Skip to main content
MIT
Climate
Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
Educator GuideOctober 15, 2021

Nuclear Power and Climate Change Educator Guide

TILclimate nuclear power guide for educators
Photo Credit
Johannes Plenio via Pexels

 

This Guide for Educators was developed by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative as an extension of our TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate) podcast, to make it easier for you to teach climate change, earth science, and energy topics in the classroom. It is an extension of the TILclimate episode "TIL about nuclear power."

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators.

Description

The use of nuclear power is controversial in some places, and commonplace in others. How do we estimate risk when making choices about how to generate energy? What are the effects of those choices? Through a series of activities, students learn about risk perception and investigate real data about the intersection of energy use, energy production, and carbon dioxide emissions around the world.

 

 

SWBAT:
  • Explain what risk perception is.

  • Explain which energy sources carry the highest risk for fatalities and emissions.

  • Understand that different countries have made choices about the use of nuclear and other energy sources. Those choices have affected carbon dioxide emissions and other factors in each of those countries.

Skills:
  • Prediction

  • Reading and interpreting graphs

  • Communication

Standards:
  • HS-ETS1-1 Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions

  • HS-ETS1-3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs

  • RST.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media

  • RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept

  • HSS-IC.B.6 Evaluate reports based on data.

Disciplinary core ideas:
  • ESS3.C Human Impacts on Earth Systems

  • ESS3.D Global Climate Change

     

What is included in this Educator Guide
  1. How to use TILclimate Educator Guides (Download)
     
  2. Teacher pages (Download)
    • Includes discussion questions, background resources, and adaptation suggestions for science, social science, and ELA teachers
       
  3. Student pages (Download)
    • Risk perception activities

    • Nuclear Power: Global Choices data investigation

 

Listen to the episode

 

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators
Share
facebook linkedin twitter email compact
by TILclimate Podcast
Topics
Education
Energy
Nuclear & Fusion Energy

Related Posts

PostJanuary 26, 2023

How Much Are Electric Vehicles Driven? Depends on the EV

MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
PostJanuary 3, 2023

Thermodynamics and Climate Change

MIT OCW
Diagram of tidal power generating turbine.
PostDecember 16, 2022

Natural Gas in the U.S. Southeast Power Sector under Deep Decarbonization: ...

MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
PostDecember 11, 2022

Science Writing And New Media: Writing And The Environment

MIT OCW
Landscape photo of hillside with trees and a running stream.

MIT Climate News in Your Inbox

 
 

MIT Groups Log In

Log In

Footer

  • About
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
Environmental Solutions Initiative
MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge MA 02139-4307
Communicator Award Winner
Communicator Award Winner