up for a blog on the Blogger website: http://www.blogger.com
The teacher will post all the four blogger links on blog "Mocha and Linlin's wonderland". (http://mochaswonderland.blogspot.com/)
After being a professional reporter and experiencing the nuclear disaster in Japan, I am sure that you are very interested in nuclear energy. Now, let's start to learn about where the most formidable and mysterious power in the world comes from, in other words, how a nuclear reaction works.
First of all, let's watch two videos which are about how a nuclear reaction works.
Secondly, the teacher will give you a short presentation about how the nuclear reaction happens. (Lesson Plan Handout)
After knowing about how nuclear energy works you are going to make a 3-5 minute video with your teammates in order to present the process of how nuclear energy happens.
Requirements: (Work Sheet 1)
After finishing the video, each group needs to post your masterwork on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/). Then you need to post your video links on your blogs and the teacher's blog. Meanwhile, you should watch other groups' videos and give your feedback by replying to the thread "LS One: Video Feedback" on each group's blog.
3. Learning Section Two:
*Before class, the teacher will separate the class into four groups.*
For learning about the nuclear energy, there is a debate "Is nuclear energy beneficial for human or not?"
Two teams are the proponents (also called "Pro"); the other teams are in the opposition (also called "Negative" or "Neg");
The rules and the rubrics of the debate will be posted on the thread "Debate rules and rubrics" on the teacher's blog.
Rubric (PDF) Rules (PDF) Debate information (PDF)
The First Work Day:
The proponent groups and the opposition groups start to collect information about their supporting resources.
Effects of Nuclear Energy:
Effects of Nuclear Energy eg. 1
Effects of Nuclear Energy eg. 2
Effects of Nuclear Energy eg. 3
Effects of Nuclear Energy eg. 4
Effects of Nuclear Energy eg. 5
Debate about nuclear energy (video):
Debate about nuclear energy (video) eg. 1
Debate about nuclear energy (video) eg. 2
Debate about nuclear energy (video) eg. 3
Debate about nuclear energy (video) eg. 4
Debate about nuclear energy (video) eg. 5
The Second Work Day:
Debate
Before the debate, these four teams will ballot the orders of their debate.
The first turns are Pro Team A VS Neg Team A. The other two teams will be the judges and fill in the rubric forms.
The second turns are Pro Team B VS Neg Team B. The other two teams will be the judges and fill in the rubric forms.
After the debates, the teacher and some volunteers from each group will calculate the results of the debates. Each group should post their resources during the debate on their blogs.
(Requirement: "Mocha and Linlin's wonderland". http://mochaswonderland.blogspot.com/)
4. Learning Section Three:
*Before class, the teacher will separate the class into four groups.*
After the debate, we are going to have another task, that is, work with your teammates to make an action plan about how to use nuclear energy in a proper way.
(Action Plan Template: [attachment]
Action plan (PDF) : PDF 1 PDF 2 PDF 3
When you finish the action plan, you need to post it on the title of the thread is "Action plan about nuclear energy" on your team blog, and need to evaluate other teams' action plan.
(Requirement: "Mocha and Linlin's wonderland". http://mochaswonderland.blogspot.com/)
5. Ending Activity:
After learning about the nuclear energy, I am sure you gained a lot and you also have many thoughts about it. Please write a reaction paper about what you think are most important in this class.
Response Paper:
Guide, Rubric, Example:
(Worksheet 4 below):
Response papers should be roughly 2-3 pages in length (double spaced, typed) and should explicitly address a posed question or theme, utilizing the readings and discussions from classes - Know More about Nuclear Energy. The response papers give you an opportunity to reflect on everything you done for this class and prepare for the following week of class, clarify your own thinking, and simply work on your own writing skills. Each paper will be given a grade of either a 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0, as follows:
|
Score
|
Evaluation
|
|
1
|
Paper was not totally completed with little summarizing or analyzing.
|
|
2
|
Paper was turned in, but with very minimal effort. You had a rough week.
|
|
3
|
Paper addressed the question, but not in depth and did not show as much reflection as was expected. It did not consider any readings that were assigned.
|
|
4
|
This paper summarizes the main points of the class and/or has a focused theme and is well presented. It is complete overall, although you may have been able to go into more depth or incorporate readings/discussions more.
|
|
5
|
This paper is excellent, not only analyzing the basic knowledge in this class, but also reflecting deeply about your own views and how they compare/contrast with readings/discussion. This paper is free of any major typo/grammar/spelling errors, and is especially easy and interesting to read.
|
It is anticipated that letter grades will be assigned to mostly correspond to a 4.0 scale (i.e., A = 4, B = 3, etc.), but this may be reevaluated in light of the instructor's general grading tendencies and student performance over the course.